Welcome the PGA of Ontario Hall of Fame

History

In 2017, it was recognized by the PGA of Ontario Board of Directors there was a need for their own Hall of Fame: a forum where deserving members of the PGA of Ontario can be honoured for making a significant impact on the game of golf, the growth of the game of golf or exceptional contributions to the PGA of Ontario. A Founders Committee was formed and chaired by Michael Schurman.  The Charter Class was inducted in the Fall of 2020.

Michael is a Past President of the PGA of Ontario, a Master Professional, a Life Member and inducted into the PGA of Canada Hall of Fame. He selected leading PGA of Ontario Members (Head Professionals, Teachers, Players, Builders and Members at Large). Each has a minimum of 25 year experience in all facets of the game including service on the Board of Directors. They began with a goal of building a PGA of Ontario Hall of Fame that is consistent with or higher than generally accepted policies and ideals of other Halls of Fame that would recognize the highest standard of performance, honour, degree of excellence and merit displayed by members of the PGA of Ontario.

One of the key objectives was to create a formula and a method of fairness for members of the Association for any applicant presented for nomination. They also wished to preserve and keep-up a place where inductees are honoured for outstanding achievements, performance excellence, distinctive contributions and superior effort in an environment where interested parties can enjoy recounting the career achievements, lifetime memories, personal successes, historical occurrences, days gone by and past events at a minimum of cost both to the Association and patrons. Last, they wanted to ensure that the PGA of Ontario Hall of Fame acts as a constant, reliable source of recorded history and is readily and easily accessible to all parties in the Golf Community.

As a recipe of Basic Practice, they struck the following:

• Every nominee shall receive the utmost in fairness and equality regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. (reference Human Rights Code 5 (1) whether they are living or deceased).  
• It is incumbent upon the Chair of the Hall of Fame Committee to ensure every nomination is held in strict confidence, and to act as a facilitator to help guide the nominator through the nomination process.
• The Hall of Fame Committee shall perform with the highest integrity to protect the best interests of the Hall of Fame Inductees, Hall of Fame nominees, the members of the PGA of Canada, Board of Directors of the PGA of Ontario, the members of the PGA of Ontario and the general public.  
• The Board of Directors, the Hall of Fame Committee Chair and Hall of Fame Committee will make every effort to ensure each nomination is given every opportunity for induction into the Hall of Fame provided they act in a fair and equal manner.

They also determined:

•  All inductees are to be considered equal members of the Hall of Fame. Inductions will be based on the criteria listed under the various career backgrounds and the exceptional performance and/or efforts put forth to achieve them. No career background is assigned any more or less value than another. Nominees might present a high level of achievements in several career summary categories but once inducted they are equal in their position as a 'member' of the Hall of Fame.
   
•   The career backgrounds are listed to provide a guide for the Board of Directors, the Hall of Fame Committee, the Nominator, the Nominee and all concerned parties. Nominations are not limited to any one career background but may include facets of multiple backgrounds.