It has been a few weeks since the Europeans trashed the Americans at the Ryder Cup and then Phil Mickelson trashed Captain Tom. Phil’s evisceration of all things Ryder Cup prompted a storm of controversy that only recently has quieted.
But that quiet we all hear coming from the PGA of America right now isn’t really quiet at all. Because the PGA didn’t waste any time in reacting to that resounding defeat and Phil’s (and everyone else’s) criticism. They took action. They did what all large organizations do when face with an emergency. They appointed a committee. 
Oh, not really a committee because we all know that committees never really do anything right, so the PGA have initiated a task force instead. Let’s get this straight it’s a task force, more like a SWAT Team than a committee. OK, a task force, I get it…that’ll get it done.
While I applaud the fact they did take action I still think they just don’t get it. And I am not the only one. True, I am an outsider but there are many insiders that have called out the PGA of America also.
One of these insiders is Steve Eubanks of Global Golf Post. Eubanks has a very insightful perspective as he writes for PGA.com and says “I am a recovering PGA of America member so I speak from more than 30 years of experience both inside the organization and out.” Who can have a better view of the PGA of America than that?
Eubanks wastes no time in critiquing his friends at the PGA. “They announced the creation of a blue-ribbon commission. They’re calling it a ‘task force’ because that sounds muscular and decisive but have no illusions, this is a deflection; a committee created to beat back criticism and kick the proverbial cup down the road.”
In Mickelson’s rant he points out that the players were never consulted on any issue this time around. And the fact is that not only was Watson disconnected from the PGA Tour players but the PGA of America shares that same distance.
The European Tour owns the Ryder Cup in Europe and naturally has a very close, intense relationship with its players.
The PGA of America has no such relationship. The PGA Tour players see the PGA one week a year at the PGA Championship. That is a fundamental flaw in the process.
Eubanks laments that relationship. “And no one at PGA Headquarters can tell you how the organization that runs the Ryder Cup, and reaps its estimated $80 million bounty, became so divorced from the players who wear the uniforms and put their reputation on the line every two years. In truth, U.S. players are closer to the European organizers than they are to the PGA of America. Mickelson and Jim Furyk are on a first name basis with John Paramor of the European Tour. I’ll bet my house they couldn’t name a handful of the PGA members wearing blazers and walking the fairways at Gleneagles.”
Paul Azinger and his victorious Pod System were referenced by Mickelson at that infamous press conference and Eubanks also sees Azinger’s plan as a possible solution. But points out there are more than just pods needed here.
“That’s another thing that bonds the Europeans,” Azinger said. “When (the Ryder Cup) is held over there, the proceeds fund the European Tour. They see a rebounding benefit. They know where the money goes.”
Azinger’s current ideas have nothing to do with money. They involve making the Ryder Cup family exactly that: a close knit unit that serves as a repository of knowledge and experience with guidelines that make the process as predictable as Thanksgiving turkey. Those things aren’t revolutionary to anyone that has built a business. Then again, to your average entrepreneur, grouping people in pods based on personalities and investing them in success by engaging them in key decisions is nothing out of the ordinary, either.
But for the PGA of America, that kind of thinking is more than radical. It’s foundation-shattering. And that is the organization’s Gordian knot. The PGA’s Ryder Cup problem is not one of communications or optics or who makes the most putts. The problem is cultural and systemic. And, unfortunately, that is not something a blue-collar panel is going to change.”
Eubank’s entire article is definitely worth the read and he is right on. The next time a committee, or task force if you wish, succeeds in making a cultural change within an organization it will be the first.
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