Seth Waugh steps down as PGA CEO. Plus, Scheffler on Pinehurst, Keeper of the Green details St Andrews prep work, one element of the '25 Ryder Cup is on schedule, Quotable, This, That and Reads.
So at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January the rumor at the Show was that the rank & file PGA wanted Seth Waugh gone when his contract came up for renewal in June. Well low & behold the rumor proved true and the PGA of America terminated Seth Waugh!
Waugh did not leave on his own despite spin we are seeing from PGA!
Though do we think he even fought it much? The dude is generationally wealthy. He's made a pretty stellar reputation/legacy. I always found this PGA gig for him as a labor of love, to give back to the game. If he wasn't wanted, or would have to be in fights...just bail! Let the sweater folders do what they want while you luxuiously live out your days playing with Tiger and whoever.
Bomb and gouge was never supposed to be a way to play, contend and win the US Open. Bison now has won two of them doing just that. That a lie in the most demanding of the Major championships is a matter of pure dumb luck is a shame. Scottie's comments not withstanding. Gross
I think if a few greens were deflated to their old elevations and sizes it would make a huge difference in feeling a little less tricked up. And 14 on the stimp doesn't help. I couldn't quite tell by Scottie's remarks how he felt about the greens (even after reading them four times).
It should be a concern but so far they haven't shown that to be the case. Rory hitting 82% of his fairways has to be scratching his head wondering why Bryson's claims of being able to hit it anywhere in the face are not receiving more scrutiny. Though Rory's accuracy has gone up with a club switch this year, though how much is club and how much is technique and how much relates to the quality of the previous model, is not clear.
I'd love to read a deep diving expose on the PGA of America. Like, what is its purpose, what does it do, where's the scam (there HAS to be one)? It's got to be more insular and crazy vs the TOUR.
I dont understand the special training it takes to run a golf shop. Or golf course. Or give lessons. I've had the local pros lie to my kids about their caddy status, their pro shop job status. One caddy master was fired mid-season for embezzling cash from KIDS, and we had 2 local public course pros fired lately for...stealing from the org. Thank god you make me take a cart on your totally walkable course so you get the cart fee!
The recent golf digest expose on the miserable life most pros have seems to show the PGA is an ineffective org.
So good luck replacing a smart, experienced, worldly CEO with some driving range owner, who I'm sure will be a force when negotiating with the John Henrys and Comcasts of the world.
*There are plenty of great pros out there, I'm sure and I wish you all were treated great. But I had a colleague one time tell me that getting a job in your passion was a bad deal, because then your love becomes a drag, you see how it's not as great as you hoped, etc. He was the PR guy for Playboy at one time.
It is an odd organization with a lot of tremendous people but also some folks who don't want it to be a union. The Digest story should have been opportunity for them to highlight how nuts golfers have gotten about expectations both off course and on (a lot of supers suffer similar burnout due to the weird hours and insane pressures. Golf would be a better game if no course opened until 8 am! Kind of like young kids should sleep in and start school at 9 and play until dark, but with things thriving it's a tricky position for the PGA to complain about things as they are going well. The saddest situation to me is the loss of the course pro shop as the place people buy things. It was a better game when that was the case and the pro was valued more at a course. Fitting expertise has helped bring some of that back, thankfully.
I mean yes, and no. Courses CAN be open from 5 until 9 with smart staffing, no prob. But who says a PGA pro has to be there at all the hours? Is this like there must be an anestheisologist or brain surgeon on call 24/7 for an emergency? My daughter works in a pro shop – she can check people in and take their money even without PGA certification.
And I do think there is a massive difference between private clubs (where pros are part of the culture, good or bad) to public (where they run the pro shop? facilitate charity scrambles?). Merch is a perfect example — people buy stuff at private clubs to show off and meet their minimums; the only people buying stuff at public courses are non-golfers who need balls/shoes/collared shirt for an outing. [TIP: Ensure your course has a COOL logo/icon. No words. Put it on the sleeve, not the chest. Don't charge FULL retail, but make some $. I'll buy it. At your course]
I am a loyal subscriber and I realize this is about golf and the business, but switching from the major online news sources and world affairs to a dense and tedious review of PGA leadership maneuvers made my eyelids droop. Similarly, I could have done without the self analysis by “world #1.”
I'd say they'd be selling The PGA Championship and The Ryder Cup at the top of the market and should do it. They could use the $$ to build a tour around PGA Professionals and other projects (The Grass League, Good Good, CPG). Dumb idea?
Bingo. There will never be a better time to sell these assets than right now. The power they have should be focused on executing the business of golf and helping golfers play better and have more fun on the course.
That decision by the Dutch is absolutely indefensible! Amazing. Joost Luiten and Anne van Dam are accomplished players who could easily win a medal in any given week. Have never heard of the other fellow but presumably he is too. It's not swimming, say, where #302 in the world has no shot.
It really is pitiful and the kind of silly political/clueless bureaucrat thing that has increasingly made the Olympics tough to take. The International Golf Federation should be making a lot of noise by protesting and trying to find a way around this with the IOC. (They did finally release a statement today.) But the president is busy prepping for the American Century Championship!
Olympics bureaucracy is "like no other." Just wait until Thomas Bach calls upon the "youth of thew world" to compete/assemble in four more years.....how about the youth of Ukraine being ground up by Putin, or the Ukrainian children being kidnapped? The stuffed shirts at the Ritz will let the Russians compete...nothing to see here.
What exactly are they doing at Riv? I can't imagine lengthening those holes unless they move cart paths and tees and put 4 tee where the cart path goes on 18 and 18 tee where the trees are behind 3 next to 4?
Yes, but more gradual than at the 5th tee. The bigger issue is changing the angle of the tee shot. A Redan or modified one that Thomas loved is definitely meant to play a certain way. Moving tees off a line that lays out the menu of options speaks to a pretty incredible ignorance of some basic stuff. But we'll see!
Great stuff and Scheffler stoped short of sayin that Pinehurst greens are a bit ticked up. But for fans very entertaining. Once again the the PGAT main fault is exposed in that it controls none of the big tournaments and their biggest event The Players has been severely damaged during the Civil War. Is it possible that the Tour will have a two tier purse system for members and non members. Because as I survey the schedule after the 4 majors the 5th best tournament is the Scottish Open?
I think market forces will eventually force that to save events and sponsors, but it'll get ugly before they reach that point. Of course, no fan cares on lick about purses at this point yet they are really putting a stake in the ground insisting PGA Tour players are underpaid. They are not, particularly with this year's ratings.
Very interesting as usual. I wish some of your URL links didn't require subscriptions to read (e.g. NYT). Maybe you could put a dollar sign next to those links so I don't waste my time clicking them.
Some random thoughts as I have given up trying to be intellectual/informed/introspective about the business of golf:
1. PGAT to sponsors ... I say jump, you say how high. Maybe that's coming to an end.
2. Investors invest to make money. Their only goal. They're masters at making money at your expense. Anything else they do/say is BS. Yeah yeah yeah ... we're improving your "experience". So when Seth Waugh, et al, shake your hand make sure the other isn't reaching for your wallet.
3. The PGA of America has a very rigorous program to be a club pro. But they don't tell you the truth about golf lessons though. Either you're born with a golf swing or you're screwed. One cannot acquire a golf swing. How many athletes from other sports can't hit a ball not moving. How many pros can't hit a 95 mph fastball. That's a talent one is born with also ... no matter how many hours one spends in a batting cage. Have decided I'm no longer going to help our pro pay for his new car. Bought a new lawnmower instead.
4. First rule in leadership: If you're going to be an asshole/dick be the biggest one possible ... all the time.. Greg Norman does that well.
5. Follow the money. It would be interesting to see the financials of a tournament: where does the revenue come from and to where/whom it's distributed. The $10 hot dog ... does the charity get $9 or $1?
6. Do I practice today or try out my new lawnmower? Easy decision. Lawnmower is more fun. Well almost as much fun as Geoff's insightful (dare I say sarcastic/cynical) comments.
I do sense a stadium approach is coming to tournaments with the Tour pushing to have their Championship Management running all of them at some point and using the private equity model of fees and other weird ideas to pluck as much revenue out of them that once went to charity.
On our 2017 road trip, we went to Quail Hollow. It was the last Aug. PGA . The players were allowed to wear shorts in the heat, which at the time was new. Some changed and some were reticent to do so. But with the change , we traveled to 4 other PGA's. Would we have traveled to Tulsa or Louisville in the heat? I don't think so. We have enjoyed the hospitality of many cities thanks to the move. The downside of course ...after the Open...it's a long time to Augusta...and I will be Fed Ex overdosed. It brought us to markets that we wouldn't have explored otherwise. I liked many of Seths initiatives.
Great New Yorker story on Dr. Neal ElAttrache. For some reason Dr. Kerlan told me the story about flying out to Pittsburgh to visit with the parents and "ask permission to hire him to come to Los Angeles." The story stuck with me for whatever reason, maybe because it is so proper and unusual. Kerlann said he was a great young man with wonderful potential as a doctor. Guess he was right as he usaually was.
So at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January the rumor at the Show was that the rank & file PGA wanted Seth Waugh gone when his contract came up for renewal in June. Well low & behold the rumor proved true and the PGA of America terminated Seth Waugh!
Waugh did not leave on his own despite spin we are seeing from PGA!
Absolutely not. The timing, etc., surrounding it smell completely like a negotiated but forced departure.
Though do we think he even fought it much? The dude is generationally wealthy. He's made a pretty stellar reputation/legacy. I always found this PGA gig for him as a labor of love, to give back to the game. If he wasn't wanted, or would have to be in fights...just bail! Let the sweater folders do what they want while you luxuiously live out your days playing with Tiger and whoever.
Bomb and gouge was never supposed to be a way to play, contend and win the US Open. Bison now has won two of them doing just that. That a lie in the most demanding of the Major championships is a matter of pure dumb luck is a shame. Scottie's comments not withstanding. Gross
Pinehurst, while entertaining, is a tricked up venue between the greens and the sandy areas.
Surprised the USGA made this an anchor course.
I think if a few greens were deflated to their old elevations and sizes it would make a huge difference in feeling a little less tricked up. And 14 on the stimp doesn't help. I couldn't quite tell by Scottie's remarks how he felt about the greens (even after reading them four times).
It should be a concern but so far they haven't shown that to be the case. Rory hitting 82% of his fairways has to be scratching his head wondering why Bryson's claims of being able to hit it anywhere in the face are not receiving more scrutiny. Though Rory's accuracy has gone up with a club switch this year, though how much is club and how much is technique and how much relates to the quality of the previous model, is not clear.
I'd love to read a deep diving expose on the PGA of America. Like, what is its purpose, what does it do, where's the scam (there HAS to be one)? It's got to be more insular and crazy vs the TOUR.
I dont understand the special training it takes to run a golf shop. Or golf course. Or give lessons. I've had the local pros lie to my kids about their caddy status, their pro shop job status. One caddy master was fired mid-season for embezzling cash from KIDS, and we had 2 local public course pros fired lately for...stealing from the org. Thank god you make me take a cart on your totally walkable course so you get the cart fee!
The recent golf digest expose on the miserable life most pros have seems to show the PGA is an ineffective org.
So good luck replacing a smart, experienced, worldly CEO with some driving range owner, who I'm sure will be a force when negotiating with the John Henrys and Comcasts of the world.
*There are plenty of great pros out there, I'm sure and I wish you all were treated great. But I had a colleague one time tell me that getting a job in your passion was a bad deal, because then your love becomes a drag, you see how it's not as great as you hoped, etc. He was the PR guy for Playboy at one time.
It is an odd organization with a lot of tremendous people but also some folks who don't want it to be a union. The Digest story should have been opportunity for them to highlight how nuts golfers have gotten about expectations both off course and on (a lot of supers suffer similar burnout due to the weird hours and insane pressures. Golf would be a better game if no course opened until 8 am! Kind of like young kids should sleep in and start school at 9 and play until dark, but with things thriving it's a tricky position for the PGA to complain about things as they are going well. The saddest situation to me is the loss of the course pro shop as the place people buy things. It was a better game when that was the case and the pro was valued more at a course. Fitting expertise has helped bring some of that back, thankfully.
I mean yes, and no. Courses CAN be open from 5 until 9 with smart staffing, no prob. But who says a PGA pro has to be there at all the hours? Is this like there must be an anestheisologist or brain surgeon on call 24/7 for an emergency? My daughter works in a pro shop – she can check people in and take their money even without PGA certification.
And I do think there is a massive difference between private clubs (where pros are part of the culture, good or bad) to public (where they run the pro shop? facilitate charity scrambles?). Merch is a perfect example — people buy stuff at private clubs to show off and meet their minimums; the only people buying stuff at public courses are non-golfers who need balls/shoes/collared shirt for an outing. [TIP: Ensure your course has a COOL logo/icon. No words. Put it on the sleeve, not the chest. Don't charge FULL retail, but make some $. I'll buy it. At your course]
I am a loyal subscriber and I realize this is about golf and the business, but switching from the major online news sources and world affairs to a dense and tedious review of PGA leadership maneuvers made my eyelids droop. Similarly, I could have done without the self analysis by “world #1.”
Do not concur. I like the balance.
I'd say they'd be selling The PGA Championship and The Ryder Cup at the top of the market and should do it. They could use the $$ to build a tour around PGA Professionals and other projects (The Grass League, Good Good, CPG). Dumb idea?
There is definitely some merit to the idea of selling them but I think they'll have trouble letting go of the power and influence it brings them.
Bingo. There will never be a better time to sell these assets than right now. The power they have should be focused on executing the business of golf and helping golfers play better and have more fun on the course.
Ryder Cup is the cash cow PGAT or team bonesaw would love to get their hands on.
That decision by the Dutch is absolutely indefensible! Amazing. Joost Luiten and Anne van Dam are accomplished players who could easily win a medal in any given week. Have never heard of the other fellow but presumably he is too. It's not swimming, say, where #302 in the world has no shot.
It really is pitiful and the kind of silly political/clueless bureaucrat thing that has increasingly made the Olympics tough to take. The International Golf Federation should be making a lot of noise by protesting and trying to find a way around this with the IOC. (They did finally release a statement today.) But the president is busy prepping for the American Century Championship!
Olympics bureaucracy is "like no other." Just wait until Thomas Bach calls upon the "youth of thew world" to compete/assemble in four more years.....how about the youth of Ukraine being ground up by Putin, or the Ukrainian children being kidnapped? The stuffed shirts at the Ritz will let the Russians compete...nothing to see here.
What exactly are they doing at Riv? I can't imagine lengthening those holes unless they move cart paths and tees and put 4 tee where the cart path goes on 18 and 18 tee where the trees are behind 3 next to 4?
As I understand it, the fourth tee is moving to the right so that the 18th can play from a new location extending the distance. We'll see in February!
But right of it is...up the canyon?
Yes, but more gradual than at the 5th tee. The bigger issue is changing the angle of the tee shot. A Redan or modified one that Thomas loved is definitely meant to play a certain way. Moving tees off a line that lays out the menu of options speaks to a pretty incredible ignorance of some basic stuff. But we'll see!
Good thing they have a top notch architect advising them! Oh wait...
Dear Scotty - stop whining. Root cause = decision for shave and haircut. Own up and move on.
Great stuff and Scheffler stoped short of sayin that Pinehurst greens are a bit ticked up. But for fans very entertaining. Once again the the PGAT main fault is exposed in that it controls none of the big tournaments and their biggest event The Players has been severely damaged during the Civil War. Is it possible that the Tour will have a two tier purse system for members and non members. Because as I survey the schedule after the 4 majors the 5th best tournament is the Scottish Open?
I think market forces will eventually force that to save events and sponsors, but it'll get ugly before they reach that point. Of course, no fan cares on lick about purses at this point yet they are really putting a stake in the ground insisting PGA Tour players are underpaid. They are not, particularly with this year's ratings.
Very interesting as usual. I wish some of your URL links didn't require subscriptions to read (e.g. NYT). Maybe you could put a dollar sign next to those links so I don't waste my time clicking them.
I'll try Don though sometimes they are to pieces that are free up to a point based on how many times a site has been accessed.
Some random thoughts as I have given up trying to be intellectual/informed/introspective about the business of golf:
1. PGAT to sponsors ... I say jump, you say how high. Maybe that's coming to an end.
2. Investors invest to make money. Their only goal. They're masters at making money at your expense. Anything else they do/say is BS. Yeah yeah yeah ... we're improving your "experience". So when Seth Waugh, et al, shake your hand make sure the other isn't reaching for your wallet.
3. The PGA of America has a very rigorous program to be a club pro. But they don't tell you the truth about golf lessons though. Either you're born with a golf swing or you're screwed. One cannot acquire a golf swing. How many athletes from other sports can't hit a ball not moving. How many pros can't hit a 95 mph fastball. That's a talent one is born with also ... no matter how many hours one spends in a batting cage. Have decided I'm no longer going to help our pro pay for his new car. Bought a new lawnmower instead.
4. First rule in leadership: If you're going to be an asshole/dick be the biggest one possible ... all the time.. Greg Norman does that well.
5. Follow the money. It would be interesting to see the financials of a tournament: where does the revenue come from and to where/whom it's distributed. The $10 hot dog ... does the charity get $9 or $1?
6. Do I practice today or try out my new lawnmower? Easy decision. Lawnmower is more fun. Well almost as much fun as Geoff's insightful (dare I say sarcastic/cynical) comments.
I do sense a stadium approach is coming to tournaments with the Tour pushing to have their Championship Management running all of them at some point and using the private equity model of fees and other weird ideas to pluck as much revenue out of them that once went to charity.
On our 2017 road trip, we went to Quail Hollow. It was the last Aug. PGA . The players were allowed to wear shorts in the heat, which at the time was new. Some changed and some were reticent to do so. But with the change , we traveled to 4 other PGA's. Would we have traveled to Tulsa or Louisville in the heat? I don't think so. We have enjoyed the hospitality of many cities thanks to the move. The downside of course ...after the Open...it's a long time to Augusta...and I will be Fed Ex overdosed. It brought us to markets that we wouldn't have explored otherwise. I liked many of Seths initiatives.
Great New Yorker story on Dr. Neal ElAttrache. For some reason Dr. Kerlan told me the story about flying out to Pittsburgh to visit with the parents and "ask permission to hire him to come to Los Angeles." The story stuck with me for whatever reason, maybe because it is so proper and unusual. Kerlann said he was a great young man with wonderful potential as a doctor. Guess he was right as he usaually was.