The New CEO Of The PGA Of America

The PGA of America has hired a new CEO – Seth Waugh. Mr. Waugh was the former CEO of Deutsche Bank… so he’s a pretty formidable business executive.

The former CEO of the PGA of America – Peter Bavacqua – left to run NBC Sports. Obviously Mr. Bavacqua was good at his job. But as good as Peter Bavacqua was, Seth Waugh might be better. Obviously, it’s a big organization – 29,000 members – and needs to be run like a big business. However, the needs of the members need to be addressed – not just the needs of the business. The PGA of America runs the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship, which are very important, but the members need help with golf at the grass roots level.

My favorite golf website/group is “Old School Golf” headed up Judge Tinker. Judge is an owner of many golf courses and an outspoken guy who calls it as he sees it. I love his perspective and his honesty. Here is his latest post on “Old School Golf” to the new PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh – I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

To: PGA of America CEO and Head Bottle Washer

Dear Mr. Waugh:

Re: Growing the business; not growing the game!

Congratulations on your new job. Here’s a small note and possibly your first written opinion. Well, away from the merger rumor, of course.

Instead of spending all of the PGA’s time and energy trying to get juniors to play golf (which 70% will leave for 12 years upon entering college), I recommend you spend your time and energy trying to figure out why the pool of avid golfers is shrinking faster than IHOP can flip pancakes.

While you’re at, please understand that the average age of your recreational golfers – which now represent 80% of all golfers – is now 61-63 years old. Even the private country club members are aging, with the majority of membership representing the 69-71 years age group. There’s no way in the world that the junior golfers can replace the amount of aging baby-boomers. Your PGA efforts are appreciated (of course), but might be barking up the wrong tree.

Your goal, in my opinion, should be to entice the avid golfer to play more golf through stronger retention and loyalty programs, and for heaven’s sake, stop ignoring the golfers that are entering their 60s. There’s no reason what-so-ever that golf associations should be ignoring the biggest populations of people, but that’s what’s happening. Everything, in regards to marketing, is all about replacing the geezers with millennials. It’s going to be one of golf’s biggest mistakes. And if the PGA doesn’t change marketing directions – here’s your warning: the plunge is coming.

By focusing solely on juniors, you’ve got all of the instructors confused with not knowing who to chase. Darn near all of their instruction models are set up for junior golfers. Many instructors are working around the clock trying to retool themselves to create instruction programs solely for juniors. Don’t get me wrong, that’s smart on their behalf because they’re chasing the remaining dollars. That’s because golf has a problem: adults no longer desire to take golf lessons and aging adults are joining fitness facilities by the droves as their health and recreation choice.

It doesn’t take but a few words from someone like yourself to get everybody focused away from doing things right – instead of doing the right things.

This is not to say that junior programs are not important. But with all of the marketing money and energy spent on junior programs, golf still has only 4 million juniors participating. That’s not many when you look at the bigger picture. And if I may speak candidly, from the perspective of course ownership, 80% of the dollars from junior golfers go directly to the instruction arenas. As a result, I’d like to remind you that during your first year of tenure, there’s going to be 300 courses that will go out of business permanently.

I’ve attended 33 golf funerals in 2018. If you’ve never attended a golf course funeral, please join me and I’ll walk side-by-side with you. Sadly, we will have the opportunity any week chosen. It will be my honor to introduce you personally to all of the 33 employees and families affected when they lose something that they’ve had most of their working lives. They are the forgotten ones. Some will move to other facilities, of course, but most will leave the golf business.

You know where to find me. Most of your proteges, including your president, are members of “Old School Golf,” and most have conversed with me on the sidelines. I’m OK with conversing on the sidelines as closed doors seem to be the norm for your association.

I am not a lawyer. I’m not a banker. I’m not a politician. I’m a businessman. And I’m counting on your decisions to bring me more business. I’m counting on you to work directly with more golf course operators to do whatever that you have at your disposal to help these small businesses stay in business. In the meantime, it’s fair to say the PGA members will continue to send their membership checks and support your new role… as the PGA logo represents one of the best brands that staffers can buy.

Sincerely,

Ol’ Judge

You can see why I like Judge Tinker. He’s a bright guy and a refreshing voice. He obviously cares about golf, and the people who work at the golf courses. Too often, the powers-that-be are too far removed from the people on the ground floor to really know what’s going on.

Judge Tinker is an important voice in the golf world. I hope the new CEO of the PGA of America listens to him.