Catherine Tumbleson

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:47:27 GMT

The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters are in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that runs from February to December each year. Other "LPGA"s exist in other countries, each with a geographical designation in its name, but the U.S. organization is the largest and best known. The LPGA is also an organization for female club and teaching professionals. This is different from the PGA Tour, which runs the main professional tours in the U.S. and, since 1968, has been independent of the club and teaching professionals' organization, the PGA of America. Although the LPGA logo is a registered trademark and cannot be used on promotional products or decorated apparel without permission from the organization, there are many unscrupulous companies that traffic in counterfeit PGA merchandise. The most counterfeited LPGA apparel item is golf shirts (also known as polo shirts). In addition, the top golf shirt brands are counterfeited such as Nike, Adidas, Ping, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Izod and Arnold Palmer. The second most counterfeited LPGA apparel item is jackets and t-shirts, with printed t-shirts being the most popular followed by embroidered t-shirts. Tied for third place are embroidered patches and hats. The least counterfeited LPGA apparel or accessories items are sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts (hoodies) and fleece blankets. The LPGA was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 golfers: Alice Bauer, Patty Berg, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Betty Jameson, Sally Sessions, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias. It is now the oldest ongoing women's professional sports organization in the United States.