"My members didn't even know there was a PGA president until Ted Bishop came along because the others always toed the company line."

Newsday's Mark Herrmann took the temperature of Long Island golf pros and they echoed the views of the PGA of America members I've heard from: PGA of America outgoing president's Ted Bishop's "removal" was not only excessive, but cause to question the organization's leadership.

Herrmann writes:

Said Bobby Heins of Old Oaks in Westchester and one of the section's most experienced head pros: "This seemed like everybody got in a room and there was no outside voice saying, 'Slow down.' My members didn't even know there was a PGA president until Ted Bishop came along because the others always toed the company line."

Over at GolfDigest.com's The Loop, I noted the peculiar double standard in Bishop's ouster considering that Ian Poulter referred to a "girlie shaft" in a March Tweet, among is many Twitter mishaps. The inconsistency of responses could have something to do with Bishop's position as a volunteer leader of the PGA (4,371 Twitter followers) vs. Poulter, a mere professional golfer that children and Ferrari addicts around the globe look up to (1.77 million Twitter followers).  Some might conclude from this that Bishop's removal was anything but a victory for rooting out sexism in golf and a mere power play that is hard to view as a "watershed" moment for women's rights.

Golf Digest's Stina Sternberg had the weekend to contemplate the Bishop ouster and the former Golf For Women editor put the Bishop crime into perspective as far as real issues for women in golf:

I'm offended that I can't play in most of my own club's tournaments because the women's events take place on Thursdays while the men's events are played on the weekends, as if women don't work just as hard as men do during the week. I'm outraged that the women's locker rooms at most clubs are a fraction of the size of the men's locker rooms and rarely come close to having the same amenities. I resent that my girlfriends and I are never allowed to play through a group of slower-playing men, or tee off before a group of guys, simply because of our gender.

Meanwhile Suzy Whaley, a candidate for PGA secretary on this year's ballot who might have been sensing the internal backlash toward the PGA of America board's vote, is backing off of her initial suggestion that Bishop's comments on Twitter and Facebook "were definitely sexist.”

Jim McCabe reports:

Three days later, Whaley was not backing down from her support of the board’s decision to impeach Bishop. But given the roller-coaster weekend, she wanted to make it clear that she respected so much about Bishop. “I worked with him for three years; he has two daughters; he has a great family; he’s worked hard to make golf ‘inclusive,’ “ Whaley said Monday. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Ted is not sexist.”

“I think (women in the PGA) are trying to balance and understand,” she said. “They know Ted as a PGA member and what he has done, how he’s brought initiatives to make golf inclusive. They know him as a person, and they know he’s not sexist.”

But he must be vanquished from the PGA planet for supposedly sexist comments? It's a wild and wacky world we live in.

Meanwhile Bishop wrote a long apology letter to the PGA section leaders and also to remind them of the last two years in progress for the organization. GolfChannel.com obtained the letter where after many apologies, Bishop issued a warning to his fellow members:

On Friday when I asked the PGA officers why I was being removed I was told it was because of three factors. There was a negative media reaction, potential sponsorship ramifications and many negative remarks from PGA members.

When the PGA sent out message points on Monday regarding my impeachment, it said I was removed because my comments made on social media violated the PGA of America Code of Ethics. This is powerful and for someone who served six years on the PGA Board of Control it clearly sets an eye-opening precedent. I want to emphasize to all of you the severe importance in the use of your social media platforms. Do not be cavalier with your words and succumb to a Code of Ethics violation.