BERMUDA'S professional golfers are getting serious.

With a new man - Belmont's Alex Madeiros - at the helm of the Bermuda Professional Golfers Association (BPGA) and a new executive committee in place, an organisation which has long maintained a low, almost secretive profile, is redefining its goals.

And on top of the agenda is an attempt to affiliate the association with the New England PGA with which Bermuda has enjoyed friendly ties for many years.

If that comes about there will likely be benefits for players on both sides of the Atlantic with each competing in the others' tournaments and sharing developmental plans.

Madeiros, who moved into the hot seat when former president Leon Williams stepped down at last month's annual general meeting, is excited about the prospects.

"We're looking at becoming a chapter of the New England division," confirmed Madeiros this week. "That would allow us the flexibility to go overseas and play and compete in their tournaments as well as their players come here.

"They're working very hard their end to see how this will work and if it's within their by-laws.

"And if it is, then we will certainly will go ahead and make it official. That's something that we're very excited about.

"What I'd like to see this association do in the next five years, maybe even 10 years, is become a stepping stone for individuals who want to use golf as a career.

"And golf is a career. For whatever reason you get into it, the Professional Golfers Association should be there to assist you. We want to put these things into place so that a youngster coming up can look up to the association and we can be there to help them.

"What that might mean is making a phone call overseas, in this case New England, and saying we have a young man or woman coming over, is there any possible way we can put him or her in a golf club to gain some extra experience? These are the things we are looking at."

Madeiros admitted that in recent years the local PGA had not served its members particularly well, but the new executive were committed to moving forward.

"What we're trying to do, basically, is better position ourselves with the public," he said. "We want to put ourselves back into view so to speak. Obviously, we're going to have more tournaments and host more tournaments and we're going to become a bit more involved with the junior programmes and the juniors themselves.

"I know there are already some guys involved with the youngsters. But we're going to have to set some more objectives, more goals and have a purpose.

"What we're trying to do is have better communication among ourselves.

"I think we've wandered off course a little, become a little bit disillusioned. But I think now the excitement is back and it's just a matter of leadership and getting the committee working together."

Madeiros will be getting a helping hand from treasurer Eardley Jones and secretary Linda Semple along with a committee which includes Frankie Rabain, Derrick Douglas, Andrew Trott, Darren Swan, Herbie Minors, Bentley Gibbons and Dwayne Pearman.

"It's a strong committee - some experience and some new faces as well," added Madeiros. "And we're definitely excited about the future. If we can pull this off with the New England PGA it will be a big boost for us and we'll start to go out and get more sponsorship for our local tournaments.

"There used to be a New England-Bermuda annual match and we're going to restart that. The guys in New England are excited about that and hopefully we can get it going again this year.

"We want to rebuild this association, and we're really working hard to re-establish ourselves. We want to be a viable association."