History
History of the European Senior Golf Association
Since more than a century, amateur senior golfers meet worldwide. After the second World War, the development of golf increased in Europe, accompanied by reinforced friendship among senior players.
President Michael Kieffer from the French Senior Association invited on December 4th 1980 representatives of several European Associations i.e Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. It was decided to organize an annual Championship, only for male members of the European Associations.
MM Negre (France), Mondolfi (Italy) and De Bruijn (Luxembourg) were asked to prepare Rules and Guidelines for such an event, stressing the sportive character for golfers of 55 of age and older, and the friendly relationship between European Associations. It was decided to have two competitions: a gross Championship and a net Cup with handicap.
The Italian Association organized the first Championship and Cup at the famous Olgiata Golf Club of Roma from the 5th to 7th of November 1982 and invited all the other European Associations, including at that time Greece, Finland, Iceland and even Ireland. Twelve Associations participated with nearly 100 players, and Sweden won the Championship, while Italy won the Cup.
In 1983, France invited at Saint-Cloud for the Championship and in Sant-Germain for the Cup. 108 players from 12 Associations competed and the winners were respectively Sweden and France.
In 1984, Luxembourg hosted the competitions at the Grand Ducal, with 14 Associations playing, and the development continued fast as you can see on the attached Hall of Fame.
The statutes of ESGA were registered on the 30th of April 1996. Its head Office is located at the Golf Club Grand Ducal, rue de Treves , Sennigerberg in Luxembourg.
Following a proposal of Spain, it was decided to organize a second tournament for senior golfers of 70 and older : the ESGA Masters Team Championship & Cup, also divided in a gross Championship and a net Cup. This successful initiative started in the year 2000 in Spain, where it was also played in 2001. Since then the tournament has been organized every year in another country.
Since golf took up in the former Eastern European countries, ESGA expanded rapidly with the Senior Golfers Associations of Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and more countries to come from the Eastern part of Europe.
In 2012, an ESGA website was launched to support the good organization of the championships and is now an operational tool with easy access and interactivity for all the members.
In 2017 a new category was tested in Czech Republic and the year after in Portugal, before being approved by the General Assembly as the ESGA Super Masters Team Trophy for the players of 75 years of age and older.
In 2019 the General Assembly decided to change the age class for ESGA Masters Team Championship & Cup from 70+ to 65+. From 2020 it was introduced new names for 65+ and 75+:
65+: ESGA Super Seniors Championship and Cup
75+: ESGA Masters Trophy
List of Presidents:
Adriaan De Bruijn (Luxembourg) 1982 - 1998
Paul Lozé (France) 1998 – 2003
Hans Tuyt (Netherlands) 2003 – 2010
Philippe Verstraeten (Luxembourg) 2010 – 2013
Georges Gevers (Belgium) 2013 – 2019
Bart Constandse (Netherlands) 2019 –
List of Treasurers :
Philippe Verstraeten (Luxembourg) 1998 – 2010
Georges Kieffer (Luxembourg) 2010 – 2021
Antoine Zouliamis (Luxembourg) 2021 -
List of Secretaries General :
Paul Lozé (France) 1998
Philippe Verstraeten (Luxembourg) 1998 – 2008
Rolf Olland (Netherlands) 2008 – 2014
Georges Kieffer (Luxembourg) 2014 – 2016
Gutmann Habig (Germany) 2016 -
