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The Club Pro Crisis

"The last subject I want to talk about, and most importantly, is something we've discussed a lot this week. We've gone from a demand problem in terms of players to a supply problem. The lack of supply is hours in the day, lack of balance in our members' lives and a lack of pipeline of talent to replace our aging population … virtually everyone has been asked to raise the bar, to do more with the same, to work insane hours. It's absolutely unsustainable, and there's a crisis brewing for facilities that don't get in front of it. They simply won't be able to deliver the same level of service in the short-term, much less attract the next generation of talent. We have to shout this message from the rooftops, change the dynamic and restore work-life balance." —Seth Waugh, PGA of America CEO, at the PGA annual meeting in November 2021

Editor’s Note: In order to avoid professional consequences, several sources in this story asked to remain anonymous. When a first name only is used, the name has been changed and geographical details have been generalized. When a first name and last name are used, this is the person's real name and story.

Thanks to his connections, Casey Kermes had forged what looked like the start of a brilliant career. After hurting his back playing college lacrosse, he joined a Professional Golf Management (PGM) program, landed his first internship in Ireland and spent the first four years of his post-college career bouncing between some of the most prominent courses in America as a seasonal assistant pro. Frequent travel was an expectation for ambitious assistants, but money was a problem—he wasn't even making enough to rent a shared apartment and would often stay in the spare bedroom of the head pro. At his breaking point, he landed a job as a full-time assistant in North Carolina, with the promise that he'd spend most of his time teaching. Instead, when he left the clubhouse at all, he found himself babysitting large groups of kids who didn't want to be there any more than he did.

At 26, he took stock of his career. He felt like "a glorified McDonald's checkout person," his golf game was dismal—he had played just five full rounds in two years—and he was working anywhere from 60 to 90 hours per week depending on the season. The concept of having a normal romantic relationship, much less a wife and kids, was a joke. And dealing with members could be a nightmare; he vividly remembers the day when he told a board member that her foursome couldn't start on the second hole, and she chewed him out and did it anyway. There was another board member in the group she skipped, and he marched into the golf shop to yell at Casey for letting it happen. Both members, incidentally, were millionaires. Casey was making $30,000.

He knew that the pay would go up when he became a head pro, but from what he could see, nothing else would change. He couldn't stop thinking of a head pro in the south, his one-time boss, who would get free NFL tickets from a member but feel too guilty and too afraid to take his son to the game and miss a Sunday at work.

"I was at the tipping point where you go from seasonal assistant to full-time assistant to head pro," Kermes said. "And I was looking at those jobs and thought, 'I don't actually want to do that. It still sucks. When does this not suck? ' And I could never figure out when that was."

He quit before his 27th birthday. His only regret now is that he waited so long.

More on Golf + Mental Health

To almost everyone in his field, it looked like Gabriel had the dream job. He was the head pro at a famous northern club and had sacrificed time to get there—time with his wife and children. But over the course of his career, Gabriel's role shifted away from the parts of the job he loves— teaching and playing—to more about business administration. Technology facilitated the change; where once he could have headed south to decompress in the winter, now it was rare to go more than an hour without responding by phone or email to a member or one of his bosses. He watched his colleagues leave the game due to the lack of work-life balance, and if the industry already felt like having a seat on the Titanic, COVID-19 accelerated its disastrous course. While participation boomed, so did the demands on the time of the pros and assistants. Gabriel worked 85 hours per week in the summer and up to 50 hours in the winter, only to be told that he wasn't at the club enough.

RELATED: Seth Waugh on golf, business, and new ideas

His general manager once asked a seasonal assistant a loaded question: "What's with your generation and their work ethic?" The assistant, who was already putting in 50 hours a week, had an answer: Her generation put a high priority on mental health, and while career mattered, they wanted a life outside of work. And if they didn't rise as high, so be it. They'd enjoy life a lot more.

Gabriel had grown up with a different mindset. His path was to grind through his 20s and 30s, working as hard as necessary to reach the top. Once there, he thought he'd be able to breathe.

He couldn't breathe, and the day came when being at the top was no longer enough. His wife began to notice his unhappiness, and that made it harder to stomach his long absences. The pandemic ran him ragged, and he reached the point where he would have gladly taken less pay for a bit of downtime. It wasn't happening, so he left. Now he runs his own business and feels like he has an entirely new life.

"The reality is, for the clubs that don't change and the people who are sticking their head in the sand on this one, they're going to really get left by the wayside, because the labor pool is as tight as I've seen in my entire career."

—Paul Levy, former PGA of America president

After a source urged me to pursue this story, I sent a tweet asking pros and former pros to tell me their stories. The response was immediate and overwhelming, and accounts like Casey’s and Gabriel’s, and others that appear in this piece, represent a small but representative sample of those who reached out. The details were not a total surprise, but I didn't expect to find it all so heartbreaking. These were people who came into the industry with a vision for what their lives would be, had watched that vision grow dimmer over time and were now either holding on in the desperate hope that things would change or had been beaten down so thoroughly that they felt forced to quit.

To take showers or use the toilet, he had to drive to a rest stop on a nearby turnpike. Meanwhile, at the club, he felt like little more than a cashier, and at one point he worked 24 days in a row.

There were several recurring complaints in these conversations, from low pay to mistreatment to dissatisfaction with the nature of the work (not enough teaching, especially). One issue mentioned frequently was how simulators and other technology had erased even the short periods of downtime in the winter offseason, while others lamented that the head pro no longer owned the golf shop at most clubs, which eliminated a big revenue stream. These types of complaints, though, varied by person. Some pros made very good money, while others praised their members and bosses.

There was one complaint that they all shared, and that complaint was time. The message they needed me to understand was simple: There are many elements of this job that are great, and there are many others that are tolerable, but the lack of work-life balance is ruining our lives.

Johnny, 23, fell in love with golf because of the movie “Happy Gilmore.” He began his career working seasonally and ended up at a platinum club in Florida. He was excited, but things started on a negative note when his employee housing was so riddled with mold that it wasn't habitable. In Florida's crowded real-estate market, he didn't have enough money to rent his own place, and he was forced to couch surf or splurge on cheap short-term AirBnBs. At the end of every two weeks, he was out of money again, forced to sleep in his car at campgrounds and rest stops. Finally, he worked up the courage to tell his head pro. I'm basically homeless , he said, and I can't keep doing this.

The head pro told him that he better find a garage because they had big events coming up and if he quit he'd make sure he never worked at a top-tier club again. Feeling hopeless, Johnny capitulated. The only housing he could find was a run-down apartment with his friend, where he had to sneak in to make sure he wasn't seen by the landlord. Even the bathroom was under repair, and in order to take showers or use the toilet, he had to drive to a rest stop on a nearby turnpike. Meanwhile, at the club, he felt like little more than a cashier, and at one point he worked 24 days in a row.

"I used to be so energetic, but now I just feel tired all the time," he said. "Even on my days off, all I want to do is sleep all day. But I don't sleep well, because I'm always worried. The last thing I want to do is go play golf. … It's hard enough for me to get up and do my laundry."

Stuart, now in his 40s and a director of golf at a public course, remembered a dinner he attended with a few older golf pros when he was starting his career. One of them paused the conversation and asked for a show of hands: Who would encourage their own kids to get into the business?

Not a single hand rose.

"People have this weird idea that it's just cool hanging out at the golf course, that you're privileged to be here, why wouldn't you want to be here 24/7?" he said. "There's just no respect for our personal time. I do want a life outside this place, you know?"

Anecdotal evidence for the work-life crisis is easy to come by, but the nature of the disconnected network of golf clubs means that hard data isn't always readily available. It is impossible, for instance, to find out the number of hours an average pro or assistant works each week. But the numbers that do exist confirm the existence of a problem.

Bob Bruns is the director of the Professional Golf Management (PGM) program at Methodist University, one of 18 extant PGM programs in the U.S. (Clemson University recently decided to shut down its program after the last class graduates, so that number will be 17 within three years). When Bruns took the job in 2006, his incoming class consisted of more than 100 students. Today, that number is 38. He told me that in 2004, a benchmark year for programs like his, there were more than 9,700 students in PGM schools or associate programs working toward PGA membership. In 2022, according to data released by the PGA of America, the total has fallen to less than 5,000, a decline of 49.3 percent in less than 20 years. Across his program in 2021-22, Bruns placed around 100 students in internships, but had 750 requests for those interns. When he spoke with a head pro at a top-100 club recently, the pro told him that in the past, when someone needed an assistant, he could pull out a folder with résumés of applicants who would be ready to move at a moment's notice. Today, that folder is empty.

The question to the group: Who would encourage their own kids to get into the business? Not a single hand rose.

Since 2018, the number of assistant professionals nationwide has fallen from 4,037 to 3,621, while the number of head professionals has gone from 5,428 to 4,899—in both cases, a drop of around 10 percent in just four years. That number looks even more alarming in the face of a participation boom; in 2020, despite many course closures at the start of the pandemic, the National Golf Foundation reported a 14-percent increase in rounds played, the biggest jump by far since 1997. In 2021, that number rose again, by around 5 percent . As Waugh noted at the PGA of America's annual meeting last fall, this increase is putting an even greater burden on today's working pros.

At the same time, there has been a decrease in applicants for all job positions since the start of the pandemic, a fact confirmed by the PGA of America and the pros who highlighted the difficulty in finding good hires—or in some cases any hires. Again and again, they pointed me to the overflowing job boards on the PGA of America's section websites. One head pro said that just three years ago, when he had an assistant's job come open, he had 20 applicants. When the same job became available again last year, he had four. He tried to offer the job to one of his finalists from three years earlier, with a salary that was now $17,000 higher, but he was turned down—the former applicant worked 36 hours a week at CVS and couldn't imagine doing more.

Many of the pros I talked to referred to this as a “brain drain”—the loss not only of raw numbers of workers, but of the kind of quality assistants they’d want at their courses. Statistics also support the idea of an exodus; among professionals elected to PGA membership from 2009 through 2018, 27 percent are no longer members, and while there is no data on how many of the remaining 73 percent still work as pros, it's possible to maintain PGA membership without being a working pro, which means the real number of drop-outs is likely higher.

For men like Bruns, the difficult situation puts a premium on recruiting. His job has changed drastically, to the point where he now meets with every student and every set of parents who make a campus visit, and employs a full-time recruiter just for his program.

The story is the same at the PGA of America, an organization that has become hyper-focused on recruiting. In conversations with Suzy Whaley, the president of the PGA of America from 2018 to 2020, and Jim Richerson, the current president, both emphasized the steps the organization is taking to increase membership. The recruitment drive began in earnest around 2015, according to Whaley, in response to declining numbers across the nation. They began to recruit at the college golf level, including club teams, and even delved into the high school ranks through NextGen Golf and the PGA Jr. League. The PGA Hope program has opened the door to recruiting veterans, and along with these partnerships, the PGA of America now employs four full-time recruiters with no other mandate than to beat back the tide.

These efforts are robust, but as the numbers show, they haven't stemmed the overall decline. Even if they did, recruitment is a temporary solution. If the job itself is still considered undesirable from a quality-of-life standpoint, adding more people only plugs a hole in a leaky ship. The unanswered question is, how do you fix the big problem? Or, more pessimistically, can it be fixed?

The obvious impediment to progress on a large scale is that golf courses are owned and managed by individual entities, some public and some private, and while the PGA of America is the overarching organization to which professionals belong, the PGA of America is not the same as a labor union. While a labor union could theoretically fight for quality of life changes through negotiations or a more drastic collective action like a strike, the PGA's influence on individual golf courses is indirect at best.

On one hand, it was abundantly clear in conversations with the PGA leaders that they recognize the problem, understand the threat it poses to recreational golf and are taking serious steps to address it on both an individual and industry-wide level.

"We're a people business, and we're a service business," Richerson said. "You need to really be there to develop those relationships, and that has put a strain on the PGA professional. At our last meeting in November, and subsequent board meetings, we've talked a lot about the importance of addressing those challenges in the workforce."

On the other hand, it was also clear that their power to force change is fundamentally limited. If the obvious solution to this problem lies with clubs hiring more people so that the obligations of each individual aren't so oppressive, the equally obvious obstacle is that those same clubs have become used to pros who work long hours and can be reluctant to spend the money necessary to hire more personnel. That's equally true for public and private courses, and from pros around the country, it was more common to hear stories of boards cutting positions rather than adding them.

The good news is that pay has gone up. From 2019 to 2021, the average compensation for a full-time head golf professional rose by 8 percent, to $101,981, while the pay for full-time assistant professionals increased 16 percent, to $53,786. (Despite this development, Waugh acknowledged last November that the increase wasn't adequate.) Even with rising pay, it's important to remember the declining numbers of professionals, which highlights a truth that was repeated to me again and again: this is primarily a work-life balance problem, not a money problem.

The PGA has taken what steps it can to improve working conditions. Their career services department has grown to include more than 20 full-time career consultants who not only help pros seeking new jobs, but also work closely with the clubs themselves and their boards. If there's a position to be filled, the PGA of America can throw its hat in the ring as a search firm, and in the process encourage clubs to increase pay and consider adding new positions. For struggling pros, the Member Assistance Program, which costs just $5 annually, offers a variety of quality-of-life services, including counseling on mental health, relationship, and addiction issues.

Dan Simpson has been the head pro at Minneapolis Golf Club since 1990, and at age 54, he belongs to a generation that continued to work long, hard hours even after landing a coveted head pro job. "It's hard," he said. "I have three kids, and they're all in college, but I mean, the things I missed in the summer ..." Here, he trailed off before finishing. "I missed a lot."

Last summer, Simpson worked every day between April 1 and Sept. 25. That was nothing new for him, and in fact when he married his wife more than two decades ago, he told her that if she wanted to move forward, she'd have to understand and accept that he'd be gone for almost six months of the year.

"But after all these years, it kind of wore on her," he said. "And I don't blame her, you know?"

He still loves his job, loves the game and loves the staff and the members at his course. He can't imagine doing anything else with his life. But two years ago, he and his wife divorced.

Even today, when Derek's wife hears the words "the club," it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. "The club" was the place that meant Derek had to miss dance recitals, gymnastics, T-ball games and school plays because he was working 80 hours a week as head pro in the northwest, earning $20,000 less than his predecessor. He has fond memories of his time—he got to play Pebble, and he and his wife took a European trip together—but mostly it was a slow decline as his dream gave way to a very different reality. His favorite week every year came during an annual vacation to a remote area without cell phone coverage, because then he could truly check out and escape the stress of the job that never went away.

He began to experience constant anxiety at work. He felt damned one way or another; if he spent too much time outside with lessons, he'd be chastised for inventory work that didn't get done. If he spent too much time inside, there would be complaints that he wasn't showing his face. He was diagnosed with depression, and when the board changed over and he learned that one of the members was intent on getting him fired, he knew it was time to go. Today, he's "tenfold" happier, but it's the sacrifices he made, for what feels like nothing, that eat at him the most.

"Those days are gone for a lot of these younger pros," he said. "They want to live life, too, and you can't really blame them. Maybe people are smarter now."

While it's true that COVID has made the demands on pros and assistant pros incrementally worse, this problem didn't begin with the pandemic. In fact, it has been going on for a very long time, which leads to another question: What has changed? Why is this coming to the forefront now? According to almost everyone I spoke to who serves in a leadership capacity anywhere in the industry, part of the answer is a generational mindset shift.

Richerson, who along with his PGA presidency is the General Manager at historic Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles, has spent his career in golf management, and the perspective he sees in young workers today isn't one he recognizes from his own past.

"Thirty years ago when I was coming out of college, I didn't necessarily do it so much as a job, but as something I was passionate about," he said. "Now, I just think individuals come in for different reasons. They look at their future, their careers a bit differently. Some are willing to change industries—not just jobs, but they're willing to change industries every year or two years or three years. I don't think that's something that was common in individuals of my age."

"Young people are hoppers, right?" said Whaley, who works now as the Director of Instruction for the Country Club at Mirasol in Florida after serving as the PGA of America’s first female president. "They want a five-day work week, they want to go on vacation with their family, they want weekends off. And certainly if you get into our business, that's not the case. So you have a standard of what a traditional golf professional is used to, in terms of working hours, versus a younger generation that just says, 'no.'"

It can be easy to read some of these remarks as subtly critical, but many of the pros who came up the old way see the new generation's approach as refreshing. Simpson, the head pro at Minneapolis Golf Club, understands and even envies their perspective, even as someone who never expected anything but long hours in his own job.

"Those days are gone for a lot of these younger pros," he said. "They want to live life, too, and you can't really blame them. Maybe people are smarter now."

Aaron sees the writing on the wall, and that's why he's going back to school and planning to leave the golf industry. He's 31, and as an underpaid assistant on the east coast, a future of jumping from club to club chasing a head pro job seems less appealing all the time. His base salary is $32,000 per year (that's after a recent 10-percent raise), and the fact that he's salaried means there's no overtime when he works 12-hour days in the summer. He thinks of his life like the film “Groundhog Day”—it's the same thing every day, year after year, and he can't even go out on weekends with his fiancée or his friends. He suffers from negative thoughts, and during one of his recent reviews, he was told that the members wanted to see him smile more. That pissed him off, and he could barely suppress the first response that came into his head:

"Why would I smile?"

Steve Scott is perhaps best known as the man who stood in Tiger Woods' way in 1996 in the U.S. Amateur final, which Tiger won in 38 holes in part because Scott reminded him to move his marker back before a crucial late putt. Scott continued to play professionally until 2005, and afterward, when he pursued the club-pro path, his reputation was enough to ensure a quick ascent. Before long, he was head pro at Paramount Golf Club in New York, where he stayed until 2017. Scott had what many would consider an ideal situation. He was paid well and had a 5,000-square-foot house on the course. Still, it wasn't uncommon for him to work 80 hours a week in the busy seasons, and the service aspect of the job—appealing to members, and inevitably disappointing and being attacked by some of them—began to take its toll. He found that his patience was being tried daily, and while he's a relentlessly positive person, he could feel the burnout coming. Nor did his own skill make his job any easier.

"The ability to play well really doesn't matter much anymore," he said, laughing. "It matters in some of the clubs that are more traditional, but most other places you might as well just be a shop clerk at Macy's."

After nine years of being "bombarded and hounded," he'd had enough, and left the industry. Today, he runs the Silver Club Golfing Society , which stages tournaments nationwide for amateur golfers . He's able to work from home, and like many of the pros I spoke with, he can vividly remember the moment when he knew he'd made the right choice. It was a Memorial Day weekend, and he spent the holiday at the pool with his wife and two kids. That would be an ordinary event for many families, but for Scott, it was almost inexplicably special—he hadn't been able to do something like that for years.

The battle to educate clubs about the need for fundamental change might be the most critical fight of all, and Tom Wallace wages that war on the front lines. He spent his career in golf management—his résumé includes 10 years as General Manager at Oakmont Country Club—before moving to his current role in 2014 as a partner at the executive search firm Kopplin, Kuebler and Wallace. A big part of Wallace's job is helping clubs fill positions like director of golf and general manager and head professional, and in the process of finding the ideal candidate, he works tirelessly to convince the boards to consider quality of life. (His firm is a part of the Club Leadership Alliance, a group that educates clubs about these exact issues.) Like the PGA of America, who are technically his competitors, Wallace understands that these interactions with clubs are essential to chipping away at the problem of work-life balance—a gradual process of persuasion he calls "constant gentle pressure."

"Expectations have to change," he said. "We've spent a lot of time educating the search committees and these club boards, that these new club pros, they're not going to be there seven days a week, morning, noon and night. No one's going to work like that anymore. The industry as a whole has to make an effort. Clubs and facilities have to start to budget for the extra people you're going to need. They've got to offer a better quality of life to these young people."

If the obvious challenge is that hiring more staff means allocating more budget and potentially increasing members' dues, the persuasion has to appeal on a financial level. His pitch to them is that this isn't just a moral or empathetic choice—it's good business, too.

"You're going to get a better product," he said. "You're going to get a better director of golf, a better head pro, if they're able to spend time with their families and be home and be rested."

He sees a stark divide between the progressive clubs who are already taking steps to ensure the health and general wellbeing of their staff, and those that are not. The consequences of failing to be on the right side of that divide will be steep.

"It will continue to draw a line between those that can afford to be an employer of choice, meaning that they're not just paying well, but just as important, being able to give people their quality of life," he said, "and those that cannot."

In other words, if a club take these steps, and continues to adhere to the old model, the labor shortage will ensure that they can't land the best candidates. In turn, the ones they hire will either leave for greener pastures or be miserable in their jobs, which will harm the member experience and, inevitably, the bottom line of the club itself. If you're not "an employer of choice," your business model is about to get very difficult.

Kelly Williams, the 42-year-old club manager and former head pro at Greenbrier Golf and Country Club in Lexington, Ky., is determined to make his club an employer of choice. That’s no surprise; when it comes to quality of life, he’s taken on a role akin to a movement crusader. He served on the PGA Board of Directors until 2019, and ran for secretary of the PGA of America in 2020—a position that feeds into the presidency. Work-life balance was the major tenet of his platform, and though he began his campaign before COVID hit, it became even more poignant afterward.

As someone who once worked 80 hours per week as a head pro, the pandemic has allowed him to put his money where his mouth is, and Greenbrier is a case study for how the strain of the pandemic on golf pros can be turned to an advantage. The increase in rounds played gave Williams more freedom in his budget and allowed the club to make two major moves. First, they formed a partnership with a group of local instructors to reduce the burden on their own staff. Second, they transitioned to an increasingly common model: a head pro and a director of golf.

To Williams, this kind of flexibility on the club level has presented pros with a critical opportunity, and one that they must seize. "We're in this paradigm shift, where that old school is phasing out and the new school are becoming the club members and board members," he said. "A shift in expectations is as possible as it's ever been, and I believe it's the responsibility of the PGA members to speak for themselves in that board room when they're negotiating their contracts."

What Williams sees now is something novel for golf professionals: leverage. The declining labor pool and the scores of open positions don't just create opportunities on the individual level—they give pros and assistant pros a chance to redefine the job entirely. Another former pro I spoke to made this same point more bluntly.

"If pros don't stand up right now and say, 'No, we're not doing that,' they never will," he said. "There has never been a stronger job market. If you're a good golf professional who knows how to market yourself a little bit, there is no reason for you to stand back and take that crap anymore."

One of Williams' favorite moments came after his campaign was over, when he received a text from a longtime pro in his late 50s who had heard him speak. For the first time in his life, that pro had negotiated with his club for four weeks of vacation and was going to take a week in the middle of June for a beach vacation with his family. Williams empowered him, and his hope is that the example will be followed by other pros until it becomes commonplace.

On the other hand, his vision of a future mired in the status quo is dire—a golf industry full of clock-in, clock-out employees with no knowledge or passion for the game, and a sport that withers on the vine. He knows a hospitality industry like golf will never reach a model where employees work three 12-hour shifts each week, but he also knows that if they can't adapt and meet in the middle, a collapse is coming.

Williams lost his campaign. Ironically, one of the reasons some gave for voting against him was that he had a young family, and that the travel and responsibility that come from being the secretary, vice president and president of the PGA of America over six years would affect—yes—his work-life balance.

Despite the loss, Williams feels that he achieved something by bringing the issue to light and that attitudes are changing, if slowly. As our conversation ended, he had a final message that he delivered with a preacher's conviction.

"If you can do anything through this article," he said, "it's to write to the people who own and operate clubs and facilities and say, 'Take a look at what these people are doing for you. Make sure you're encouraging them to take time away so they can be at their best when they're present.'"

Williams knows too well that the future comes down to this. The educators can educate, the PGA of America can advocate, and the pros can fight for themselves in a patchwork substitute for collective action, but the final choice falls to the clubs.

As the crisis deepens, and the clamor grows louder, it's no longer possible for them to pretend they don't hear. The question is, will they listen?

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PGA PAST PRESIDENT PAUL LEVY NAMED 2023 UNITED STATES JUNIOR RYDER CUP TEAM CAPTAIN

January 12, 2023

PGA of America announces qualification process

FRISCO, Texas  – The PGA of America has named PGA Past President Paul Levy as Captain of the 2023 United States Junior Ryder Cup Team. He will lead the U.S. contingent of 12 boys and girls as they compete in the 12 th Junior Ryder Cup at Golf Nazionale and Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy, Sept. 26-28.

Levy, who served as the 40th PGA President, was inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2021.

“I am incredibly honored to be selected as Captain of the 2023 United States Junior Ryder Cup Team,” said Levy. “The Junior Ryder Cup is a special event that highlights the exceptionally talented junior players from across the United States and Europe. I am looking forward to leading our team in Italy.”

Levy is the President and CEO of PKL Golf Management and Club Services, which specializes in operational management and consulting services to all aspects of the golf and club industry. Additionally, Levy serves as a Search & Consulting Executive at KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, an executive search firm focused on executive placement, education and consulting.

Levy earned PGA Membership in 1986 and has served in a leadership capacity at both the Section and national levels since 1992. A member of the Southwest PGA Section, Levy brought a deep commitment to enhancing the skills and employment opportunities of PGA Professionals while serving as PGA President.

The 2023 U.S. Team, which is seeking its seventh straight victory in the biennial competition, will feature six boys and six girls who are U.S. citizens and are members of the high school graduating class of 2024 or younger. All potential players must compete in the 2023 Girls or Boys Junior PGA Championship to be eligible, unless exceptional circumstances prevent the player from competing. There will be 10 players who qualify as exemptions and two Captain’s picks made by Levy.

The final U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team will be announced on Tuesday, Aug. 8, following the 47th Junior PGA Championships.

For additional information on the qualification process and exemptions, visit https://www.juniorrydercup.com/

As of 2023, the Junior Ryder Cup will take place over three days instead of two, with the Ryder Cup venue hosting the decisive singles matches for the first time. Golf Nazionale will be the venue for the first two days of foursomes and fourballs on Tuesday, Sept. 26, and Wednesday, Sept. 27. The competition will then move to Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on the eve of the Ryder Cup, Thursday, Sept. 28.

Among Junior Ryder Cup alumni are major champions, PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players including: Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Lexi Thompson, Yealimi Noh and Brittany Altomare of the United States; and Rory McIlroy, Nicolas Colsaerts, Suzann Pettersen, Emily Pedersen and Carlota Ciganda of Europe.

*The 2020 Junior Ryder Cup was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Team was selected and performed an exhibition at Whistling Straits.

Media Contacts

Greg Dillard, PGA of America, 561-308-8013, [email protected]

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Toscana's Paul Levy to be PGA president

For Paul Levy, there is really no difference between advocating for the 28,000 members of the PGA of America and trying to grow the game of golf.

“If you look at our charter, our charter for the PGA is to help enhance economic opportunities for our professionals and grow the game of golf,” said Levy, the general manager at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells. “So I think it is both. You talk about growing the game of golf, the PGA of America is looked up to by anyone in the golf industry as being the people who teach the game, the stewards of growing the game, anything from junior golfers to getting people to enjoy the game later in life.”

Levy has had plenty of chances to help the PGA of America in those efforts in the association’s 100th year, first as secretary of the association from 2012 to 2014 and the last two years as vice president. This Friday at the PGA’s annual meeting in New York City, Levy is expected to become the president of the association for a two-year term.

“It is an unbelievable responsibility. It’s kind of something you could never even thought of 25 or 30 years ago,” Levy said. “To think that I would get to this point in my life where my fellow golf professionals, the leaders from around the country, would have enough faith in you to be able to go and have that opportunity to do that. I’m very blessed. It’s something. I take that responsibility with a great amount of care, a great amount of concern.”

Levy’s rise to the presidency began 30 years ago when he became a Class A PGA of America member and became involved with his local PGA of America chapter in south Texas. From there, he became involved in matters for the Southern Texas section, one of 41 sections for the PGA of America across the country. Eventually, that led to Levy running for secretary of the national PGA in 2010, an election he lost. But he won that office in 2012, setting up his ascend to the presidency this year.

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The PGA of America represents 24,000 Class A members and 4,000 apprentices. Those members are not necessarily the players on the PGA Tour, but the teaching pros and club professionals at golf courses across the country.

“Playing the game and teaching the game are critical. That’s what separates us from the tradition club manager or the chef at a club,” Levy said. “That's what the members and our customers respect us for.”

As he prepares for his two-year term, the 56-year-old Levy said he hopes to help the PGA with its overall strategic plan rather than having a two-year agenda that might or might not be continued under the next president.

“We are trying to stop every two years of having a president or as officers come through changing the dynamic of what the PGA focuses on day in a day out, year to year or president to president,” Levy said. “We are trying to break that mold of, okay, Paul Levy is in and I’m an employment guy, how do we get better jobs for our professionals, or I’m a junior golf advocate and then the next person comes along and their passion is the PGA Championship and how do we elevate our championships and the next person comes along and they want to figure out a way to improve the education system, we need better education.”

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Employment and education are areas where Levy feels a particular passion, he admits.

"I have been an advocate in saying how do we elevate internally for the PGA the education of our professionals so they get in the position to be GMs of clubs and operators of clubs. How do we push for that?” Levy said. “From the standpoint of our internal focus, make sure we raise the bar on our education. So those are my passions.

“Growing the game and enhancing the livelihood of our members, yeah, I’m focused very much internally on the board and fellow officers and Pete (Bevaqua, PGA CEO) on how do we enhance that,” he added.

A native of Louisiana, Levy also believes a golf professional is responsible for continuing their own education in the field. In his case, he says much of that education has come from his 18 years with Sunrise Company watching its founder, Bill Bone.

“He has given me a Ph.D in golf development, country club development. I have helped run for him high-end clubs. We have built in Las Vegas very high in resort-type golf courses, private exclusive clubs,” Levy said. “We had a hotel in Colorado back eight, nine years ago. I took over running a hotel. I have never done anything like that in my life. So from my standpoint I have continually learned more and more.”

Levy said working for people like Bone, who support his involvement with the PGA of America, can be important. In the next year, Bone estimates he’ll be out of the desert for more than 200 days, attending events like the PGA Championship and other PGA of American tournaments as well as representing the PGA at other meetings and events.

THE LEVY FILE Name: Paul Levy Position: President of Club Operations and Development for Sunrise Company, CEO and general manager at Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells. College: Louisiana State University, three-year member of school’s golf team Joined PGA of America: 1983 as an apprentice, 1986 as Class A member. PGA memberships: Duel member of Southern Texas and Southern California sections  Past positions: 1998-2000, president Southern Texas PGA section; 2004-2008, PGA Board of Control; 2007-2012, independent board member, Southern California PGA; elected secretary of PGA of America in 2012

Paul Levy, Honorary President

PGA of America

The PGA of America is one of the world's largest sports organizations, composed of PGA of America Golf Professionals who work daily to grow interest and participation in the game of golf.

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Paul levy elected 40th president of the pga of america, delegates at 100th pga annual meeting vote suzy whaley as vice president, jim richerson as secretary.

NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - November 11, 2016) - Paul Levy, of Indian Wells, California, was elected the 40 th President of the PGA of America today at the Association's 100th Annual Meeting. Levy is President of Club Operations and Development for Sunrise Company, and also is the CEO and General Manager at Toscana Country Club. Prior to being elected PGA President, Levy served as PGA Vice President and PGA Secretary.

Now a member of the Southern California PGA Section, he is the fourth person from the Section to ascend to PGA President, following Joe Novak (1949-1951), Pat Reilly (1989-1990) and Tom Addis III (1995-1996). Levy previously was president of the Southern Texas PGA Section from 1998-2000, and earned the 2000 Southern Texas PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award. He is a three-time Southern Texas Section PGA Junior Golf Leader recipient; the 1999 Section Bill Strausbaugh Award winner; and the 1997 Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities.

Succeeding Levy as Vice President is Suzy Whaley of Cromwell, Connecticut, who served the past two years as Secretary. Whaley is the first woman ever to be elected as an Officer of the Association.

Jim Richerson, of Kohler, Wisconsin, was elected to succeed Whaley as PGA Secretary. A former member of the PGA Board of Directors, Richerson is General Manager & Group Director of Golf at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. Also, Derek Sprague, of Jersey City, New Jersey, who served as the 39 th PGA President, assumes the role of PGA Honorary President. He succeeds Allen Wronowski, who completed his second two-year term.

In addition, six new members of the PGA Board of Directors and one Independent Director were sworn in: Noel Gebauer, of Schenectady, New York; Tom Henderson, of Greenwich, Connecticut; John Lindert, of Lansing, Michigan; Kelly Williams, of Lexington, Kentucky; Patrick Richardson, of Savannah, Georgia; Don Rea, Jr. of Mesa, Arizona; and Independent Director Christopher Liedel, President of Smithsonian Enterprises in Washington, D.C.

PGA President Paul Levy earned PGA membership in 1986, and has served in a leadership capacity at both the Section and National levels for nearly 25 years. From 2007-2012, Levy was elected as an Independent Director on the Southern California PGA Board of Directors. From 1999-2004, he served as General Manager and PGA Director of Golf at Royal Oaks Country Club in Houston, and was Senior Vice President of Club Operations for Sunrise Company, the developer of Royal Oaks Country Club. In 2004, Levy moved to Southern California to oversee the development of Toscana. Four years later, he became president of Club Operations and Development for Sunrise. In 1992, he founded PKL Golf Group Company, a golf management and development company, and served as its president and CEO. Levy still operates that entity today. Levy is a 1983 graduate of LSU, where he was a member of the golf team.

For a complete bio of Paul Levy, please click here .

PGA Vice President Suzy Whaley is the PGA Director of Instruction at Suzy Whaley Golf in Cromwell. Having served as PGA Secretary from 2014-2016, Whaley was also a member of the PGA Board of Directors from 2011-13. She has also served on the Connecticut PGA Section Board of Directors and as Section Vice President at Large. A dual PGA and LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Member, Whaley was also an LPGA Tour member in 1990 and 1993. She famously competed in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open, the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event.

For a complete bio on Suzy Whaley, please click here .

PGA Secretary Jim Richerson is responsible for managing all aspects of the day-to-day golf businesses for Kohler Co. While on the PGA Board of Directors, Richerson served on the PGA Budget Committee, Investment Committee and as Chair of the Golf Properties Committee. The 2013 and 2016 Wisconsin PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year, Richerson also previously won the Section's Horton Smith and Bill Strausbaugh Awards. His career has taken him to a variety of facilities -- daily-fee, semiprivate, private, and full-service resorts -- and given him an opportunity to work alongside PGA Professionals in nine PGA Sections.

The PGA Board of Directors is composed of the Association's President, Vice President, Secretary, Honorary President and 17 Directors. The Directors include representatives from each of the PGA's 14 districts, two Independent Directors and a member of the PGA Tour. New District Directors are elected by their representative PGA Sections.

For more information about the PGA of America , visit PGA.org , follow @PGAofAmerica on Twitter, and find us on Facebook .

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The Arik Levy Sculpture Park Opens In the South of France

Secret garden..

• Writer Rosie Prata

In a serene valley in Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the Côte d’Azur, a secret garden awaits. Seen from medieval ramparts, the garden stretches languorously across three acres of olive groves, along with towering cypresses, flowering citrus trees, lavender plants, and bursts of agapanthus, all reaching toward the blazing Mediterranean sun. Within this bucolic sprawl are a home and studio for two artists: Arik Levy, an industrial designer of international renown and a multidisciplinary creator of sculpture, photography, and video art, and his wife and fellow artist Zoé Ouvrier, who makes figurative woodcuts and paintings.

This May, three years after moving to the storied French village from Paris, where they lived for 17 years, the couple opened their home and grounds to private tours by appointment year round. A 20-minute drive from the Nice Côte d’Azur airport, the Arik Levy Sculpture Park will host seasonal exhibitions showcasing the artists’ monumental artworks, their home studio, and the verdant local landscape. Visitors will encounter an outdoor exhibition of more than two dozen artworks, including several from Levy’s well-known Rock series. In totemic stacks or crystalloid clusters, the sculptures look like enormous gemstones forged from industrial materials such as steel, bronze, and glass.

Photo by Florian Kleinefenn. Courtesy of Arik Levy Sculpture Park 2022.

The CraterStoneCell series. Photo by Arik Levy. Courtesy of Arik Levy Sculpture Park 2022.

Down by the stone-lined lap pool, surrounded by cypress trees, a Corten steel sculpture resembles a scaled-down version of Levy’s striking RockGrowth Hermitage, a 20-metre-tall, 140-ton monolith in mirror-polished stainless steel commissioned by the future Hermitage Contemporary Moscow to occupy its front entrance. Unsurprisingly, the Russian art museum’s opening, originally scheduled for this summer, has been put on indefinite hold.

Having grown up in Israel, Levy is no stranger to war, but in conversation he prefers to set politics aside. “I come from a place where, when I was five years old, I was wearing a gas mask in a shelter,” he says. “I know war. I have experienced war, as a soldier, as a son, as a father. I have seen people disappear in front of me. It’s not just an abstract concept or opinion I’ve read about on Instagram. I don’t get into that topic with people, because I’m involved with it in a very different way.”

Photo courtesy of Arik Levy Sculpture Park 2022.

Levy’s first foray into art was as a 15-year-old self-described beach bum in Tel Aviv, where he was born in 1963 and spent his formative years. “I’m severely dyslexic, so school was a daily nightmare,” he says. In art, he found his “little paradise.” His parents couldn’t afford to send him to art school, and “we were buying rice, water, and gas masks and preparing to go to the army,” he says. He looked to the sand and waves around him for inspiration, and started painting surfboards, eventually turning approximately 1,500 of them into unique canvases. He had his first art exhibition in 1986.

Two years later, he followed a girlfriend to Switzerland and studied product design at Art Center College in La Tour-de-Peilz, focusing on car design. “That taught me a lot about materials and structure, and gave me insight into what I was really keen on doing, which was sculpture and painting,” he says. He then spent some time in Japan, which was a revelation, he says. “I was so attracted to the attention and care one would put into trimming a bonsai, for example. The ceremony of doing things was fascinating to me.” In the 1990s, he moved to Paris, working as an instructor at design schools and starting his own studio. His projects included furniture, lighting, jewellery, and objects for clients such as Vitra, Ligne Roset, Baccarat, Vibia, IKEA, and Swarovski. “Design, for a while, was the sponsor of my art. It was easy for me to earn my living through that, and all the money went into sculpture,” he says. “Now I do a lot less in design, because I don’t want to do services. I have only kept a few very dear relationships. Now art has grown to what I always wanted it to be: my full-time occupation.”

“I see things differently and am constantly learning new things about myself.” —Arik Levy  

A piece from the RockStoneMesh series is one of many sculptures in the grounds of the Arik Levy Sculpture Park. Photo by Arik Levy. Courtesy of Arik Levy Sculpture Park 2022.

Levy has also designed stage sets for contemporary dance productions. In 2009, he was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française by the minister of culture in recognition for his contributions. Consequently, he set up exhibitions, and now the park, like a stage. “I think about what people see from where they are, how they approach and interact with each sculpture, and what stories each sculpture will tell them. When I guide people through the park, I take them on a trip. It’s not a curator setting up an exhibition. It’s me interacting in constant dialogue with my work.”

Levy’s interest in theatre and movement fits perfectly in this home, which was designed for its previous occupant, French prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem. The former rehearsal space that Levy and Ouvrier now use as their art studio has soaring ceilings and a dance floor with springs, which accommodated Guillem’s balletic leaps in the past and prompts explorations in scale for Levy and Ouvrier’s artworks in the present. The Arik Levy Sculpture Park is “the first time in my professional and artistic life that I have lived with my works in full scale where they should be, in the garden and in my house,” Levy says. “I see things differently and am constantly learning new things about myself.”

Levy follows in the footsteps of a long line of artists who have embarked on journeys of self-discovery in the South of France, with its sublime light and balmy climate. Giants of art history such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, George Braque, and Joan Miró have left a legacy here, evidenced by the number of world-class art destinations dotting the region. What sets the Arik Levy Sculpture Park apart on this busy collectors circuit is the experience of touring an artist’s home, studio, and exhibition of the artist’s works. “We are not an institution open to the public,” Levy says. “People can have a picnic in the garden, but we show them around, we bring them into our personal space. It’s very intimate.”

Until now, Levy has shown at galleries, fairs, and auctions. His works are in major collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. “The beauty of a gallery is that there is extra oxygen there,” he says. “Works are isolated in an antiseptic environment so that they can be seen in their most recognizable states. But when people come here and see the works in a living house, they can understand how they function in dialogue.” Building a forum for the sharing of ideas is one of the sculpture park’s ambitions. Levy sees it as “a place where opinions are expressed in a full-frontal way, without the barriers that exist in fairs and galleries. My work is a crossover between a few different subjects: nature, science, what it means to be human, and social codes.” The pomposity and pretension the art world can be infamous for don’t feel possible here, with natural beauty in such wild abundance that one is humbled into a state of awe.

Building a forum for the sharing of ideas is one of the ambitions of the Arik Levy Sculpture Park. The industrial designer sees the endeavour as “a place where opinions are expressed in a full-frontal way, without the barriers that exist in fairs and galleries.”  

For the first time in Arik Levy’s life he is living “with my works in full scale where they should be, in the garden and in my house,” says the industrial designer. Photo by Florian Kleinefenn. Courtesy of Arik Levy Sculpture Park 2022.

“I sit outside in the sunshine sketching here and feel as if I am being caressed by the scent of jasmine,” Levy says. “It is almost narcotic.” He describes how blossoming cypress trees paint the place yellow with pollen, and how snow roses recently invaded an olive tree, turning it into “a small mountain covered in soft powder.” When the wild grasses and orange, lemon, grapefruit, pine, and laurel trees are trimmed, their essential oils are released into the air, creating a perfume that lasts only until the wind changes.

“Every four to six weeks we eat a different fruit from the garden,” Levy says. He lists jujube fruit, feijoa, arbutus—“like small strawberries but with a little acid, fantastic!”—nèfle du Japon, lemon caviar, and Mirabelle plums. There are 30 fig trees heaving with swollen fruit, and the couple press their own olive oil. “The house is on a slant, so if you step 20 metres away from it, it disappears. You find yourself lost in a wilderness.” Levy has considered his sculptures’ reassuring presence as familiar, human-made objects in this untamed expanse. As you are magnetically drawn to greet one sculpture, another will appear in your line of sight to lead you deeper into the terrain.

Like any good gallerist, he has also paid attention to lighting, here from the sun. “Temples, churches, and synagogues are designed so that the light comes in at a certain time of day and hits an exact spot in a specific way,” he says. “That happens here naturally with the light beaming between the cypress trees, creating zones of light and shadow.”

As live-in custodians of the sculpture park, Levy and Ouvrier pay close attention to natural rhythms, everyday rituals, and changing seasons. Forms inspired by nature are manufactured in industrial materials and then returned to the wild. Depending on the angle of approach, pattern of weather, casting of light, or time spent in solitude and stasis observing the world around you, different perspectives emerge.

In slowing down and becoming receptive to the beauty around him, Levy has been rewarded with gifts from his garden. “There’s one balcony I seek out in the morning that’s like a bird observatory, with birds talking to each other, insects buzzing and humming, and squirrels jumping from tree to tree,” he says. It’s here that you will likely find him when you visit the Arik Levy Sculpture Park, sitting in his own private box at the theatre, enjoying a new and original performance on show every day.

• Summer 2022

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PGA Past President Paul Levy Named 2023 United States Junior Ryder Cup Team Captain; Qualification Process Announced

The PGA of America has named PGA Past President Paul Levy as Captain of the 2023 United States Junior Ryder Cup Team. He will lead the U.S. contingent of 12 boys and girls as they compete in the 12th Junior Ryder Cup at Golf Nazionale and Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy, Sept. 26-28.

Levy, who served as the 40th PGA President, was inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2021.

“I am incredibly honored to be selected as Captain of the 2023 United States Junior Ryder Cup Team,” said Levy. “The Junior Ryder Cup is a special event that highlights the exceptionally talented junior players from across the United States and Europe. I am looking forward to leading our team in Italy.”

Levy is the President and CEO of PKL Golf Management and Club Services, which specializes in operational management and consulting services to all aspects of the golf and club industry. Additionally, Levy serves as a Search & Consulting Executive at KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, an executive search firm focused on executive placement, education and consulting.

Levy earned PGA Membership in 1986 and has served in a leadership capacity at both the Section and national levels since 1992. A member of the Southwest PGA Section, Levy brought a deep commitment to enhancing the skills and employment opportunities of PGA Professionals while serving as PGA President.

The 2023 U.S. Team, which is seeking its seventh straight victory in the biennial competition, will feature six boys and six girls who are U.S. citizens and are members of the high school graduating class of 2024 or younger. All potential players must compete in the 2023 Girls or Boys Junior PGA Championship to be eligible, unless exceptional circumstances prevent the player from competing. There will be 10 players who qualify as exemptions and two Captain’s picks made by Levy.

The final U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team will be announced on Tuesday, Aug. 8, following the 47th Junior PGA Championships.

For additional information on the qualification process and exemptions, visit https://www.juniorrydercup.com/

As of 2023, the Junior Ryder Cup will take place over three days instead of two, with the Ryder Cup venue hosting the decisive singles matches for the first time. Golf Nazionale will be the venue for the first two days of foursomes and fourballs on Tuesday, Sept. 26, and Wednesday, Sept. 27. The competition will then move to Marco Simone Golf & Country Club on the eve of the Ryder Cup, Thursday, Sept. 28.

Among Junior Ryder Cup alumni are major champions, PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players including: Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Lexi Thompson, Yealimi Noh and Brittany Altomare of the United States; and Rory McIllroy, Nicolas Colsaerts, Suzann Pettersen, Emily Pedersen and Carlota Ciganda of Europe.

*The 2020 Junior Ryder Cup was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Team was selected and performed an exhibition at Whistling Straits.

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How much are tickets to see Taylor Swift with Paramore in Liverpool?

Vivid Seats is the New York Post’s official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase.

Move over, John, Paul, George and Ringo.

From June 13-15, Taylor Swift will be Liverpool’s biggest name in music when she drops in for three days of back-to-back-to-back ‘Eras Tour’ concerts at Anfield Stadium with special guest Paramore.

This trio of gigs comes on the heels of Tay Tay’s weekend at Edinburgh, Scotland where a couple got married mid-concert on Friday.

“Congratulations, wow!” Swift said from the stage, according to Page Six . “I just saw that whole thing. Man, that’s amazing … Thanks for doing that at my concert; that’s a big moment!”

And if you want to see what goes down at the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer’s Liverpool shows, it isn’t too late to score last-minute tickets.

At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on tickets was $425 USD before fees on Vivid Seats.

While that may sound expensive, it is $140 cheaper (!) than the lowest-priced Liverpool seats were going for back on April 19 aka the day Swift dropped “The Tortured Poets Department,” according to our findings at the New York Post .

Want to catch the one artist that might legitimately be bigger than The Beatles live this weekend?

You’re in the right place, Liverpool Swifties.

We’ve got everything you need to know and more about Taylor’s three ‘Eras Tour’ concerts at Anfield Stadium below.

All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.

A complete calendar including all ‘Eras Tour’ Anfield Stadium concert dates and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found here:

(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout .)

Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. 

They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.

Post-“Tortured Poet’s Department” release, Swift has incorporated the new album into her shows.

For a closer look, here’s what Tay Tay played at her final Paris concert at La Defense Arena, according to  Set List FM :

01.) “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”

02.) “Cruel Summer”

03.) “The Man”

04.) “You Need to Calm Down”

05.) “Lover”

06.) “Fearless”

07.) “You Belong With Me”

08.) “Love Story”

10. )”We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

11.) “I Knew You Were Trouble”

12.) “All Too Well”

13.) “Enchanted”

14.) “…Ready for It?”

15.) “Delicate”

16.) “Don’t Blame Me”

17.) “Look What You Made Me Do”

folklore / evermore

18.) “cardigan”

19.) “betty”

20.) “champagne problems”

21.) “august”

22.) “illicit affairs”

23.) “my tears ricochet”

24.) “marjorie”

25.) “willow”

26.) “Style”

27.) “Blank Space”

28.) “Shake It Off”

29.) “Wildest Dreams”

30.) “Bad Blood”

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

31.) “Female Rage: The Musical” (contains elements of “MBOBHFT”, “WAfoLOM?”, “loml”, “So Long, London” & “BDILH”)

32.) “But Daddy I Love Him / So High School”

33.) “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”

34.) “Down Bad”

35.) “Fortnight”

36.) “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”

37.) “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”

Surprise Songs

38.) “The Alchemy / Treacherous”

39.) “Begin Again”

40.) “Lavender Haze”

41.) “Anti‐Hero”

42.) “Midnight Rain”

43.) “Vigilante Shit”

44.) “Bejeweled”

45.) “Mastermind”

46.) “Karma”

Our team has been following the ‘Eras Tour’ closely over the past year.

Over the past few months, we spoke to a Swiftie who  shared some helpful tips  about seeing Taylor live, reported on  dropping ticket prices  and  came up with a list of all the most exciting fan trends .

Swift’s  “The Tortured Poets Department”  was released at midnight (and subsequently at 2 a.m.) on Friday, April 19.

While every listener will likely come away with their own favorites, we particularly enjoyed the sleek, synthy “Fortnight,” icy “So Long, London,” anthemic “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” a bombastic slow build of “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and gorgeously arranged “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.”

If you want to give it a spin — if you haven’t already, that is — you can find “The Tortured Poets Department”  here .

The Hayley Williams-fronted pop-punk rockers are opening for Swift from May through August this year. This may come as a bit of a surprise to some fans considering that the group mounted a successful arena tour of their own in 2023.

That tour, came on the heels of Paramore’s 2022 reunion; prior to that, the band had been on a five-year hiatus.

For fans who want to check out their latest, their 2023 album “This Is Why” can be heard  here .

Although it will cost an arm and a leg (sometimes more!) to see Swift live this year, there are much more affordable — likely stateside — concerts you can attend this year.

Here are just five of our favorite artists you won’t want to miss live.

•  Olivia Rodrigo

•  Kacey Musgraves

•  Pink

•  Gracie Abrams

•  Billie Eilish

Who else is on the road this year? Check out our list of the  50 biggest concert tours in 2024  to find out.

This article was written by Matt Levy , New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed Bruce Springsteen and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.

Vivid Seats is the New York Post's official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase.

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Martin lawrence announces first stand-up tour in 8 years. get tickets.

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Martin Lawrence is a Bad Boy and comedian for life.

The 59-year-old stand-up comic just announced he’s hitting the road for his first tour since 2016 starting this July.

Dubbed the ‘Y’all Know What It Is! Tour,’ the “Big Momma’s House” star will hit arenas all over North America from July 2024 through April 2025 with special guests Deon Cole , Adele Givens , Ms. Pat , Desi Banks , Gary Owen , and more joining him on select dates.

Along the way, Lawrence is scheduled to swing into Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Jan. 24 and Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Jan. 25.

A press release for the tour promises an hour of comedy “where Martin brings the real talk and finds the funny in everything from family to culture as only he can.”

“Comedy gives me that instant gratification,” Lawrence shared. “Seeing the fans up close and in person, making people laugh, doing what I love most, this is what it’s all about for me. But hey…y’all know what it is!”

If you can’t wait to see Lawrence live this year, fans can now purchase tickets on sites like Vivid Seats ; the official on-sale is Friday, May 17.

Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.

Martin Lawrence tour schedule 2024-25

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues, and links to buy tickets can be found below.

“Bad Boys: Ride Or Die”

The fourth installment of the “Bad Boys” franchise is set for release on June 7.

This time around, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith will be joined by Tiffany Haddish, Rhea Seehorn and Vanessa Hudgens.

Want to catch the trailer? A sneak peek of “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” can be seen here:

Martin Lawrence special guests

As noted above, Lawrence is bringing a number of special guests along for the ride this year.

If one of your favorite acts isn’t joining him at the show nearest you, you can find all of their tour calendars below:

More comics will be announced at a later date.

Huge comedians on tour in 2024

Lawrence isn’t the only barn burning funnyman on the road this year.

Here are just five of our favorite performers you won’t want to miss live these next few months.

•  Kevin Hart

•  DL Hughley

•  Tracy Morgan

•  Eddie Griffin

•  Wanda Sykes

Who else is hitting the stage these next few months? Check out our list of the 107 biggest comedians on tour in 2024 to find out.

Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post

This article was written by Matt Levy , New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed Bruce Springsteen and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.

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What to know about Russia’s growing influence in Africa

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat pledged help and military assistance while on a whirlwind tour of several countries in Africa’s sub-Saharan region of Sahel this week, as Moscow seeks to grow its influence in the restive, mineral-rich section of the continent.

Russia is emerging as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments in the region, displacing traditional allies like France and the United States. Sergey Lavrov, who has made several trips to Africa in recent years, this week stopped in Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Chad.

READ MORE: U.S. military defends Africa strategy in light of coups and a drift toward Russia

Moscow has aggressively expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the private security company Wagner and its likely successor, Africa Corps, with Russian mercenaries taking up roles from protecting African leaders to helping states fight extremists.

The Polish Institute of International Affairs said in a study this month that in “creating the Africa Corps, Russia took an assertive approach to expand its military presence in Africa.

Moscow is also seeking political support, or at least neutrality, from many of Africa’s 54 countries over its invasion of Ukraine. African nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other group on General Assembly resolutions criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Russia-linked entities also spread disinformation to undermine ties between African states and the West, the Africa Center For Strategic Studies, an academic institution within the U.S. Department of Defense, wrote in a March report. Moscow has been “sponsoring 80 documented campaigns, targeting more than 22 countries,” it said.

Here’s a look at how Russia is expanding its influence in Africa.

Why are African nations turning to Russia?

Russia has taken advantage of political unrest and discontent in coup-hit nations, capitalizing on popular frustration and anger with former colonial power France. Military coups have ousted governments seen close to France and the West and doing little to alleviate grinding poverty, unemployment and other hardships.

Russia offers security assistance without interfering in politics, making it an appealing partner in places like Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military juntas that seized power in recent years. In return, Moscow seeks access to minerals and other contracts.

Violence linked to extremists allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has been on the rise in Sahel for years, despite efforts by France, the U.S. and other Western allies to help fight the jihadi groups there. In 2013, France launched a near decade long operation in Mali to help fight militants, which expanded to Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. The operation ended nine years later but the conflict did not, contributing to anger with the West.

The U.S. has further lost its footing with key allies for forcing issues — including democracy or human rights — that many African states see as hypocrisy, given Washington’s close ties to some autocratic leaders elsewhere.

While the West may pressure African coup leaders over democracy and other issues, Russia doesn’t meddle in domestic affairs, Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, told The Associated Press.

What is Russia’s interest in African countries?

Africa is rich in minerals, oil and other resources, which come with political and legal challenges. Its resources are increasingly central to economic and national security, such as cobalt, which is used in electronics like mobile phones, or lithium, which is used in batteries.

Russia has thrived in countries where governance is limited, and has signing mining deals through companies it controls. An EU parliament study showed that Russia secured access to gold and diamonds in the Central African Republic, cobalt in Congo, gold and oil in Sudan, chromite in Madagascar, platinum and diamonds in Zimbabwe, and uranium in Namibia.

The U.S. based non-profit Democracy 21 group said in an analysis last December that Wagner and Russia may have made about $2.5 billion through the African gold trade alone since invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Though Russia is increasingly a partner to African countries in the oil and mining sector, it lags far behind as an overall trading partner. For example, data by the International Monetary shows less than 1% of Africa’s exports go to Russia, compared with 33% to the European Union.

Where do Russian contractors operate in Africa?

The first reports of Wagner mercenaries in Africa emerged in late 2017, when the group was deployed to Sudan to provide support to then-President Omar al-Bashir, in exchange for gold mining concessions. Wagner’s presence soon expanded to other African countries.

In 2018, Russian contractors showed up to back powerful commander Khalifa Hifter in eastern Libya who was battling militants. They also helped Hifter in his failed attempt to seize the capital of Tripoli a year later.

In the Central African Republic, Russian mercenaries have been providing security since in 2018 and in return have gained access to some of the country’s gold and diamond mines.

Coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Niger in 2023, brought military juntas critical of the West to power. All three eventually ordered French and other Western forces out, and instead turned to Russia for military support.

Niger ordered the U.S. to withdraw its troops and close its multimillion dollar flagship investment in a sprawling military and spy base in Agadez earlier this year, after a meeting with a U.S. delegation ended poorly. The decision has upended U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Africa’s Sahel.

Weeks later, Russian trainers arrived in Niger with new defense equipment.

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Biden authorizes Ukraine to fire U.S. weapons into parts of Russia

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