On July 15, PGA Fellow Professional Jason Dransfield took on a fundraising challenge at his home club Heswall on the Wirral.
The task: to make a birdie or better on every hole on the course. Even for a player as accomplished as Dransfield, having previously competed on the Hotel Planner Tour (formerly the Challenge Tour), this was quite the mission.
As well as raising vital funds for Maggie's, Macmillan Cancer Support and Claire House Children's Hospice, Dransfield was also determined to raise funds for PGA Care – an initiative created to offer financial assistance and welfare support to PGA Members during times of hardship. The Fund has played a vital role in the lives of Members for many years.
PGA Care supports Members in times of bereavement, illness and injury. PGA Care also offers mental health, rehabilitation, business and family support, and can advise on addiction and dealing with a diagnosis, too.
Pictured: Pictured: Jason Dransfield
“The reason for choosing PGA Care is, I'm the chairman of Cheshire/North Wales PGA, and the Vice Chair of the North Region, and we were sat and we were discussing various things, and PGA Care came up,” Dransfield said.
“How can we raise more funds? How can we make the membership more aware of it?
“I thought, instead of asking other people to do stuff, why don’t I just start the ball rolling and try to help in my own little way?”
Having completed a challenge at Heswall in 2017, in which he played 10 rounds of golf, Dransfield volunteered himself for another golf marathon.
Dransfield hit his first tee shot at Heswall at 4.30 am. It took him 91 holes to complete the task, finishing at 6.10 pm. Below, he provided a list of timings of when he made a birdie on each hole, and the number of attempts that each one required:
- 5.02am Birdied 3rd after 3 tries
- 5.51am Birdied 17th after 3 tries
- 5.58am Birdied 1st after 4 tries
- 6.07am Birdied 4th after 1 try
- 6.14am Birdied 5th after 1 try
- 6.22am Birdied 7th after 1 try
- 6.32am Birdied 6th after 2 tries
- 6.56am Birdied 10th after 1 try
- 8.52am Birdied 12th after 1 try
- 9.09am Birdied 18th after 5 tries
- 10.23am Birdied 16th after 7 tries
- 10.31am Birdied 11th after 3 tries
- 1.06pm Birdied 8th after 8 tries
- 1.22pm Birdied 9th after 2 tries
- 3.07pm Birdied 13th after 9 tries
- 3.22pm Birdied 2nd after 13 tries
- 5.37pm Birdied 15th after 24 tries
- 6.10pm Birdied 14th after 3 tries
In recent years, some PGA Members have told their story about how PGA Care provided support in their time of need. PGA Coach Graham Neville was diagnosed with testicular cancer in April 2021, which left him unable to work for three years due to complications after chemotherapy. PGA Care was able to offer Neville financial support.
As the donations continue to pour in, for Dransfield, the hope is that more and more Members become aware of how important PGA Care is after his fundraising challenge.
Pictured: Jason Dransfield
“If it makes other PGA Professionals more aware and non-PGA Professionals aware… I was raising funds for four charities, but I wanted PGA Care - I've done it so that they would get 55% of the money raised because I think it's really important and if you're not in the industry, you wouldn't have a clue what it does, so it was to raise some money, but to raise awareness as well.
“I know The PGA are working hard to raise awareness, but I think the more we can do as Members to make people aware that it's there for everyone, no matter how small your problem might be.
“I'm lucky that I've not needed it, and hopefully never will. But if I can help raise some money for someone that really needs it, like Graham (Neville), I know Graham. He’s been through a tough time, so it’s important for people like that.
“It's massive - It’s there to look after PGA Professionals.”
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To learn more about PGA Care, click here
