Tuesday
Jul312007
"Their deplorable arrogance and stunning lack of judgment has left most...pondering how in the world the USGA got into such a situation."
Golf Digest's Local Knowledge blog did a little follow up on Golf World's Chris Millard authored cover story on USGA President Walter Driver, with this major chink in the groupthink armor:
Attorney and journalist Gary Galyean, as a longtime USGA volunteer on the rules committee (he officiates at most USGA championships), possesses an insider's perspective on the workings of the USGA and its volunteer network. He also authors "Gary Galyean's Golf Letter," a bi-monthly newsletter about the golf industry, and in the July/August issue, he penned a no-holds-barred assessment of the present state of USGA affairs:Oh that was just a little warm-up graph. Now the fun begins.
Media Center
Anyone who has spent time around the press, particularly when they are concentrated in one media center covering one event, knows that they are a tough crowd. That's their job. Attempting to control what they write or broadcast always backfires. GolfWorld's June 8th cover story -- Can the USGA survive Walter Driver? The tumultuous reign of the association's controversial president -- set the early tone in the U.S. Open Media Center. There was blood in the water. No matter how it was spun, Mr. Driver's standing with the press was built by him and his performance on and off stage during his years as vice president and president. Post-championship columns continue to reflect an assessment that refuses to be spun by glad-handing or verbal dexterity.
USGA Volunteers
The volunteer base serving in various capacities at the Open were nearly universal in their dissatisfaction with the direction the USGA has taken under the presidencies of Fred S. Ridley and Walter W. Driver Jr. Corporate jets, corporate partnering, an arrogance of power, an attempt to stifle open discussion, packing the Executive Committee, and the general turning away from the association's traditional values were topics continually at the center of whispered discussions during the Open.
You mean, everyone wasn't talking about what a tall, handsome, well constructed man Walter Driver is?
A fractured fissure grew wider between those who have served for years in order to extend and improve golf in America and those who are either new to the USGA culture, or, like the current and immediate past president, simply don't get it.
Ouch. Now here's a very important point:
As distasteful as the past three and a half years have been, of greater concern is the impact both Mr. Ridley and Mr. Driver will have as rising, successive chairmen of the Nominating Committee. Mr. Ridley will serve two years as vice chairman (2008, '09) and two years as chairman (2010, '11). Mr. Driver will vice chair Mr. Ridley's chairmanship and follow with two years in the chair (2012, '13). For six years they will influence the selection of those offered positions as USGA officers, Executive Committee members and Nominating Committee members.
Oh I don't know, you don't think 15 vulture capitalists with MBA's or law degrees from Stanford can right this ship?
Their deplorable arrogance and stunning lack of judgment has left most of the senior volunteer base disappointed, disoriented, weighing the future donation of their time and expertise, and pondering how in the world the USGA got into such a situation.
Following the Nominating Committee debacle of 2004, the past presidents were blamed for exerting too much influence often without explanation or accountability. Executive Committee members with proven, effective records were sometimes dismissed without explanation, while weaker substitutes were elevated for, once again, unexplained reasons. For outsiders, it was like forecasting the political landscape of the Soviet Union based on who was sitting where at the annual Politburo banquet.
Oh boy, insinuating communist activities. That ought make for some good water cooler conversation at Goldman Sachs.
The public and press outcry in 2004 to what appeared to be yet another arbitrary and unwarrantable change to the Executive Committee precipitated a monumental change in the nominating procedure. The emotional goal was to eliminate vagarious, capricious, out-of-touch control by the powerful past presidents. The effect, however, in reality lessened the influence of those who, regardless of sometimes fickle or unexplained political maneuvering, understood the culture of the USGA.
The lessening of the influence of those who "get it" created a political vacuum into which strutted those who don't. And their influence will be felt until 2014 unless the nominating system is amended again.
Very truly yours,
Gary A. Galyean
Whoa. It's about time somebody from the inner circle speak out.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 08:19 PM
Reader Comments (12)
I especially like your comment Geoff: "Oh I don't know, you don't think 15 vulture capitalists with MBA's or law degrees from Stanford can right this ship?"
To my mind, therein lies the root of the present problems. The old power elite were involved in the USGA as a pastime, these guys are in it because there's so much booty in the bag.
Interesting to me was this comment:
"...goal was to eliminate vagarious, capricious, out-of-touch control by the powerful past presidents."
I thought Golf Digest or one of the other magazines had done a "where is the USGA headed" type article a couple of years ago, and I thought that the thrust of that article was that the changes in the EC, nominating structure, etc., were intended to _fix_ problems that had occurred in the couple of years up to the time of the article. My recollection is that the author was insinuating that debacles like the Russian Tea Room thing, the criticisms about equipment regulation, etc., were being addressed by these changes.
Instead, it seems that the procedural and structural changes are a progression of the ills of the last several years, not a correction.
Mr. Galyean is terribly inconsistent and yes, was a longtime promoter of all that was wonderful about the USGA. It's okay though, he's made up for his past inconsistencies with this.
Just maybe, what is needed is not a bunch of guys who graduated from Stanford with MBA's and JD's.
Maybe what is needed are guys that went to Stanford and left early; guys that never went to graduate school and/or have been playing golf for the last ten or twenty or thirty years.
Possibilities:
~Tom "The maufacturers hoodwinked the USGA" Watson
~Tiger "We can't play Merion anymore" Woods
~And just to prove that we have nothing against lawyers, we can add Sandy "The game is out of balance" Tatum.
So, nothing against Stanford, if you get the right Stanford guys...
Do we expect Mr. Galyean to retain his USGA officiating duties? Highly doubtful.
I'd like to see his previous col. or post criticizing Frank Hannigan what was that for?? They're clearly on the "same page'' now in their criticisms of the gov. body.
A little background on the purge of past presidents would be in order; it was in reaction to the ousting of two exec. committee members in particular liked by some, not by all. It was the work of former pres. Reed Mackenzie who, word had it, wanted to push aside the old-liners who were agitated about equipment, Tatum and Campbell.
I just went to the Dodger game last night (wish Bonds had gone deep). Being around the masses in left field at Dodger Stadium is alot like being with the masses who play muni golf...
Frank McCourt can't fully understand the left field crowd unless he sits there for a game...and the USGA can't understand the golf masses playing country club golf all the time.
It is simply a function of representing your constituents properly...you can't do it if you never mingle with them.
Wish someone would followup on that inspired idea of Frank Hannigan's, run a "rump slate'' and get these clowns out of there!
Championship Chair (Hyler) becomes the President.
Given the surprise "retirements" in the past
two years, there are no forgone conclusions.
Fred Nelson is the Treasurer and the primary
person behind the revision of the staff compensation
Some might argue that he will have a hard time
being the solution as he is too busy being part of
the problem.
http://www.usga.org/aboutus/leadership/executive_committee.html
Here is the link to the article I was referring to. Just download the Jan 2007 sample issue listed in the bottom right corner.
Cheers.
http://www.golfletter.com/