Golf Leagues and Associations: Tours, College, Juniors and the Olympics

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A Thursday morning in April and the first group tees off at the Masters. A Monday qualifier where a crowd of pros chases a handful of spots. A college team huddled on the 18th green waiting for the last match to finish. A 9-year-old in a numbered jersey at her first PGA Jr. League game. Golf has a lot of organizations, and their names (PGA, PGA TOUR, PGA of America) confuse almost everyone. This guide sorts out the golf associations and professional golf tours: who writes the rules, who runs the pro tours and majors, and the paths through college, high school, junior golf and the Olympics, as of the 2026 season.

For how the game works and the health side of the sport, start at our golf hub.

Who governs golf

• The R&A (St Andrews, Scotland): governs golf everywhere outside the US and Mexico, writes the Rules of Golf with the USGA, and runs The Open (first played in 1860) and the AIG Women’s Open, one of the five women’s majors. The R&A was formed in 2004 to take over those duties from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, and merged with the Ladies’ Golf Union in 2017.
• The USGA (United States Golf Association, founded 1894): governs golf in the US and Mexico, and with The R&A sets the playing, equipment, handicapping and amateur status rules. It runs the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open and national amateur championships for juniors, adults and seniors, and tests equipment at its Research and Test Center in Liberty Corner, New Jersey.
• The PGA of America (founded 1916): not a tour, but the association of more than 30,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals, the teaching pros and club staff at your course. It runs the PGA Championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship and the US side of the Ryder Cup, plus PGA Jr. League.
• The International Golf Federation (IGF), founded in 1958, is golf’s federation in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

The men’s pro tours

Tour	What it is (2026 season)
PGA TOUR	35 official FedExCup events in the 20th FedExCup season, eight Signature Events, then three Playoff events: the top 70 go to the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 50 to the BMW Championship and 30 to the TOUR Championship (August 24–30). From 2026, full status goes to the top 100, not 125.
Korn Ferry Tour	The PGA TOUR’s developmental tour; its top players earn PGA TOUR cards.
DP World Tour	The former European Tour, played around the world. The top 10 players in its Race to Dubai who aren’t already exempt earn PGA TOUR cards.
LIV Golf	Launched in 2022. In 2026: 14 events, 13 teams, 57 players, now over 72 holes like the other tours, with $470 million in individual and team purses.
PGA TOUR Champions	For professionals aged 50 and over, with its season-long Charles Schwab Cup.

The men’s majors: the Masters (run by Augusta National Golf Club), the PGA Championship (PGA of America), the U.S. Open (USGA) and The Open (The R&A). The Ryder Cup pits the US against Europe every two years, and the Presidents Cup matches the US against an International team.

The women’s pro tours

The LPGA Tour scheduled 33 events in 2026 in 13 countries, with a record $132 million in prize money. Its developmental tour is the Epson Tour, where the top finishers on the season money list earn LPGA cards. The women’s game has five majors: the Chevron Championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, The Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. The Solheim Cup is the women’s US-versus-Europe team match. The Ladies European Tour and tours in Japan and Korea are the other big women’s circuits.

College golf: NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA

• NCAA Division I: men’s and women’s championships end in stroke play and then match play. The men’s championship has been played since 1939 (an intercollegiate championship goes back to 1897) and moved to match play for the team title in 2009; the women’s championship started in 1982 and added match play in 2015. In 2026, 30 teams plus individuals reached the men’s finals at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, where the women also played: three rounds, a cut, a fourth round that sets the top eight teams and the 72-hole individual champion, then a match-play bracket.
• NCAA Divisions II and III: separate men’s and women’s national championships. Divisions I and II can offer athletic scholarships; Division III can’t.
• NAIA: men’s and women’s golf national championships at smaller four-year colleges.
• NJCAA: golf at two-year colleges, a common route for players who want to develop before transferring.

To play in Division I or II, register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Recruiting timelines and how juniors get noticed are on our junior golf page.

High school golf

Golf is a school sport almost everywhere in the US. In 2024-25, 162,357 boys at 14,023 schools and 85,385 girls at 11,116 schools played, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and a few states also offer adapted or unified golf. Each state association runs its own season, which may fall in the fall or spring, and its own team and individual championships.

Junior golf organizations

• First Tee: founded in 1997 by the LPGA, the Masters Tournament, the PGA of America, the PGA TOUR and the USGA. Chapters around the country teach golf together with life skills and values like honesty, integrity, perseverance and respect.
• PGA Jr. League: team golf for boys and girls of all skill levels in 9U, 13U and 17U divisions, coached by PGA professionals, with numbered jerseys, a team scramble format and a path through All-Star play to a national championship. More than 500,000 kids have played.
• Drive, Chip and Putt: a free skills competition for ages 7–15, founded in 2013 by the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America, with national finals at Augusta National the Sunday before the Masters.
• U.S. Kids Golf: local tours, state and regional events and a World Championship, plus clubs sized by a child’s height.
• AJGA: the American Junior Golf Association, founded in 1978, a nonprofit for juniors aiming at college golf. It ran 142 tournaments in 2025 and has about 10,000 members; players must be no older than 18 on January 1 of their graduation year and not yet in college.

Golf at the Olympics

Golf was played at the 1900 and 1904 Games and returned at Rio 2016, 112 years later, with 60 men and 60 women playing 72 holes of stroke play. At Los Angeles 2028, all three events are at Riviera Country Club: men’s individual, women’s individual and a new mixed team event for 16 teams of one man and one woman from the same country, played over 36 holes (18 of four-ball, then 18 of foursomes). The individual fields stay at 60. Qualifying runs through the world rankings, with up to four players per country if they’re in the top 15 and up to two otherwise.

Adult amateur golf

Most golfers compete through their club or a state or regional golf association, which also issues handicaps under the World Handicap System. From there you can try qualifying for USGA amateur championships, play senior and mid-amateur events, or just join a men’s, women’s or couples’ league. Our rules page explains handicaps and competition rules.

Whatever level you play, the pros’ equipment is in reach: the Titleist Pro V1 is a urethane-covered tour ball (about $58 a dozen on Amazon in October 2026), and the Bushnell Tour V6 Shift is a laser rangefinder with a slope switch you turn off for competition (about $300). Long tournament weeks are hard on the body too; many players carry a small massage gun like the Hypervolt Go 3 (about $149). See our golf gear page for more.

Keep going: junior golf, golf injuries, golf training and mental training tools for tournament pressure. For another sport’s structure, see our soccer leagues page.

Golf leagues and associations questions

What is the difference between the PGA TOUR and the PGA of America?

The PGA TOUR runs the weekly pro tour and the FedExCup. The PGA of America is the association of more than 30,000 club and teaching professionals; it runs the PGA Championship and the US Ryder Cup team, but not the weekly tour.

Who makes the rules of golf?

The R&A and the USGA, together. The USGA governs in the US and Mexico and The R&A everywhere else, but it’s one set of Rules, and the next edition is due in 2028.

What are golf’s majors?

For men: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and The Open. For women: the Chevron Championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, The Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open.

How does college golf crown a national champion?

In NCAA Division I, teams play stroke play with a cut; after four rounds the top eight teams play match play for the team title, and the low 72-hole score wins the individual title. Divisions II and III, the NAIA and the NJCAA hold their own championships.

How many golfers play in the Olympics?

Sixty men and sixty women in the individual events. At LA 2028 a mixed team event adds 16 two-player teams drawn from those fields.