January25, 2013
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY FORUM
DAMON HACK: Thank you and good morning, I'm Damon Hack and it's great to be with everyone at the 60th PGA Merchandise Show, my first one. I've been doing live television for about six months now but public speaking is actually pretty new to me.
We have an esteemed panel and I know we are going to have a very lively and entertaining discussion for you on the state of the game and the state of the industry and the game of golf, as we look ahead to 2013.
Joining me to my left, the recently named 38th president of The PGA of America, he named Tom Watson as the next U.S. Ryder Cup Captain for 2014; he is also a friend of the Morning Drive program. He is Mr.Ted Bishop.
To his left, from The First Tee to the FedExCup to the Olympic push, this panelist has led with tremendous vision both in terms of the game's health and its charity. Please welcome PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem.
Next up is a man who has steered the LPGA through turbulent times and led it to calm waters. His energy and leadership in terms of player/sponsor relationships has led the LPGA to maybe its greatest global strength in years. He is LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.
Next up is a man who has been in charge of five of the last six victorious Ryder Cup teams can you see the smile on his face? He did recently name Paul McGinley as the 2014 European Ryder Cup Captain. Please say hello to European Ryder Cup Director, RichardHills.
Next up is a woman who is one of the fiercest competitors the LPGA has ever seen. She also happened to make the smoothest transition from being a player to a broadcaster that I have ever seen. She now has a new role as a PGA board of director member. Please say hello to Dottie Pepper.
Next is a man whose company continues to lead and innovate from the bubble shaft to the R Series drivers, to the RocketBallz line of drivers and woods. He also likes his deep fried turkey every April at Augusta National. Please say hello to CEO of TaylorMade, Mark King.
Next is a man who in two years has helped transform the Golf Channel with innovation and leadership and he also happens to be the first boss I've ever had who is younger than I am, which is very difficult for me to say. Please welcome Golf Channel president, Mike McCarley.
Next there's a man who if there's any discussion on data, research, playability, business, he also happens to be a bit of a YouTube sensation. He is national Golf Federation president, Joe Beditz.
Finally a man who is a giant in golf media. I happened to share a Masters media shuttle with him this past Masters. I've been reading his magazine almost as long as I could read for 25 years. He has been the editor of Golf Digest. He is Jerry Tarde.
Well, we have lots to get through in this 90minute discussion, I think we should start with PGA president Ted Bishop.
First of all, congratulations on being name the 38th president, you have been bold in your short tenure so far naming Tom Watson as Ryder Cup Captain and you have a new leadership team to work under you. What can you tell us about 2013 and what you are looking forward to most this year?
TED BISHOP: I think the biggest charge The PGA of America is faced with right now is player development, trying to grow the game. Figuring out way that we can make the game more friendly, more inviting to all of our amateur customers, and I think that's the primary focus, really, of my two years as president.
I do want to take a minute on the behalf of The PGA of America to thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us here today. This is an idea, concept, that Pete Bevacqua and I talked about hopefully being a permanent fixture at the PGA Merchandise Show.
This should be a forum where we are on the cutting edge of all the topics and all the things that are important and pertinent in the sport today and I think that's what this is going to be about, and I would be remiss on behalf of everybody of The PGA of America if I didn't say thank you for being here.
DAMON HACK: Commissioner, you recently kicked off the 2013 season in grand style, Dustin Johnson, Russell Henley and Brian Gay, your first three winners on the PGA TOUR schedule and you also just came back from San Diego and a very interesting TOUR policy board meeting; USGA leader Mike Davis was present, O imagine that anchoring was a topic of discussion.
Can you let the audience know where we stand on the issue of anchoring in your mind in terms of where it fits with the PGA TOUR?
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: No, I really don't want to talk about that. (Laughter)
DAMON HACK: I believe you.
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: Well, before I do answer your question, let me just quickly mention that the PGA TOUR Wives Association has a booth right over here on the other side of this curtain and they have just published a new book called Fairways and Greens which is a pictorial and written description of a lot of PGA TOUR players, wives and their families and all of the proceeds go to PGA TOUR Wives charities. It's a $50 book and it's on sale today for 30percent off and 45 percent for PGA members. So I would get fired if I didn't make that plug, because as we all know, the PGA TOUR wives run the PGA TOUR, but please go over and take a look at it, I think you'll find it interesting.
Secondly, let me thank Ted for the invitation to be here. Our relationship with The PGA of America is extremely important. I want to compliment Ted and his staff for all the work they do in The Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA that showcase our players, but also the show here this week, I had an opportunity to go around, Ted, is fantastic again this year.
We have had this ongoing discussion about anchoring at a time when we think it's a terrific time for golf. The PGA TOUR is doing great. We had I think the best year in our history last year.
But as I said a couple weeks ago on the Golf Channel in Hawai'i, as Commissioner, I hate to see distractions, and so from that standpoint, I don't like this discussion.
However, I recognize that the people at the USGA and the R&A who feel strongly about this have the best interests of the game at heart and I think the people that feel strongly that we should not go down this path have the best interests of the game at heart, as well.
I think it's a tough issue for our players who are mixed, and for the other golf organizations, simply because this is part of the game that's been around for a long time. It's been around for 40 years. If the decision had been made in 1965, 1966, no, we don't want anchoring in the game, obviously it would be a nobrainer.
But you are affecting a lot of amateur players and a lot of players at the elite level who grew up with it. So those are the kind of things that make it a controversial and somewhat difficult issue.
We are going through our process now. We heard from our players the other night, we are talking to our Players Advisory Council. Ted serves on the PGA TOUR policy board, so we'll be looking at this issue over the coming weeks together to some extent, and I just hope we can have a cordial and very positive conversation among individuals who may differ on the details but have the game of golf at heart and I hope we can maintain that posture.
DAMON HACK: Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Whan, and before I continue, I imagine we'll be discussing anchoring quite a bit with this panel as we go forward throughout the morning.
Commissioner Whan, the LPGA Tour season will kickoff in March, you have a very popular range Player of the Year in American Stacy Lewis, the first American to win that honor since 1994 in Beth Daniel.
Do you see more events down the road in the United States or is the future of the professional game on the women's seed I've seas?
COMMISSIONER WHAN: I can't help myself, we start in February in Australia, we go Australia, Thailand and Singapore to start and then we come to the States, which is a little bit of an answer to your question.
I think the good news about women's golf right now is the opportunities are borderless. We have added Beijing this year but we also added Dallas and the Bahamas. I'm proud to say we have added eight events in the last two years and six of them have been in North America, two of them have been overseas. We added the Australian Open and this year we are going to add Beijing. I always said that I think we have a responsibility in the women's game given that literally these players are coming from around the world and as a result our fans are coming from around the world. We have sponsors from around the world. We have a responsibility to go.
My father used to say, you can't be global from your desk, so we have to go. When we go, we think we are helping to grow the game in some small way. So the other thing I would say is all of these players, despite where they have come from, 99 percent of them, as Dottie knows, moves here to be part of the LPGA Tour and they want to be here, as well.
So despite where they are from they want more of a U.S. base. We have seen in the last 24 months, a renewed commitment to build a home base and to have a strategic like Beijing, when Beijing comes calling, it's hard to close the door because that's where billions of fans, not just millions of fans, can and will reside in the future.
We are excited about our global schedule. But to your point we have made a renewed commitment over the last two years and we'll make sure that continues to make sure we don't become nomadic, a group that always plays but you don't know where they are, we are playing over here but strategically adding overseas when we think it makes sense.
DAMON HACK: European Ryder Cup Director, RichardHills, you had a very exciting last couple of weeks. Paul McGinley, an exceedingly popular player, named Ryder Cup Captain for 2014. He was a threemember of the European Ryder Cup Team and a twotime Vice Captain on The European Ryder Cup Team, and it looked like you had a very positive start in Abu Dhabi last week, Jamie Donaldson beating Justin Rose in an exciting event overseas. We talk so much about growing the game in the United States, what are the challenges you think to growing the game in Europe?
RICHARD HILLS: Damon, thank you, and first of all can I say congratulations to Ted and thank you for putting together a tremendous show here and all of the guests from around the world have been made most welcome, thank you to you and your staff, tremendous effort, thank you.
Yeah, Paul McGinley has assumed the baton from José Maria, a very good tournament committee in Abu Dhabi, chaired expertly by Thomas Björn. So the players came to that consensus decision without any votes where Paul was offered the captaincy and accepted.
In his speech in his press conference at the conclusion of the meeting, he mentioned the work of the golfing union of Ireland. We work very closely with the amateur bodies throughout Europe developing the game and working closely with the R&A and all of the amateur bodies around Europe.
The Ryder Cup itself in Scotland will see a program called 'ClubGolf' where it's the ambition of the First Minister of Scotland to ensure that every child under the age of nine receives three free golf lessons.
So these are the sort of initiatives that we are working on, and also involving golf in national curriculums, which we started in Wales where it's woven into the curriculum of education. That will be repeated in Scotland; so every child, golfer or nongolfer will be exposed to the game of golf. That will be an example of one of the initiatives that we are working on and sharing with Ted and his staff at The PGA of America.
DAMON HACK: Thank you, Richard. And one of the newest PGA board of director members is Dottie Pepper. We often hear the story, tell your buddies, if you are in a dark alley, I want Lawrence Taylor with me; but I think I want Dottie to have my back if I am ever in a tough situation.
She was a tremendous player, fiery competitor and incredible announcer. And I want to repeat, to see her going from being such a tenacious player to being a tremendous analyst for NBC was a great run and I know you're going to be great in your new role and one of the things you're bringing to the PGA is a passion for the development of the game among junior golf.
What do you see are the key areas for growth of the game for juniors in 2013?
DOTTIE PEPPER: Damon, thank you, but was that a challenge.
First of all, I'd like to thank Ted for calling me last summer and asking me to be part of this new wave of The PGA of America.
As a little bit of a backstory, I wouldn't have gotten the start I had in the game without The PGA of America and specifically the northeast New York section with Derek Sprague sitting here, the current vice president from our little section, the smallest of all.
I came from a pretty average background and my parents didn't have the money to let me go play golf and certainly play on a national level and be exposed to do what I would need to do ultimately have a college scholarship. And back in those days, if you won your section championship, they paid for you to go to the National Championship. So I had a great debt to pay. It gave me my start. That's my background.
And Mike (turning to Mike Whan) what you have done in two years, not only to the schedule, people look at the outer part of the LPGA as a schedule, but I think more importantly, it's what the girls now believe in themselves again and they have a great respect for you, so I thank you for that.
But the things that I see, the committees I'm on at The PGA of America that seem to be very interwoven are making the game more fun, making it faster, making it much more friendly. And it's not just for the players who play but for those who are trying to bring back into the game and get into the game to begin with.
But I want to throw out this other 'F' that I've come up with, and I think the word is more of a fraction. It's okay to play a fraction of the golf course. You don't have to spend all day out there. It doesn't have to be an entire day's commitment to get the impact of golf and have it stay with you for such a long time. What's wrong with playing three holes, playing six holes, playing nine holes?
I think the golf experience is what we are looking at, and that doesn't have to be an allday commitment in a fastpaced world.
DAMON HACK: Thank you, Dottie.
TaylorMade CEO, Mark King, unveiling the RocketBallz line of clubs at last year's show. I have a 3wood in my bag. I hit a 270yard 3wood downwind to ten feet on a par 5 and at Annika's Invitational last week. So I'm a believer in that 3wood, I tell you that. It was downwind, 270 yards, just for those keeping score.
Just for those keeping stats on this discussion. Mark, you also starred in 'Undercover Boss' on CBS. Last year was a banner year for rounds of golf played, up six percent and we don't know whether it was due to weather, participation, people coming back to the game; how do things set up for 2013? Do you think we'll see continued growth?
MARK KING: Well, Tim started this, there's a small booth at the end of the hall, it's a fairly large hall and the booth really skinnies down, and there's drivers on sale there for everyone here at 35 percent off, and then for PGA pros, 45 percent off. So when you buy the book, just walk right on down and get yourself a driver this afternoon.
So thank you for starting the promotional part of this program, Tim.
What was the question again?
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: When it comes to marketing and sales ...
MARK KING: And I want to say one thing about Mike Whan, too. He worked at TaylorMade and we really struggled in 90s when Mike was in charge of marketing and he left to become a Commissioner, a nonrevenue producing job and you've done a hell of a job as Commissioner, Mike. Just want you to know that. And ever since you left, our business has just skyrocketed.
Yeah, 2012, round played were up six percent, which my friend here told me that was about 30 million rounds more than 2011. Unfortunately, we are still at about 465 million rounds played when the high watermark was right around 520 million rounds played in 2001.