Former PGA Tour Commissioner Beman Subject of "Golf's Driving Force"

Right now, the cover is white, like the Beatles album, and the content is sure to be just as juicy no matter what the publishers eventually pick for the outside of it.  Deane Beman, second commissioner of the PGA Tour, has finally cooperated on a book about his tenure as head of one of the most successful sports organizations in the US. 

One reason the PGA Tour has been successful is that Beman changed the organization from a for profit company to a non-profit organization for all the PGA Tour events.  Today, though there are for profit entities of the Tour, that policy for tournaments is still the essence of the organization.  The Tour has raised $1.6 billion for charity.

It details some of the friendly and not so friendly rivalries between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as well as how the two buried their hatchets to attempt to protect their own business interests from the growing PGA Tour organization. In 1983, they wanted to throw Beman out.

It was a precarious time for the continuity of the PGA Tour.  The Tour had begun expanding into licensing for merchandise, into design of courses and into other areas that infringed on what Palmer and Nicklaus were doing with their off-course companies. This was a battle about the pie.  Was there enough to make a bigger pie? Or would the existing pie be cut up in different pieces.  How would growth still happen for the PGA Tour and for the individuals who were the stars of the day? 

In some ways, the conversation could have been repeated when Tiger Woods started on the PGA Tour, with his reluctance to accommodate the Tour with the required number of events and the question: Did he deserve something for being the leading cause of increased purses and bigger television rights fees for all the players. 

Some of these questions we may not know the answers to until Commissioner Tim Finchem decides to write a book.  But now at least, we know what happened in the early days of the organization for the touring professionals.

Jim Colbert was on the policy board, the group of PGA Tour members that helps guide the organization at the time, and he let the board know what was happening. 

The business members of the board, Del deWindt, CEO of Eaton; Bob Kirby, CEO of Westinghouse and Card Walker, CEO of Disney as board chairman knew what to do. 

deWindt had suggested previously that the PGA Tour begin to produce annual reports to distribute to all members.  At the time, information was handled less formally, giving the appearance that Beman made decisions without consulting people, even though the board met on important topics.  Communication to the players was obviously not what it could have been.

There is also speculation that agents for Nicklaus, Palmer and Tom Watson were instrumental in pushing for the PGA Tour to take a back seat to interests of their clients.  No one was coming to the table with a win-win philosophy, primarily because athletics is a win-lose mindset.

When the PGA Tour went into the course design business with the TPC Sawgrass, that was the last straw, setting up a battle between powerhouses: Players vs. Beman.

In the end, deWindt’s annual report concept was the fire extinguisher for most of the incendiary concerns.  Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson and other players today, have gone on to huge success in many business areas.

The PGA Tour purses are now so large that Jack Nicklaus commented at the 2000 US Open, “I think it's neat in many ways in the game that the guys today can make a living playing golf. We never could make a living playing golf. We made our name playing golf, but we had to make our living outside the golf course. The guys today can make a living playing golf.”     

Beman’s idea of everyone winning by creating a bigger pie was what happened in golf just as it does in many business situations every year.  Yes, there are winners and losers, but there are also those who win by realizing that growth is good for everyone. 

There are other interesting tidbits such as Nicklaus’ and Beman’s friendship during their amateur days.  They played in the same era, Beman being two years Nicklaus’ senior. Beman suggested to Nicklaus that he start to use yardage books, and that later became a Nicklaus trademark and even a sideline business for one of Nicklaus’ caddies, Angelo Argea.

Beman also suggested Nicklaus use a BullsEye putter prior to the 1971 PGA Championship, which Nicklaus won.  The putter became known as White Fang because it was painted white to eliminate the glare from the brass.

Chapter titles include topics like Making TV Work for Golf, One Giant Leap for Stadium Golf, Fixing and Uneven Playing Field, and other topics.  The book will be published in May.  Adam Schupak is the author