NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | The force of nature that is USGA CEO Mike Whan was on full display at the 2024 annual meeting held here over the past weekend.
Whan took the stage at the Saturday afternoon meeting and, without a script or notes, commanded that stage, and took the assembled gathering on a near hour-long tour of the state of the USGA and the golf industry writ large.
Full disclosure, before I get too deep into this column: Whan is a close pal of mine, and has been for nearly two decades. I endorsed his candidacy for the top job at the USGA after Mike Davis, another friend and colleague, announced his intention to retire after the 2021 championship season. Even though Whan and I don’t see eye to eye on equipment regulation, my objectivity can and should be called into question here.
That said, his performance at the annual meeting was unlike anything I have ever seen at these affairs, which I have been attending for nearly 20 years.
I was hardly alone in this assessment. Well afterward, some attendees still weren’t quite sure what to make of it. One longtime annual meeting attendee called it a “virtuoso performance.” Another looked at me and said, “This is not your grandfather’s USGA. Nor your father’s.” A third shrugged his shoulders and drifted away. I guess he was unimpressed.
USGA president Fred Perpall kicked off the meeting by thanking outgoing Executive Committee members and welcoming new EC members, one of whom was former U.S. Open champion Andy North, now an ESPN golf analyst. North then conducted a panel discussion about the USGA’s recent decision to roll back the golf ball in the face of increased driver distance from the tee. It was a rehearsed and defensive session, one preaching to the already convinced choir of attendees.
And then Whan took the stage.
Whan is not everyone’s cup of tea. Talk to longtime USGA observers and volunteers and you will get mixed reactions. Some think he is the ultimate salesperson, one who is a bit too focused on himself. There is more than a little skepticism among the old guard about our governing body being led by a non-USGA lifer.
Others believe this is exactly what the 130-year-old organization needs: an outsider who is passionate about the game and cares deeply about its future.
Talk to the staff of the USGA, the people who work with him day after day, and a picture emerges of an energetic, inspirational leader who is committed to change. In every corner of the USGA, Whan is going to challenge the status quo. That status quo has as much of a chance of standing as I would in a match against Tiger Woods. I would go down, 10 and 8, as will the old way of doing business in Liberty Corner, New Jersey.
Whan shakes off the nonbelievers. He doesn’t have the time or interest in dealing with those who aren’t on his train. His to-do list is too long to waste time on those who don’t share his vision.
This was Whan’s third annual meeting, and in a short period of time he has become the champion for several important initiatives. Some were his idea, such as the National Development Program, while others, such as the Adaptive Open, were in the pipeline before he set foot in USGA headquarters. It doesn’t matter to him who came up with the idea; once he gets behind one, it is going to become reality.
Of keen interest to this observer is an initiative called Keepers of the Cups. I recall walking with Whan at the 2021 Walker Cup Match at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida. Having spent 12 years at the LPGA and not ever having been a competitive amateur, he wasn’t clear about what exactly the Walker Cup was all about, how or where it fit in at the USGA.
Months later, squared away in his new office, he grew concerned about the future of the Walker Cup and its sister competition, the Curtis Cup. What might a future USGA boss do to these storied competitions if a 2009-like recession took place? Would that executive cut back on the delivery of these competitions, perhaps delay or even postpone them, to save a few bucks?
He asked his fundraising team what it would cost to endow these two events. $20 million, he was told. And so Whan promptly set about, in his very first days, meeting with prospective donors to raise the necessary capital. He raised $10 million, and the USGA Strategic Investment Fund matched that amount. The two premier amateur team competitions are now secured in perpetuity.
The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are not to be confused with the U.S. Open or the U.S. Women’s Open. There is little glamour attached to them, and they fly well off the radar screen for most golfers. Whan’s determination to endow them, to use precious political capital in the very first days of his term, told me everything I needed to know about his respect for the organization and its history.
Mike Whan gets it. The USGA is in good hands.
Believe.
E-MAIL JIM
Top: Mike Whan's address at the USGA's annual meeting was unlike any that many observers had seen.
chris keane, usga