Pledges and protecting members

Without the rhythms and crescendos of our everyday life, every day starts to run together, every day starts to feel more like Phil Connors’ Punxsutawney time loop of so many Groundhog Days.

 

“You sit in your chair and you forget to go to the bathroom, much less eat,” PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said. “There is so much pain. This is so hard to forecast.”

 

Waugh was one of three golf industry leaders to join GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans Monday for the association’s fourth weekly town hall webinar focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association, and Jeff Morgan, CEO of the Club Management Association of America, he shared his perspective on how the virus has changed industry routines and operations, how it has affected different sorts of clubs, how fast the industry might rebound, and lessons learned that might benefit others.

 

He also discussed the Golf Emergency Relief Fund, introduced earlier Monday afternoon and established to provide short-term financial assistance to golf industry workers. The PGA of America pledged $5 million and will match the first $2.5 million of third-party donations.

 

“We should all wake up every morning thinking about how to help someone else,” Waugh said. “We think about how we can help as many people as we can. This is about getting cash to get people to the other side. We hope it’s a real shot in the arm for everyone.”

 

The fund is supported by the GCSAA, the PGA Tour, the LPGA, the USGA, the NGCOA, and the Association of Golf Merchandisers. Grants for basic needs will be distributed in two phases in two phases, first-come, first-served, with the first and quicker phase capped at $500 for immediate help and the second phase capped at $3,500. 

 

GCSAA members are eligible to apply, as are caddies employed or contracted by leading caddie companies, PGA of America Section employees, USGA employees, NGCOA members, AGM members, PGA of America and LPGA pros, and players in PGA Tour- and LPGA-operated developmental tours.

 

A solution for recent crisis “has always been to create confidence and activity,” Waugh said. “This is the exact opposite. This is economic suicide. You just hope they can kill the problem before they kill the patient, because there’s a common enemy here. We’re concerned with the whole industry.” He added that he hopes Tour players and others “might take an interest in this and really blow it up. Nothing would make us happier to help that many more people.”

 

That wish was echoed later in the call, when Karen said he had yet to hear that any NGCOA member had received adequate funding through the CARES Act. “All I’m seeing is difficulty in the loan application process,” he says. “One thing that this is proving out is the absurdity of picking winners and losers in a time of crisis.” Karen wondered why should golf courses be treated any differently than other businesses. “These programs are meant to protect the workers. What’s the difference between a waiter at a restaurant or a club?”

 

The most pressing challenge he has spotted through the CARES Act is that 75 percent of the Payroll Protection Program, which authorizes up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses to pay their employees during the crisis, has to be used on payroll, “and a lot of times payroll is not 75 percent of expenses, so they may not get the full benefit.” Clubs with a high season after June, for instance, are also short-changed under the current formula. “There needs to be another wave of legislation” after this expires July 31. “We’re concerned about that.”

 

About half of the available funding for this round was allocated during the first week. Evans says the GCSAA is continuing to lobby for 501(c)(7)s to qualify for PPP in the next relief package.

 

“We like to say that this is a land-rich, cash-poor industry and cash flow is everything to a smaller course,” Karen said. “Many courses haven’t saved for a rainy day and this is more than a rainy day — this is a torrent.” Public golf courses are a lot like restaurants: without revenue flow, they will shut down.

 

Karen also highlighted how important the financial stability of the golf course is to overall club operations, and Morgan mentioned how video — especially virtual meetings — has value and “is something that is here to stay.”

 

Like some others around the industry have ventured over the last week, Waugh said he thinks golf will be the first professional sport to return to play — with or without fans.

 

“Every time the Tour gives up a week, it’s millions of dollars they’re giving up in rights fees, but they’re willing to do that,” he said. “It became fairly clear when The Players got cancelled and The Masters was postponed that (the PGA Championship was) up next.” Waugh says he worked with “all the other bodies in the room to find a date in August to watch golf — this year’s golf, not last year’s golf. If we have to go without fans, we’re willing to do that. It would still give people something to watch.” 

 

Waugh said the PGA of America thinks it can operate the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco — a city that has received praise this week for its flattening of the COVID-19 curve — with fewer than 1,000 people on the grounds if necessary. The tournament has been rescheduled for Aug. 3-9.

 

“There’s a 9/11 aspect to this, in that it’s an event,” said Waugh, who worked and lived in New York at that time. “We came into this feeling great about everything.” Equipment companies were cheering great first quarters, the economy pointed upward, and then everything screeched to a halt. 

 

How long will it take to get through to the other side? “It depends how long this takes and how much damage we’ll do,” Waugh said. “How much pain goes into it? How much confidence is eroded? When are people willing to sit next to somebody in the grandstand? People are adaptable. People will figure it out. We will adapt. We will have a new normal. 

 

Waugh said he lost two close friends on 9/11, “and yet out of it, good came. New York changed for a decade, how it viewed itself, how it treated others.” 

 

Waugh has five children along with some other friends under his roof. They all gather together now for dinners and walks. “I hope we remember that simpler times are important, all these things we forget about when we get busy. I hope everybody’s taking advantage of that. If you can be smart and you can be human, and you prove you have a brain and a soul, you’re going to come out of this stronger and better. 

 

“What you do, how you behave. Have a brain, have a soul, and we’re going to all be fine.”