2005 USGA Annual Meeting Speech


February 5, 2005

  • Nick Price Receives Bob Jones Award
  • Fred Ridley Re-Nominated As USGA President


    • By Fred Ridley, USGA President

    It is a pleasure to be with all of you tonight, particularly those of you who are among the more than 1,300 USGA volunteers.  On behalf of the Executive Committee, our Executive Director, David Fay and the entire staff at Golf House, I thank each of you for all your work throughout the year for the USGA and the game of golf.
    Ridley

    I would like to pick up with you where we left off at last year's annual meeting in Orlando when I spoke about the purpose of the USGA.  2004 was a year in which we examined how to most effectively communicate the USGA's endeavors to promote the game's bests interests.  We examined our priorities and established clear objectives and benchmarks for the future.

    The Executive Committee met in a special session during the Mid-Amateur Championship in Sea Island, Georgia, to review our past successes, examine areas where we can do better and collectively agree on a series of key objectives for the USGA going forward.

    I would like to share with you some of what we discussed, the conclusions we reached and the goals we established for the next three years.

    First, our Sea Island meeting re-affirmed the thoughtful dedication of each member of our Executive Committee and our general counsel to our Association and its purposes.  Like each of you, these 16 individuals have full lives and dedicate a significant amount of time and expense to the USGA for which I thank them.

    After two days of discussion about many topics, the Executive Committee has established four clear goals.

    • 1. We will take all necessary steps to assure that the U.S. Open Championship continues to be recognized as one of the world's premier national championships
    • 2. We will continue our efforts to build our body of knowledge about golf equipment and, in particular, the golf ball, and communicate those findings with all interested parties on a consistent and regular basis.
    • 3. We will undertake an initiative to grow the USGA membership to at least 1 million golfers by the end of 2007.
    • 4. We will establish new and grow existing partnerships with other stakeholders in the game of golf to communicate our mutual interests in promoting the game.
    Under the direction of Walter Driver, Jim Vernon, Craig Ammerman and other Executive Committee members we are well under way in pursuit of these objectives. 

    Let me elaborate on why the Executive Committee felt it was critical to dedicate the time and resources of the USGA to accomplish these goals.

    U.S. Open Championship

    The goal of the USGA staff and volunteers involved in our 13 national championships is to provide the best possible sporting experience, bar none, to the competitors, spectators, media and all others who play a role in these championships.

    The U.S. Open is the engine that fuels everything we do.  Turfgrass research, conducting Amateur Championships, our grants and fellowship program and the work the USGA is doing in the equipment research area all are made possible by the success of the U.S. Open Championship.

    For the more than 8,000 competitors who enter the Championship, our 700,000 USGA members and golf enthusiasts around the world, the U.S. Open is the face of the USGA.  Media coverage of the U.S. Open and our worldwide broadcast of the Championship by NBC and our other television partners is, in many cases, the only exposure golfers have to the USGA and what we do.

    In short, it is imperative that we "get it right."  So, we are in the process of examining every aspect of our National Championship to make it even better.  You can expect to hear more, and more often, about our championships and what we are doing to make sure that we do in fact get it right.

    Equipment

    Good decisions about equipment requires good data and a common body of knowledge that everyone involved in the game can reference. 

    Throughout the 110 plus years of the USGA's rule-making activities, distance has been a constant source of debate.  It is not a new issue by any means, but, the last decade in particular, has seen rapid deployment in new technology, player athleticism and improvements to golf course maintenance, all of which have contributed to the distance increases we have seen. 

    We are committed to the program that Jim Vernon outlined, which is designed to collect all relevant data about equipment and the ball possible.  We believe, in many aspects, we are on the "cutting edge" in the research we are doing and we will communicate our findings on a regular basis to the players, manufacturers, our allied organizations and other interested parties.  

    It is important to note that we are supported in this approach by those same parties and our relationships with those parties are as productive and solid as they have ever been.

    The Members Program

    I recently received a letter from one of our former Executive Committee members, Elbert Jemison, who wrote about his experience of attending a ceremony in the Oval Office when Arnold Palmer, the National Chairman of what was then known as the USGA Associates Program, inducted President Gerald Ford as our first member. 

    That Oval Office ceremony was the beginning of what has been a great success story for the USGA.  Now, almost 30 years later, we are well on our way to developing a plan to grow the current USGA membership to more than one million members by the end of 2007. 

    Why is this important?  We believe a robust members' program contributes in a positive way to everything we do.  It is important that we grow our membership in a way that effectively communicates our priorities, what we are doing and why, and does so consistently and on a regular basis.

    Our Members Program also provides a vital link between the USGA and golfers around the country.  It is a resource for opinions and ideas and a source of support in both good and hard times.  We need to increase its numbers and that is the goal of this initiative.

    Our commitment to the Members Program will not be without cost.  But I cannot think of a better way to deploy our assets, and we will do what is necessary to reach this goal.

    Partnerships

    There are many organizations that have a stake in the game and its growth and have many goals in common with the USGA.  Introducing youngsters to the game through programs like our "For the Good of the Game" initiative or the First Tee, bringing more people back into the game with initiatives like the PGA of America's Play Golf America, providing opportunities for young girls to play the game through the LPGA/USGA Girls Golf Program, providing handicaps to golfers throughout the country through our state and regional golf associations and the activities of organizations like the World Golf Foundation, National Golf Course Owners Association, American Junior Golf Association, the Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Club Managers Association are all examples of golf's stakeholders working to promote the game. 

    We have to take a leadership role in these efforts, but that does not mean we have to go it alone.  Everyone involved in the game can benefit from collaboration and mutually beneficial communications. 

    Craig Ammerman's work in 2004 to establish a broad partnership with the PGA of America is a case study in what will become a broad based effort.  We will post details of this collaboration on the USGA Web site and I would encourage you to read about what we are doing together with the PGA.  We intend to work to continue to cultivate other mutually beneficial relationships with key stakeholders in the game.  I believe the game will be stronger if we are successful doing that.

    You have heard some of the how we are going to achieve these objectives and I hope I have provided some context as to why we think they are so important.  Communication is a common thread of all of this and we will look to the leadership of Marty Parkes, working with his communications staff, to help achieve these goals. 

    I would like to reiterate may thanks to our Executive Committee, our General Counsel, Fred Nelson, and to our Executive Director, David Fay, for the support they have provided to me over the past year and I look forward to working with them and you over the coming year.

    This should be an exciting year for the USGA and for golf, and I hope all of us, together, can be a part of that.

    Thank you.