March 6, 2009

Golf Digest Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde says it's time for the game to stop apologizing and start defending itself

By Jerry Tarde
Photo by J.D. Cuban

H.L. Mencken was the great definer of a previous generation. He defined golf as "conspicuous leisure," and he defined a demagogue as "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." These two definitions converged this year when Washington's elite rebuked the corporate golf junket known as the PGA Tour.

It began in Detroit when the auto business struggled to explain golf sponsorship as the economy declined and even Tiger's Buick deal unraveled. I was at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am when word came to CBS: Don't show CEOs on television, because they all want to be "under the radar." Then Northern Trust got hammered for sponsoring the tour's Los Angeles event after taking $1.6 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds (never mind that Northern Trust had record profits of $795 million last year and acquiesced only because the government wanted all major banks to participate). The aforementioned demagogues like Barney Frank and Maureen Dowd gleefully attacked golf as the worst form of corporate excess. Fearing public outrage, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo pulled back their visibility from tour events (the Memorial and Wachovia). I do think if Kenny G had been hired to perform at the Northern Trust party instead of Sheryl Crow, some of this would have been averted.

It's time for golf to stop apologizing and start defending itself. First, a caveat: If private companies are going to take public funds, the money should come with review and scrutiny. Fair enough. But golf is the baby here, not the bath water.

Private enterprise has been involved in golf sponsorship and entertainment for 100 years, not because the boss plays but because it's good for business. Bank of America officials told the Sports Business Journal that for every $1 spent on sponsorships, $10 in revenue and $3 in earnings is brought in.

Corporate sponsorship is successful because of the attractiveness of the golf audience, the global reach of the product (more than 200 countries), the positive image of our sport and players, and the business-building platform golf provides through pro-ams and entertainment opportunities for customers. It's not only good for your business, it has a widespread economic impact in communities where the events are played. As one example, the Deutsche Bank Championship on the PGA Tour has been estimated to generate at least $50 million in revenue annually to the region. And by the way, that region happens to be Barney Frank's voting district.

Then there's the charity argument. Last year, PGA Tour sponsors donated a record $124 million to charity, $1.4 billion since it began. The golf model should be copied, not pilloried.

New York Times columnist and Golf Digest Contributing Editor Thomas L. Friedman remarked to me the other day that when he speaks to members of Congress he asks them: " 'Are you trying to kill the hospitality business? Because that's what you're doing. No, I am not for bankers using taxpayer money to buy private jets, but if holding conventions or conferences or customer or employee retreats is part of how they advance their business, you don't want to kill that. It drives the whole hospitality industry in America, and that industry isn't fat cats; it's waiters and dishwashers, maids and cooks, event staff and hotel clerks -- blue-collar workers who belong to unions.' It starts to give some of them pause."

Pause is what's needed. When we come out of this cycle, and we will, the allure of our sport based on its values and ethos will still prove good for business. The best stimulus package is a robust golf economy, because nobody out-travels, outspends or out-contributes a golfer.