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In the long and time-honored tradition of volunteerism at the USGA, John Reis is an outlier.
Consider this: He was given the Ike Grainger Award, the highest honor the USGA bestows on volunteers who have served 25 years or more, in 2018.
However, he doesn’t play much golf. He took up the game in his 30s, largely for business reasons, and played to as low as a 10-handicap index at one point. But by his own admission, he never really enjoyed playing the game. “I just never got into it,” he told me recently.
But the Rules of Golf? That is something different, something he finds so much more rewarding. And that affection for the rules has taken him down an unconventional path in the American amateur game.
Reis (pronounced Rice) retired from the municipal bond business in 1990 at age 45, with little idea what he was going to do next. After a brief stint managing properties in Cincinnati, Ohio, he veered to coaching. Accidentally.
The head coach job at Northern Kentucky University opened up, and the mother of a player who knew Reis from his bond days asked him to pursue the job. He got it, including the $2,000 annual salary. He did pretty well, and three years later, he became head coach at the University of Cincinnati in 1996.
He brought a peculiar approach to the job. He wanted his teams to perform, but he wanted them to learn and above all, have fun. And he funded the fun out of his $16,000 salary. Trips to exotic locales such as Hawaii or Bermuda were part of the plan. Practice rounds on the road scheduled around sporting events, such as National Football League games, were not unusual. Casinos were not off limits, fine dining was on the menu, and alcohol was not verboten.
It is unclear whether these tactics complied with NCAA regulations, but Reis likely didn’t care. Unconventional to be sure, but hardly out of character for him.
“I don’t know the word ‘no,’ and I just love the kids.”
John Reis
After five years, it was time for his next chapter. He took a position with the Cincinnati Golf Association, which lasted for 12 years. And although he ran the association well, his real interest was in rules. This rules infatuation began to take root in 1995, at a time when the USGA was asked by the college golf coaches to come in and administer the national championships for all three men’s divisions. Reis had joined the U.S. Junior committee recently, and so he took the bait. Despite having only vague familiarity with the Rules of Golf, he worked not just one but all three of the championships that year. He was hooked.
He went on to become a certified rules official and became a fixture at the Men’s NCAA Division 1 Championship. His 25th year of officiating at the event would have been in 2020, had it been played.
Through the years, Reis had been giving generously of time and treasure to the college game. And when Gregg Grost, chief executive officer of the Golf Coaches Association of America, reached out to him for support of the organization’s 2020 Fall Amateur Series, Reis happily funded rules officials for 25 events. “I don’t know the word ‘no,’ and I just love the kids,” he told me.
Which brings us to his latest golf adventure. The John T. Reis Foundation has agreed to help fund the GCAA’s upcoming Summer Series, an outgrowth of the successful pandemic-inspired effort last fall. This is a new slate of amateur tournaments for college players that will take place from mid-June through early August. Reis will serve as chairman of the Rules and Competition Committee for the 10-event circuit that includes stops from Florida to California. And more dates and venues still could be added.
According to Grost, “there are almost 9,000 male college players in all divisions each year and another class of incoming freshmen who are aging out of junior events after they graduate in May. But there are just not enough amateur opportunities available.
“If a player is not in the top 150-200 on the (World Amateur Golf Ranking), he is going to have a hard time getting into any of the traditional national amateur events across the country. College players are constantly looking for economic, elite-level competition, which will help them raise their WAGR ranking and give them a chance to get better. That is why the GCAA coaches wanted to start this series.”
This is a tremendous initiative, made possible by Reis’ support. Observed Grost: “John is one of those unique individuals in the game who loves to see youngsters compete, and he will do anything possible to make it happen.”
As I checked back with Reis last week, he was in his natural habitat – providing rules officiating at the inaugural Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur Championships of the Ladies National Golf Association.
I was not at all surprised.
Top: John Reis at the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur
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