01
Player Representation
Fifty years of representing PGA Tour, LPGA, and Champions Tour professionals — from the founding class of Pate, Burns, and Koch to a generation of major champions and Walker Cup players.
Richmond, Virginia · Established 1973
Built on relationships. Rooted in innovation.
Pros, Incorporated is a sports marketing company with a focus on golf — with a fifty-year track record that extends into all aspects of sport, from the fans in the stands to the players on the field to the sponsors who make it all possible.
“We were thirty years old. We capitalized our business with a grand total of fifty thousand dollars, which lasted for about a week and a half.”
1973
Founded in Richmond
50+
Years in Sport
10+
Major Champions Represented
260
Acres in Midlothian
What We Do
Four practices, one philosophy.
For five decades, Pros, Incorporated has worked across every side of the game — the players who compete, the sponsors who invest, the tournaments that bring them together, and the properties that host the moments.
02
Sponsor Marketing
Building relationships between brands and the game. We help companies leverage golf and golfers to sell more of their goods and services — the discipline that has run through the firm since Giff Breed joined in 1996.
03
Tournament & Event Management
Professional tournament management, corporate consulting, and event production — practices formalized during the Octagon era and carried forward under Pros, Incorporated today.
04
Property Ownership
Through subsidiary ProsInc, LLC, the firm owns Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Virginia — a Tom Fazio championship course with a 30,000 sq. ft. destination clubhouse.
Our History
Fifty years, three chapters, one calling.
What began in 1973 as a two-man agency in Richmond has grown into one of the most enduring names in American sports marketing. The story unfolds in three chapters.
1973
Founded by two friends with $50,000.
Vinny Giles and Vernon “Sprats” Spratley — accomplished lawyers who first met as colleagues at Wheat First Securities in Richmond — started Pros, Incorporated with $50,000 of capital. Their first official business trip was to the 1973 Masters.
In 1975 they signed the top three qualifiers out of PGA Tour Q-School — Jerry Pate, George Burns, and Gary Koch — and the firm was on the map. Over the next quarter century, Pros, Incorporated built one of the most respected client rosters in American golf.
1999
Acquired by Octagon.
After twenty-five years of independent operation, the firm joined sports marketing leader Octagon, and its client roster became part of one of the largest agencies in the world.
Within Octagon, the newly formed golf team — led by Giff Breed as Managing Director of the Golf Division — expanded well beyond player representation. The group formalized professional tournament management, opened a corporate-consulting practice for major sponsors, launched a division representing professional anglers, and built out digital and new-media capabilities that put the practice on the leading edge of the industry.
2011
Back in Richmond hands.
In July 2011, Giff Breed purchased Pros, Incorporated back from Octagon. He and Vinny Giles launched ProsInc Player Management, representing a select group of PGA Tour professionals, including Ernie Els. That business was later sold to IMG.
Today Pros, Incorporated operates through a group of subsidiaries. ProsInc, LLC — owned with Alan Breed — owns Independence Golf Club, with a sale to Heritage Golf Group recently agreed. ProsInc Golf Management partnered with Henrico County to reopen The Crossings Golf Course, which was subsequently purchased from the county by McConnell Golf.
Client Roster
A roster that shaped the game.
Across five decades, Pros, Incorporated and its client roster have counted major champions, Hall of Famers, Walker Cup players, coaches, and broadcast talent among their number. A selected list of past and present clients.
- Jerry Pate
- George Burns
- Gary Koch
- Tom Kite
- Davis Love III
- Lanny Wadkins
- Bobby Wadkins
- Justin Leonard
- Brad Faxon
- Butch Harmon
- Beth Daniel
- Meg Mallon
- Ernie Els
Client relationships across the PGA Tour, LPGA, Champions Tour, and the amateur game — including multiple major champions and Walker Cup players.
Featured Property
Independence Golf Club.
Broadly credited as an innovator in the golf space, Independence has earned a national reputation for course quality, hospitality, and the guest experience — a 260-acre destination that is home to championship golf, a full-service restaurant, and one of the region’s signature events venues.
Midlothian, Virginia
A championship golf course with world-class experiences.
Designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2001, Independence sits on 260 acres just west of Richmond. Under the ownership of Giff and Alan Breed since October 2013, the course was renovated by architect Lester George and the property was rebuilt into a 30,000-square-foot destination clubhouse — one of the most complete public golf experiences in the mid-Atlantic.
- 18-hole Tom Fazio championship course
- 30,000 sq. ft. destination clubhouse
- Full practice complex & teaching center
- Home of the State Open of Virginia
- Co-Host, 2024 USGA Mid-Amateur Championship (with Kinloch Golf Club)
Beyond the Course
A destination, not just a golf club.
The Independence property was built to be a full destination. Alongside the championship course, we conceived, built, and operate two additional brands on the same grounds — expanding the business well beyond the golf calendar.
Restaurant
Tavern 19
Kitchen & Taphouse — built inside the clubhouse.
Conceived and operated as the property’s dining anchor. Open daily to the public with indoor, patio, and Lexus View seating — a neighborhood restaurant with a following that extends well beyond the golf membership.
Events Venue
The Estate at Independence
A dedicated weddings and events business, built on the grounds.
Developed as a standalone brand with its own identity, ceremony sites, and ballroom facilities — a signature Richmond-area venue and a demonstration of what a golf property can become.
Selected Recognition
- Golf Digest Best in State — Virginia Top public courses, 2023–2026
- Golf Digest Top 10 Best Remodels in America Lester George renovation, 2015–2016
- Golf World #3 Best Public Course in the Country Readers' Choice, 2009–2010
- Golf World #1 Best Public Practice Facility Readers' Choice, 2009–2010
- ASGCA Design Excellence Award American Society of Golf Course Architects, 2015
- NGCOA Award for Innovation & Leadership Awarded to Giff Breed, owner & president
Leadership
The stewards of the second half-century.
Giff Breed
President & Owner
Giff joined Pros, Incorporated in 1996, working for both Vinny Giles and Vernon Spratley. While Vinny and “Sprats” handled the players, Giff’s focus was on marketing and building relationships with sponsors looking to leverage golf and golfers to sell more of their goods and services. After the acquisition by Octagon, Giff was named Managing Director of the Golf Division before buying Pros, Incorporated back in July of 2011.
A graduate of the University of Richmond — where he played baseball for the Spiders — he earned an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia in 1987. His career prior to sports marketing was in consumer packaged goods, holding senior marketing roles at several top CPG companies with a focus on new products and initiatives. He is a past recipient of the NGCOA Award for Innovation & Leadership.
Vinny Giles
Founder Emeritus
Marvin M. “Vinny” Giles III co-founded Pros, Incorporated in 1973. A three-time All-American at the University of Georgia, U.S. Amateur champion (1972), British Amateur champion (1975), U.S. Senior Amateur champion (2009), and four-time Walker Cup player, Vinny is a member of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame — and is widely considered one of the top five amateurs who never turned professional to ever play the game.
Vernon Spratley
Founder Emeritus
Vernon “Sprats” Spratley co-founded Pros, Incorporated with Vinny Giles in 1973. An accomplished lawyer who first met Giles at Wheat First Securities, he helped build the client roster that made the company one of the most respected sports marketing firms of its generation.
Sprats defined the “Virginia Gentleman” culture that still runs through the firm today — gracious, honorable, dignified, and honest. An accomplished fly fisherman, he brought the same quiet patience to the water that he brought to the office.
- Office
- Richmond, Virginia
- President
- Giff Breed
- Direct
- 804.601.8019
- giff@prosinc.com