Ben Sharpe on CNBC (Taylormade CEO)

[Adam Clayman]

The head of the largest equipment manufacturer was interviewed today on the business channel.

Answers to questions were nothing new, unless you've been under a rock for fifteen years. Literally, the canned answers were at least 15 years old in their complete misunderstanding of this great sport. Asking the player what they want is absurd. Placing onus on "the industry" to increase participation, is tat amount to gross corporate governance negligence.

Continued decreasing participation in the sport, proves that the road the Mannies have travelled, has been a wrong one. 

Short Adidas?

[JESII]

Adam,

I'm a firm believer that the golf culture you, me and at least 1498 others feel is the best and right one is extremely localized.

In other words, each specific club/course culture is 100% in their own control regardless of what the USGA, Addidas or the club across the street are doing.

The complaints on here rub me wrong because Ben Sharp truly has zero impact on my golf...and I have 8 TM clubs in the bag.

[Brent Hutto]

Totally agree, Jim. It's akin to blaming the CEO of Toyota for how bad the traffic has gotten on my commute to work.

[jeffwarne]

As an aside, has anyone ever tried to get the dirt out of those speed slot channels so prevalent on woods now?
Now they're putting them on irons front and back!! bagroom kids nightmare
Doesn't seem like a big deal till you're doing 150 of them-some 2-3 times daily

[Brent Hutto]

Jeff,

The first time I saw those I said no way. I'm not very fastidious about keeping my club pristine in terms of bag chatter or the occasional scratch from a rock or something. But no way I'm playing with dirt crusted inside little slots on my irons. I'd have to turn into one of those geeks with the little wire brush and wet towel hanging from his bag. No thanks.

[JMEvensky]

As an aside, has anyone ever tried to get the dirt out of those speed slot channels so prevalent on woods now?
Now they're putting them on irons front and back!! bagroom kids nightmare
Doesn't seem like a big deal till you're doing 150 of them-some 2-3 times daily

As hard as getting Surlyn out of Ping Eye 2 wedge grooves?

[jeffwarne]

As an aside, has anyone ever tried to get the dirt out of those speed slot channels so prevalent on woods now?
Now they're putting them on irons front and back!! bagroom kids nightmare
Doesn't seem like a big deal till you're doing 150 of them-some 2-3 times daily

As hard as getting Surlyn out of Ping Eye 2 wedge grooves?

never had that problem and played eye 2's for 30 years.

just got the 2015 SW and LW.
For whatever reason they play more like the old eye 2's in terms of bounce, grind
The post 2010 groove rule copies they came out the last few years with found to be really diggy from turf and bunkers and had to do a lot of grinding (and practice!) to get any performance.

This makes me very happy-not sure why they couldn't have simply copied the old grinds-just wish I could get a PW copy but they don't make it..

Demoed some 2015 titleist fway woods with the speed slot-fills with dirt and a tee won't get it

[Paul Gray]

As an aside, has anyone ever tried to get the dirt out of those speed slot channels so prevalent on woods now?
Now they're putting them on irons front and back!! bagroom kids nightmare
Doesn't seem like a big deal till you're doing 150 of them-some 2-3 times daily

I've taken to pushing the mud from one side to another on my 3 wood in order to favour the shape I'm trying to hit. 

[Thomas Dai]

If wet, damp or tacky, the air jet cleaner, as used for shoes/trolley wheels, should help get the muck out of the slots, but you might have to wait for up to 18-holes before you can attempt it
atb

[Chris DeToro]

As an aside, has anyone ever tried to get the dirt out of those speed slot channels so prevalent on woods now?
Now they're putting them on irons front and back!! bagroom kids nightmare
Doesn't seem like a big deal till you're doing 150 of them-some 2-3 times daily

I've taken to pushing the mud from one side to another on my 3 wood in order to favour the shape I'm trying to hit. 

Try using the plastic Zero Friction tees--those are a little thinner 

[Adam Clayman]

Sully, I highly doubt there's even a consensus amongst the 1500.

Here's a description of an Attendee's visit to the 1st Annual Golf Summit in Nebraska. Compared to other Golf cultures Nebraska is in it's infancy.

The first annual Nebraska Golf Summit was held at the Hillcrest Country Club in Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday, November 10, 2014.  This golf summit provided useful information for PGA golf professionals, ground superintendents, and golf club managers to develop a common goal to grow the game of golf.  The summit reached out to all golf clubs in Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota, and eastern Iowa. The VGM Club sponsored this event.  The VGM Club is the nation's premier member service and marketing organization for membership-based clubs, including golf, tennis, yacht, city and athletic clubs.

 

The first speaker was Darrel Crall who represented the PGA of America.  Mr. Crall is the chief operating officer of the PGA of America and has been named GOLF 20/20 chair for 2014.  In his presentation, Mr. Crall emphasized the importance of long term strategic planning for the success of golf, the importance of building junior programs, and bringing the course superintendent, clubhouse manager, and PGA golf professional together with a common vision.   Teamwork was his theme.  He emphasized accountability with all positions.  He furthered his talk by discussing the Golf Ready program of $99.00 for 5 lessons which dramatically increased women’s participation in golf.  He said, through this program an overall participation in golf climbed by a total of 11% nationally with women participation up by 60%.  The Golf Ready program has a rate of 80% retention of players.

 

Mr. Crall highlighted the junior golf Drive, Chip, and Putt contest that took place at the Masters Golf Tournament, April 5.   Eighty finalists competed.  There were 41 qualifying PGA sections represents at the Drive, Chip, and Putt Contest including the winners of Nebraska’s 4 regional playoffs in Grand Island, Lincoln, Omaha, and Kearney.

 

Mr. Crall said we must be in constant pursuit of excellence and be committed to innovation, collaboration, and improvement for the game of golf.  He emphasized the importance of protecting the PGA brand, develop national and international growth, strengthen the perception of the PGA in the USA and globally, and help make PGA a leader in business.

 

The second speaker was Mark Passey who presented on behalf of the United States Golf Association or USGA. The title of his presentation was Strategic Initiatives.  Mr. Passey spoke on the mission of the USGA which says “The United States Golf Association promotes and conserves the true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions.  It acts in the best interests of the game for the continued enjoyment of those who love and play it.”  He spoke on the health of the game and long term viability.  To accomplish this he said we need to conserve resources, improve pace of play and tee it forward.  He spoke of the “Play 9 Campaign” launched in June, 2014, by Rickie Fowler.  Play 9 and dine was a theme.  A three year commitment was made to this program by the USGA.  He spoke long about the pace of play “While We Are Still Young” was the theme.   He said the USGA has made 6 videos about the pace of play and are available upon request.  He introduced to us to the Flagstick Tool.  He said a monitor can be placed on the course flagsticks and can relay to the golfer the time taken from hole to hole, the time taken for putting, etc.  With this information, the golfer can regulate his/her speed of play more effectively.

 

The third speaker was Steve Randall who presented on behalf of Golf Course Superintendents Association of America or GCSAA.  He began his talk by visiting with us about “We are Golf”.   We Are Golf is a coalition of golf's leading organizations working together to communicate the game's economic, charitable, environmental and fitness benefits to Congressional leaders.  He said the golf industry is worth $68.8 billion each year creating 1.98 million jobs and $55.6 billion in wages.  He said golf makes a positive social and environmental impact, adding value across the land it manages, resources it uses, and people and communities it touches. He said golf can be a catalyst to driving sustainability awareness in front of millions of individuals, communities and businesses.  He spoke about the National Golf Day held this year on May 21.  He encourages all golf courses across Nebraska to complete the GCEP survey.  GCSAA and the golf industry need this survey information which is specific to the environmental attributes of golf courses, including natural resource inventories, management inputs and environmental stewardship practices. This information provides baseline data for documenting changes in environmental practices over time and helps set priorities for education, research, member services and other environmental programs. The data also helps GCSAA respond to governmental inquiries and answer the public's questions about environmental issues. He said that before the Golf Course Environmental Profile, existing environmental data was very limited, and not complete, uniform or centralized.  Please encourage your golf course superintendents to take this survey.  Time is limited.  All surveys need to be completed before November 17, 2014.

 

The fourth speaker was Jill Philmon who represented the Club Managers Association of America or CMAA.  The Club Managers Association of America is the professional association for managers of membership clubs.  CMAA has close to 7,000 members across all classifications. Manager members run more than 3,000 country, golf, city, athletic, faculty, yacht, town and military clubs. The objectives of the Association are to promote and advance friendly relations among persons connected with the management of clubs and other associations of similar character; to encourage the education and advancement of members; and to assist club officers and members, through their managers, to secure the utmost in efficient and successful operations.  Ms. Philmon said PGA Professionals need to understand the superintendent and manager’s  job and the PGA professional education is extremely important.  She said clubs need long range plans and strategies.  It should be the goal of the PGA Professional, the course superintendent, and the clubhouse manager to work as one.  The Key to success is a give and take scenario to achieve a common goal.  All staff, she said, is responsible for growth, everyone sells memberships, and team members must have each other’s backs.  The common goal among all is to grow the game of golf.

 

Approximately, 150 PGA Professionals, club managers, and course superintendents attended the 2014 Nebraska Golf Summit.  The Hillcrest Country Club of Lincoln was an excellent host and need to be applauded for their efforts.

The only thing that was remotely surprising was the initiative to lobby. The rest made me throw up a little in my mouth.

[Howard Riefs]

Sharpe also spoke to Golf.com and Golf Digest:

http://m.golf.com/1235749/new-taylormade-ceo-we-need-to-evolve/

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/11/new-taylormade-ceo-ben-sharpe.html

An interesting comment about TM vs Adams brands in the GD Q&A:

"I think there is an opportunity to move Adams into that fun, friendly environment, a social, easy-to-play and put-a-smile-on-your-face brand, and keep TaylorMade as the zero to 4-handicap, aspirational, tour-validated, great-technology brand. And that's the value of having both. That's the reason we brought Adams to Carlsbad. It allows us to have those conversations every day on positioning."

Perhaps he spoke out of turn. Otherwise, if that's the case, I've been playing the wrong drivers and hybrid all these years. Handicaps of zero to 4 is a pretty small market. Why bother making irons other than forged?

[RJ_Daley]

Adam, I've read this over a few times, and just am not understanding the basis of your ire concerning the synopsis of the convention speakers remarks.  I don't know about the Taylormade CEO comments.  Yes, I get that the remarks by the speakers are somewhat the party line, standard responses in these times of stressed membership numbers and overall golfer participation leading to a game that is not 'growing'.  But, the remarks by the selected speakers that represent differing segments of the overall golf industry, all seem to be offering collaborative initiatives between the segmient professional associations to create an atmosphere where golf could grow in popularity and participation. 

I'm just not sure what you think they ought to say.  I'm not discounting the possibility I am simply dense and missing something obvious to the other elite 1499 of GCA... I'm trying man. 

[Mark Pavy]

Adam,

I probably have a similar view to you, I've heard it all before.

The part about the Course Super, PGA Pro, Course Manager and we'd better throw in Marketing Manager, Committee, Directors and Owner, all working together to increase participation is great in theory. The breakdown occurs when you have a group of people making a decision, there's always debate and compromise. The result is the decisions become conservative and truly great ideas rarely get a chance.

I've seen it work really well, the best example was at club where the Manager, Super and Pro went and played 9 every evening. The club is going from strength to strength because the guys running the show are in the same head space. 

Whilst I enjoyed the Asia Pac Amateur at Royal Melbourne recently, I wasn't too impressed with ANGC and the R&A claiming the event as "growing the game", I'm sure all the non-golfing kids at home were jumping out of their skin to pick up a golf club after watching the ANGC and R&A representatives parade around in their stuffy jacket and ties!! I'm sure their hearts in the right place, but providing another elite level amateur event is preaching to the converted.

The logical solution is for the industry bodies and club manufacturers to employ PGA Professionals as Ambassadors for the game, with the sole purpose of teaching kids in Schools for Free.

[Adam Clayman]

Dick, I guess I'm too jaded, BUT, I don't see how the PGA is even relevant here in Nebraska. They have been around a long time and this self serving initiative strikes me as too little too late. Their inability to pass along the finer points to this sport, versus how to hit the ball, is just one monumental failure on their part. Play nine and dine out of the usga highlights an even bigger disconnect from the majority of golfers I see. Their east coast, never playing with a cheater, bias, would be comical if it wasn't so sad that their lack of real governance hasn't protected the game.

The gcsaa speech was at least on point, but, I find these guys out here, measuring their inputs, the way other areas of the country might measure, to be out of touch with Ne. reality.

Club managers? c'mon.

As a famous person once said to me " you can have a golf course without a pga guy, but, you can't have one without a gcsaa guy."

Mark, their hearts are in the right place, but, they should've been there decades ago when the self serving aspect might not have come off so desperate.

[RJ_Daley]

Adam, perhaps one of the GCSAA guys can come on here and tell us what the membership numbers trend has been in the last several years.  But, I suspect that since the numbers of golf courses has shrunk, and the numbers of PGA Club prosfessionals has shrunk dramatically, that so has the GCSAA membership seen drops in their numbers (at least in the US).

Obviously, none of these organizations will be healthy nor have much of a future if golfers continue to drop in participatory numbers, in general. 

So, given we all can probably point to some of these organizations past lack of performance and tending their garden properly with realistic policies and practices, based on arrogance and taking for granted the tall cotton their leaders enjoyed in the hayday; What would you have them do and say now? 

I have to think they are actually understanding their plight in the shrinking golf economy here in US and perhaps some in GB&I.  They may have some efforts to expand and ride on the Asia-Pacific tides like so much other economic activity resorts to in our times, but to be fair, what can they do here and now, that isn't at least being mouthed and being paid lip service in these pronouncements you take exception to above?

Nine and dine, play it forward, while we are young, brown is beautiful, all are perhaps desperate measures for a desperate situation.  But who has a platform, microphone and better answers?  You know that solutions that would satisfy the treehouse here are not going to fly among the millions left still pursuing the game, particularly because the wide range of people playing golf have such disparate values and  goals as to what they like and want to get out of their participation in the game.