By Fred Altvater
Ted Bishop is an Indiana native who graduated from Purdue University, has been a long time PGA Professional, is currently the General manager of the Legends Golf Club and is a former President of the PGA of America. He has been involved at every level of the PGA for over 40 years and has a few thoughts on changes that need to be made at that prestigious organization.
The PGA has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. First, the over-zealous fans at the Ryder Cup were an embarrassment to golf. A lack of security for adequate crowd control was an issue. In March Derek Sprague resigned his position as CEO and last month the current President, Don Rea was fired for comments made about the unruly New York golf fans.
The PGA of America operates with a CEO, Terry Clark and his staff, who oversee daily operations. They have a 22-member Board of Directors, plus the President, Vice-President and Secretary, who are elected by the membership to advise the CEO and his staff.
The question becomes, with over $450 million in the bank account, is the PGA doing everything possible to help their members and improve golf?
In an interview with Back 9 Report, Mr. Bishop talks about some of the problems currently facing the PGA of America and has a couple of ideas of how to fix it.
View the full video interview HERE.
The PGA of America’s main source of revenue comes from the biennial Ryder Cup and the annual PGA Championship. Total annual revenue for the PGA has been reported to be approximately $170-$175 million. With over 30,000 members, the PGA, along with the USGA, The R&A, The PGA Tour and The Masters comprise the five main governing bodies of golf.
Most PGA Professionals are not impressed with the national organization and are more involved with one of the 41 PGA Sections on a day-to-day basis.
Ted definitely feels the PGA can and should do more to help local professionals be better trained to help their golfers enjoy the game and bring more golfers to the game.
He feels that PGA HOPE and Jr. Golf League have both been very positive, but the PGA does not do enough to drive adult retention to private golf clubs and daily fee courses.
He recently had a discussion with Bob Ford, who has led an outstanding PGA Professional career. Bob feels that an outside commission needs to be named to study the entire structure of the PGA and come up with solutions to better respond to the membership and provide a plan to guarantee future health for the organization.
Many golf insiders have felt for some time that the PGA of America is poorly operated and needs to be modernized.
The current national leadership would be well advised to listen to experienced PGA Professionals, like Bob Ford and Ted Bishop, to maintain their high status in the game, provide better service to their members and lead golf into a successful future.
