Recognizing Contributions Beyond the Fairway: A Call for Hall of Fame Honors
Enshrinement into any Hall of Fame requires a volume of achievement. Most accumulate the necessary statistics over a career that spans, if you’re lucky, a decade, to on very rare occasions, two decades. The Halls of Fame that celebrate the greats in the NBA, NFL, and MLB are reliant on a sensible voting body, and with the exception of time removed from the game, there is no baseline criteria for consideration. The World Golf Hall of Fame (WGHOF), which will soon be returning to Pinehurst, has changed criteria, voting bodies and gone from annual ceremonies to hosting once every couple years. The last and most recent decision is by far the most practical measure the hall has made in decades. The actuary tables of historic golf being played constantly reminds us that few truly distinguish themselves from their peer group to the degree that they become so distinctly deserving of Hall of Fame status in perpetuity. But for too long the WGHOF has been overlooking people who impact the game far more than the best players of their generation and it’s beyond time for these people to be recognized.
Since the first Hall of Fame class of 1974 there have been more than 30 individuals who have been enshrined who did not distinguish themselves by winning major championships and/or constructing a resume of individual achievement. Those people include, two presidents, administrators and tournament chairmen, ambassadors of the game, course designers and one clearly defined teacher. How is that possible in a sport for a lifetime in which the vast majority of the people who play do not play the game as a profession. Participation is the cornerstone of the industry, and it drives everything in the game, especially professional tournament golf. There is no Hall of Fame that should be identifying and enshrining more contributors than the World Golf Hall of Fame, and that’s why it’s beyond time for Butch Harmon, Mike Keiser and the design tandem of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to receive the recognition. Ben is a member of the 2002 class as a player but there is no Coore without Crenshaw, and that distinction should be added to his plaque.
Mike Keiser was a very successful man in the greeting card industry before turning his attention to reimagining the public golf space which was uninspiring and idling when he turned it on its head with the creation of Bandon Dunes. Not only did Keiser bet on the remote Oregon coastline and its sandy soil he, more importantly, trusted the souls and sensibilities of golfers to value and invest in the journey. Bandon Dunes is mecca for men and women who want what Keiser was selling from the beginning, that it’s about golf. The food is fine, and the rooms are acceptable, but the golf inspires. It inspires tens of thousands each year to make the trek, but equally it has inspired other developers to create destinations that challenge the concept of the direct flight. Actually, many of Keiser’s properties would challenge the fortitude of Neal Page and Del Griffith, the characters made famous in planes, trains and automobiles. The singular purpose of the journey has created a whole new category of retail golf and Keiser is its godfather. He’s created jobs in remote and modest communities. He’s enhanced the profiles of a handful of course designers and helped spawn the next generation of design. He’s pumped up the travel segment of the industry but, most importantly, he’s insured the unbridled joy of experiential jobs for generations now and later. Oh, and he’s made it profitable. He’s driven a reverse engineering of a model that got sideways, and then just bad, with real estate taking the priority over the quality of the golf course. Design was not celebrated in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as much as it was tolerated. Keiser has been a king maker and if you want to gauge impact on the game in the last 20 years, I mean real impact, Keiser is at the top of the list.
Similarly to Mike Keiser, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have redefined the golf design industry and their work is so lauded, and these two men are in such demand, they could, if they choose, work well into their 80’s. Any careful examination of the history of golf design in the United States will provide a handful of projects as the most significant for their originality, inspiration and impact on the game and the industry. Chief among the most important courses built in the last 30+ years, Sand Hills in Mullen, Nebraska was the true paradigm busting project that has driven growth and development well into the future. The story of Sand Hills is a screenplay waiting to be constructed. From the natural existence of countless holes to the physical challenge of development to the isolated location, it takes “Field of Dreams” to a different galaxy. It not only drove the private sector for private destination golf, but it also ushered in a return to a minimalist approach of golden age architecture where the course designer led with land use, not the developer. In 30 years Coore/Crenshaw have built courses that are recognized among the very best in the world. Additionally, their consequential renovations at places like Pinehurst #2, Maidstone, Old Town and Prairie Dunes have helped fuel a part of the design industry that sat dormant for decades.
Coore and Crenshaw take a level of personal responsibility with each project that is now being matched by this generation’s best designers. The decades of design decay ushered in a level of ennui amongst golf fans such that little discussion was conducted when new courses opened and the familiarity with the prolific designers of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s was effectively non- existent. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were prolific designers, but the chatter was as much because they were Jack and Arnie as it was for the number of inspiring golf holes they designed. Coore and Crenshaw have threaded the needle with the uber wealthy benevolent dictator owner who all have the same goal, build the most memorable experience for their members and guests – not the best golf course, but the most memorable. That aspiration requires a commitment and care uncommon to the norm. Bill and Ben quibble over finite details and the most ordinary hump or rumple on a landscape. To them they are the stewards of the land, the preservation of contour is their charge, and the ultimate goal is their work should look as if it was there. We are living in a renaissance of golf course design. The leaders applying the sense and sensibility to the current trade are Coore and Crenshaw. Why wait? Enshrine them now.
Finally, it’s time for the WGHOF to right what has been a continual wrong for at least a decade. In the history of golf there are few families who have had a greater run of sustained importance and relevance in the game of golf than the Harmon family. Claude Harmon was the platinum standard of club professionals during a period of heightened awareness and reverence for the golf pro. Not only did Claude direct the golf programs at Seminole and Winged Foot, but he was also among the better players in what amounted to be a part time job of playing at the highest level. He won the 1948 masters by five shots and finished 3rd in four additional majors, including the 1959 US Open at his home club Winged Foot. Claude fathered four boys who all made their way into the golf business, first as aspiring players, and ultimately all four were among the finest club professionals and teachers in the game. Each would go on to work with major champions and FedEx Cup winners, but one became the teacher and coach to the very best in the game.
Butch Harmon could play. He could play well enough to win a satellite/opposite field event on the PGA Tour called the Broome County Open which was played opposite The Open Championship. Butch, like his father, had a keen eye for the golf swing and like his father he knew how to make the motor run for those he was entrusted with. In Claude’s case it was the mind manipulation of his four sons that included unrelenting mental challenges. With Butch it’s been with the best players the game has seen, with few exceptions over the past 30 plus years. Golf Channel was built and launched in 1995 when Greg Norman was the biggest star in the game. Butch helped refine a golf swing that was majestic, dynamic, and productive. In 1993, with an initial interlude in Houston, Butch and Tiger Woods began a working relationship that produced the most destructive stretch of golf ever produced in the professional game. That included a total reconstruction through Tiger’s second full year on the PGA Tour. In addition to Tiger, Butch would become the swing and de facto mind coach for Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson to name a few. He became a valuable voice globally in the game as a commentator on Sky Sports. In addition, he conducted golf schools for the well- heeled who spared no expense to find improvement and joy in the game. Harvey Penick was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002 and his enshrinement was celebrated overwhelmingly. There has never been a better, greater, or more successful instructor to the stars in the history of golf. Instruction is a driving force in the golf industry today, and top instructors are TV stars, pseudo-celebs and Butch Harmon is their godfather. 3-day, 5-day and month-long golf schools have been job creators and industry staples for decades. There is no greater metric to determine whether someone was a significant contributor in the game than to say emphatically he or she changed the game. Instruction and its impact on the millions of people who play the game recreationally and the best players who compete for trophies on the best tours has never had a bigger role. Butch Harmon has been a driving force coupled with unparalleled success with many of the greatest players the game has ever seen. The time is now for the World Golf Hall of Fame to recognize him with enshrinement in its next class.
Golf as an industry relies on people playing the game. No other sport mirrors the rules played by amateurs with the best in the world more closely than golf. Each market segment is either mildly or significantly impacted by the others. People’s enjoyment of the game through instruction and the experiences on the finest golf courses in the world drive the business of golf. Mike Keiser, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and Butch Harmon have made the game better, more enjoyable, and more sustainable because of their contributions. Not for now, for always. They created opportunity, inspired others who wanted to pursue what they pursued, and opened doors for others to make careers in the game. The door should be opened for all of them to take their rightful place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
I learned how to have conversations with adults as a young teenager because my Dad exposed me to his network of personal and professional friends. My intuition told me the value of the game was far greater than the score I shot on a given day. I have no idea why I was able to make a fairly mature observation at a young age, but it never left me. At every phase and stage of my life and career the pull to play the game was keen and along the way I made connections with people who would frame and continually change my life. The man who was central in getting me an interview at Seminole Golf Club, Billy Armfield, was an advocate for me because we had spent time on the golf course at Greensboro Country Club. My best friend in life, Derrick Kraemer, was a beginner when I hired him as a cart boy shortly before his college graduation. Countless rounds over the next year, with his marked improvement, forged a relationship that has sustained itself through the decades as one of the most important of my life. Not long after I began my career doing local radio in Charlotte I was introduced to Jay Bilas, who has become one of the essential voices in sports television broadcasting. Jay came to the game later in his life but because of my morning schedule and his “summers off” from his work on college basketball we began playing a ton of golf together. His friendship, advice, and support over the last 25 years has been irreplaceable as I’ve made critical decisions about my career with his counsel being vital to my decision making. More recently, as I was getting close to concluding a decade of work at Golf Channel, Jaime Diaz was hired for his perspective on the game. My interludes with him through the years were always enjoyable but brief. When we began working together, I was presented with a true gift. Not just his thoughts and perspective on the game of golf as it related to our television work, but more importantly, his guidance and advice on life issues that were discussed constantly and continually on the golf course at the Winter Park 9. All of these are examples of the value the game has given to me through a life loving it, but it extends to something that is the most precious that I have that I was putting in jeopardy, my health.
One of the tell-tale signs and behaviors of an alcoholic is the seeking and the pursuit of isolation. For me, it was the growing shame over being in the grips of alcohol, but it was also the simple need to be alone to drink the way only an alcoholic does. For all the years of joy and fond memories the game had given me with new and old friends, I had gotten to the point several years ago that I was willing to abandon and sacrifice all of them because the disease had taken hold of me. My job presented me with a fair amount of travel and there wasn’t a town in America that didn’t have a good golf course, and many were close to friends I made in and out of the game. Less and less did I make plans to meet friends, play golf, catch up on life and deposit valuable memories into my well-being. Instead, I consistently chose the loneliness and isolation of hotel rooms where I fed my disease and a growing strand of depression.
Once I started to reclaim some equilibrium in my life, golf resumed its place as a critical outlet for fellowship. Fellowship is at the center of my sober life, and now more than ever the redeemable aspects of spending time walking and talking with friends about the design features of the hole we are playing, the pedestrian quality of my ball-striking or the state of my sobriety are invaluable. It is critical that I stay engaged with others and for so many of my friends’ golf is what they invest time and money in for the exercise, mild competition, and the memories. Those things certainly apply to me, but my life is literally on the line every day if I am not committing to the essential elements of my sober lifestyle, and nothing is more important than engagement.
More recently, I have taken upon myself to renew friendships with college buddies who I had not played golf with in 30 years. I thoroughly enjoy their company, but selfishly, I need their company. I recently had a conversation with the owner of one of the finest clubs in America and I asked him about the thing he gets the greatest joy from since opening his club several years ago. He told me for all the detailed analysis he did on his own about what he wanted the club to be he never estimated the sheer value of the time spent in “the room”. A term he affectionately calls the main gathering room in the clubhouse. “It’s the time” he told me that means the most to him.