The Annual Meeting: Walter Driver Jr.'s Speech


February 4, 2006

This is the time and place where incoming USGA presidents traditionally talk about the program of the organization for the next two years.  I want to see:

1) The USGA continue to conduct the very best championships in golf;
2) Communicate better with all our constituencies so every golfer will be a true advocate for amateur golf and for the USGA; and
3) Continue to monitor technology in equipment developments to preserve the game and adhere to our charter -- "To promote and conserve the best interests and true spirit of the game of golf."

Walter Driver Jr. touched on three core components that may define his presidency. (USGA Photo Archives)

That wonderful introduction from Arnie isn't the only departure from our traditional format today.  Instead of the routine speech about what the USGA does , I want to focus on what the USGA is and what the USGA means to me and, I know, to you as well.

Instead of the 'normal' speech, I want to do that by recognizing some people who have meant a great deal to me in my life on and off the golf course.  I hope as I tell these personal stories, you'll find yourselves recalling similar relationships and stories of the people who have been part of your personal golf lives.  Through these people, we'll see much that we deeply value about the game and our lives.   

          Each of us has seen the elements of:
          Integrity;
          Sportsmanship;
          mentoring others;
          helping junior golfers;
          developing friendships;
          volunteering our time and resources;
          golf as a family bond

Here are some of my personal recognitions to people who are here tonight, in part because they are special to me but just as importantly, because I believe, no -- I know -- that each of you have similar experiences related to your time in golf, which make for each of us the great game and game for a lifetime.  Here we go:

I want to recognize my parents who are here tonight, not only for every one of the things each of us would naturally want to thank our parents for, but, in my case, for three specific aspects related to golf:

First, for their own competing in sports to introduce me to keen competition.  My father was a wonderful tennis player -- on the Junior Cup team ( story), winner of the NCAA doubles as a junior at the , invited to play at , and on and on.  My mother took up golf when I was a teenager, and her golf trophies had their own special place along the family tennis trophies.  Without their example, I might never have known all the challenges and character-building elements of competition.

Second, they taught me how to behave while competing.  In the Driver family, you might win and you might lose, but you didn't throw racquets or clubs or whine and you thanked everyone before you went off to bash yourself for not winning.

Third, they taught me how to give back to a cherished sport.  My father was on the Executive Committee of the USLTA, now USTA.  He helped the tennis programs in the Southwest (where I grew up), helped promote local tennis in , in many ways.  I saw how much this benefited the sport, the fun they had going to for the meetings at (then) and all the close friends they made from tennis -- friends from every walk of life.  

I imagine each of you had someone show you the way in those three elements of life.  I hope they are still around so you can thank them.

I want to recognize Kay and Lanny Britton, who run a small "Mom and Pop" club fitting shop here in .  They are devoted to the game and the people who come into their shop.  I have watched them help aspiring junior players to get just the right 'fit' for their golf clubs to encourage them.  I have also watched them listen to middle aged golf die-hards endlessly pontificate on equipment issues that, in fact, probably make little real difference to their performance, but Kay and Lanny take care of their golf customers, love the game and make a difference in the daily lives of passionate golfers.

I want to recognize and for all they have done to restore Golf Club, where grew up, and create a golf beacon, a beacon that really works, in what was a tough neighborhood in .  When I first came to in 1970, I quickly joined 'old' -- I think for $500.  The chance to play where the immortal Bobby Jones played, to look at his locker, to see the house of Alexa Sterling (winner of three U.S. Women's Amateur Championships during the same era) across the street, to play with the good players (that's where I met Danny Yates) was a near religious experience for me.

  As the neighborhood continued to deteriorate and the club's finances became more dire, I, following my parents' example, became more involved until at its low point, I was the pro bono lawyer for the club, the entire greens committee and, for a while, the superintendent.  They, unfortunately, got about what they paid for.  Then Tom Cousins had the vision and the true commitment for both restoring East Lake to its golf glory and, very importantly, using that restoration to serve as a mighty catalyst for the neighborhood.  Today, through the work of the East Lake Community Foundation, run by my friend Ray Robinson, crime is way down, schools are doing a great job, truancy is way down, jobs are up, and property values are on the way back.  They take youngsters in and expose them to all the life skills golf has to offer.  My son taught there one summer.  I should add that this effort has received the largest of our USGA Foundation's grants.  What a story about what dedication, focus, lots of resources and golf can accomplish.  Thank you both.

I want to recognize my longtime golf friend , who gets the award for distance traveled to be here tonight from with his wife Joan.  We have played golf together for more than 20 years whenever we got together, which has not been but every other year or so because Bob is a citizen of the world.  Bob grew up in St. Andrews and, of course, became a dedicated golfer as a boy.  He has lived all over the world in an extraordinary business career with Shell Oil and the as head of British Rail.  He has taught all of his children about the game. But, in addition to this friendship, I thank Bob for keeping up his golf after he lost his right arm in a childhood butcher shop accident in .  He shows me every round what it means to appreciate this game, and I am also happy to report that he took the U.S. victory in the 2005 Walker Cup with admirable good grace.

We each have friends who come to us through golf and form great bonds.  I know every one of you has many examples.  I will share two with you.

My friend Hank See and I go back 30 years when we met at 'old' in the early 1970s.  In, we think but it's so long ago we are each a little hazy, 1973, he invited me to .  I was so smitten with this golf that I brought back a case of soap to use for the coming months just to keep the experience alive every day.  My wife was convinced that I had truly gone over the edge, but golf does that to people.  Hank and I have played countless rounds together since then.  He has introduced me to many other interesting, dedicated golfers.  He is still arranging those games despite two artificial knees and battling Parkinson's. I still keep a supply of the soap that I use every day.

I also want to recognize , whom I only know because of his love of the game.  Allen runs the car wash in the bottom of my office building.  On Mondays when he has played well, I get a full report.  If he gets a new driver, I am among the early beneficiaries of the news.  Golf has given us a bond, which we gladly share.  He now has a new baby, which is cramping his golf a bit.   How many people have we each met where the bond of golf gives us instant and continuing camaraderie?

I want to recognize Peachtree Golf Club for being a golf club dedicated to the game, born through the efforts of and the place where my children learned the game.  As a part of the 1989 matches at Peachtree, I saw the impact that the USGA can have on golfers who are asked to volunteer.  I met then when he served as captain of our team.  I met the people who later encouraged me to volunteer for the USGA.  Peachtree Golf Club is a small place dedicated to pure golf and has had six -- that's right six -- Walker Cup Captains, eight members of the USGA Executive Committee and two -actually now three with me- Presidents of the USGA.  Without Peachtree Golf Club, the experience and seeing the dedication to the game and to the USGA, I certainly would not be standing here tonight.

I want to recognize the Golf Association -- my first volunteer job in golf.  Through the efforts of and now , the GSGA is one of the standout state and regional associations working with the USGA and is out in force today.

I want to thank each of my daughters for many things but in this context, thanks for marrying golfing son-in-laws.  A non-golfer son-in-law might survive in the Driver clan, but I'm not sure how.  My son and I will continue to hope that we can someday luck into winning a father-son event but we're going to have to play better.  We've been trying since he was 12.  My wife, Bettie is the representative for all non-golfers afflicted with marrying golfers.  By this stage, though, she has no hesitation in pointing out flaws in my swing, particularly those flaws exaggerated by advancing age and lack of flexibility.  In "North to the Links of Dornoch,"  Herbert Warren Wind was traveling with Margaret and Kenny Cameron, who lived in Nairn, Scotland, and great friends of the Atlanta golfing legend Yates clan, and this wonderful golf writer and observer of the game described Margaret as "a non-golfer but a sound and sensitive woman nonetheless."   Bettie has heard this often through the years.

My final recognition tonight is to every person in this room -- thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you give to the game, what you give to each other and everything you do for the USGA.  You honor us by your presence.  Please take the time to thank the person next to you for their commitment to the game.

I hope this trip through some personal recognitions has struck home with each of you -- thinking about people who got you started in the game, the impact of golf on your families, long time dear friends through golf, people you have helped or want to help in golf, what volunteering means to you. Please thank them for me, too.

Each of us has a passion and a commitment to this game.  It's why we play.  It's why we volunteer.  It's why we're here.  I want each of you to be an advocate for the game and for the USGA and let people see your passion for the game.  Help us conduct the best championships in golf.  Help us communicate with all golfers and the USGA constituencies.  Help us promote and conserve the true spirit of the game.

And my commitment to you tonight is that in my two years as president of the USGA, I will do everything I can to bring out that passion in all the members of our organization and to the members still to join.