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Graham Says Farewell
By David Shefter, USGA
October 14, 2003
Far Hills, N.J. -- In some way, shape or form since 1986, Kendra Graham has made the USGA her home away from home. Fresh out of Wake Forest, the baby-faced Graham began her career as a development officer, which was only a temporary full-time position. As the job was nearing an end, fate led her to a position in championship administration.
It's where she's been ever since. So much for staying here temporarily.
Through the years Graham, 40, rose through the ranks, touching off with her current title as Director of Rules and Competitions Women's Open Championship, meaning she had final decision-making power on all Women's Open inside-the-ropes issues. She gave the championship a voice and, over the years, was one of the game's behind-the-scenes players who made an irrefutable impact on the sport.
During her tenure at the USGA, Graham served as an influential voice on the Rules Committee. Her mastering of the Rules of Golf led her to receive an invitation to officiate at The Masters in 1995, becoming the first female besides a USGA non-executive committee woman to do so. Graham also appeared on Rules videos and on The Golf Channel as a Rules of Golf expert.
Always committed, Graham did these things while balancing a family life and persevering through personal adversity, such as breast cancer in 1999. But now it's time say goodbye. On Oct. 3, Graham will bid farewell to what she called her "dream job."
In the first of a two part interview, she sat down with the USGA's Ken Klavon and talked candidly -- and at times tearfully -- about her experiences. Upon reflection, it's been a long yet fulfilling journey.
Out of the chute, why are you retiring?
Kendra Graham: I think it was from coming to this that realization that I've been juggling, hopefully, being a full-time mom, and being a good wife, doing a great job here -- and I've been that now for five years. I love what I do, but I thought, 'Omigosh, am I going to keep on this merry-go-round?' And 10 years from now am I going to wake up and say, 'Where'd the time go?'
I want to roll back the clock. I don't want to have any regrets. I don't want anything to pass me by, especially when it has to do with my home life, with being a great mom, a good wife. So I started mulling over the idea [to retire]. One of my friends retired, and she talked to me about it. It didn't sound so bad. I thought, 'Do I work one more year and say I worked 10 Women's Open championships? Or do I work three more years so I can say I worked 20 years for the USGA?'
I thought, 'What do I really, really want to do?' And what I really want to do is be there for my son and my husband. I want to be fresh and ready to do homework, because unfortunately in kindergarten it's starting. I wanted to go at a slower pace and not miss anything. Not that they were earth shattering things over the past three years, but I've missed my son's birthday party the last three years; I've missed field trips; I've missed his moving-up ceremony. And I don't want to miss those things. We've made it work and I've seen lots of videos and pictures and we celebrate his birthday on a different day. But I just felt I didn't want to do that anymore.
By retiring from here but hopefully staying involved in the game, I'll be able to do both. Getting out of golf cold turkey would be like cutting off my right arm. I've been involved in golf for so long and basically worked for the USGA since I got out of college.
I do hope to stay involved. I'm going to teach three Rules of Golf workshops over the winter, which I'm excited about. I'm hoping there might be some other opportunities in golf, or with the USGA, things that I can do from home.
Not that we have something lined up, but if there's some project that the USGA had where I could come in for three days a week for four weeks in a row, and there could be a start and finish to it, and it doesn't mean I'd have to get on a plane and go away, I'd like to do it.
I just wanted things to be on my terms. And maybe that doesn't sound right, because the USGA has been great.
That was another factor. The fact that my son was starting kindergarten, you can't take him out of school for a week here and a week there to come with me when I teach a workshop or go to the USGA annual meeting. We had to be conscious of him not missing too much school, because this is a real building year for him. It'll start his educational life.
With all you've accomplished at the USGA and the years you have put in, where is your emotional level right now?
KG: Very high. I could start crying at any second. The USGA is obviously a great organization and I feel very strongly about what they do: For The Good Of The Game. And I think what I'll miss most are the people. The host clubs, the golf course superintendents, staff. When you're on the course at 5:30 in the morning setting holes with a great bunch of people, it's just a good feeling. Especially being able to do Women's Open championships. I loved doing the course setup and seeing how the players play the course once we've set it up; you're trying to get it just right. It's very fulfilling, it's very gratifying.
The work with the Rules of Golf. I fell in love with the Rules during my first workshop back in 1987. To work with the great minds that I've worked with in trying to simplify the code and make it easier to understand. And hopefully people will want to read the book and play by the rules. That's been so gratifying.
For whatever reason I think a lot of times we are defined in our lives by what we do. I've been very lucky. I suspect and I already know I'll get that same gratification from being a good mom, being there and being more involved. It's what is most important. So in some ways, this decision is very easy. But actually leaving is very hard.
What would be your most memorable moment at the USGA?
KG: The first one that comes to mind is the pride factor. There are many memories, there really are. But the first one would be to be invited to officiate at Augusta for The Masters [1995], because it was ironic. I arrived in Salt Lake City [for a Rules of Golf workshop], I was checking into a hotel and they said I had a fax, and I was really surprised. I got this envelope, opened it up, thinking it was a mistake. And there was this copy of an invitation to officiate at Augusta.
So I think that because it came as such a huge surprise -- you open the letter and see the Augusta logo on stationary -- that would be the one that jumps out.
Having said that, there was such a mystery about The Masters. When I first started working for the USGA, I worked on the U.S. Open Championship. I had the same wonderment back in 1986 at Shinnecock Hills for the U.S. Open. But year in, year out, that's what we did. We did that event. It lost some of the mystery.
How did The Masters gig come to fruition?
KG: I think my assistant at the time knew I wanted to see it. So rather than calling her for messages and her telling me that I got this letter, she just sent it. If you talk to [USGA Executive Director] David [Fay], he'll say Will Nicholson told him he was thinking about inviting X, Y, and Z, which I guess included me. And David gave it his blessing. So it was very much because of David.
What do you remember about the experience?
KG: There you actually don't [walk] with a group; you're on a hole. My first day I was on No. 10, then I was on 11, then I was on 5, then I was a rover. And I'll never forget, Will Nicholson, who was chairman of the Rules Committee, on Saturday morning said to me, 'Where are you today?' And I said, 'I'm on No. 5.' And I knew that was one of the hardest holes on the golf course, as far as I was concerned. And he looked at me, kind of laughed and said, 'That's a good first-year assignment, because not much happens on five.'"
Why the romanticism with Rules?
KG: I think initially in that first workshop, it was like putting a puzzle together. You had to piece things together to come up with an answer. That's what intrigued me initially. I thought taking the exam in that first workshop was fun because I wanted to see if I could put the puzzle together. Then there was a real interest in what the Rules said and how they were being interpreted. That was the next step, the mastering of that. I felt that was the best way to understand the game.
The next stage was the fact that I could have involvement with the shape the Rules would take. I will say the one difficulty with that is, 'What does the Rule say now and, OK, what's the Rule going to say?' without getting the two confused.
We're trying to make the Rules easier for people to understand. If it makes sense to them, chances are greater that people will remember a Rule. What I'd like to see people get out of the Rules is for them to play by the Rules, which is more or less a sense of fair play in life.
Read Part II Of The Interview
David Shefter is a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him at dshefter@usga.org with questions or comments.
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