GCSAA board perks (Advancing the game)

One of the more enjoyable things I do each year is walk the floor at the annual Golf Industry Show, talking to people I know, meeting new people and listening to the grapevine talk circulating that week. I did exactly this at the recent GIS in Atlanta and got the usual rewarding results. However, this year there was a buzz circulating in hotel lobbies and on the show floor about a growing concern by some GCSAA members: the nature of perks the GCSAA board of directors has adopted to support the manner in which it conducts business.

Of course, negative comments will always be exaggerated when those who are willing to support an issue don’t feel the need to speak out. Because industry publications, GCSAA members and other interested parties are calling around spreading fact and rumors about perk policy, I have elected to address this topic here, not to act as judge and jury, rather, to bring accurate reporting and balanced perspective to this mounting intramural debate. The cost to provide provisions within the perk list has not been a considered factor when developing this commentary. Rather, my thinking is presented with the belief that GCSAA should tighten this benefit package to serve itself and its members better.

Looking at the positives
The first observation worth noting is that there is a great deal of merit and necessity built into the perk list. For example: providing board members with laptop computers and all the communications support needed in today’s fast-paced world; recognizing the work of crew members who assume added responsibility during superintendents’ tours of duty on the board; rewarding board member families for their sacrifices; recognizing the role of board members’ home facilities; and striving for diverse participation within the board. While each of these approaches is well intended, the devil often lies in the details.

Industry observation
One of the long-standing issues permeating the golf industry has been the misguided sense of responsibility national golf organizations feel each year to send teams of representatives to attend each other’s key events and annual meetings, including those in Canada and Europe. Is all this hand-holding necessary in an era where industry-planning meetings prevail and technology facilitates every kind of communication?

Too much of a good thing
A primary concern about many present perk provisions is that even with the best intentions, there’s often too much of a good thing, which suggests there’s a need to repackage these provisions in a more palatable manner to eliminate their adverse impact. For example, the pressurized, time-consuming, presidential-travel load would be lightened if, each year, the association’s three officers each attended one of the three U.S.-based major professional golf tournaments and one of the three association (USGA, PGA and CMAA) annual meetings. This travel policy also might be applied when visiting international venues in Canada and Europe.

The problem with the present GCSAA policy of inviting spouses to attend two board meetings (50 percent of the annual schedule) and the GIS each year is it tends to convert what should be tight, get-it-done board meetings into time-extending semisocial agendas.

Clearly, the GCSAA should express its appreciation to board members’ families, which can be done effectively in a number of ways. For example, in addition to continuing to attend the GIS each year, spouses would be given the annual opportunity of selecting a meaningful personal or house gift from a catalogue brochure created solely for this purpose.

The GCSAA tries so hard each year to show its sincere appreciation to the home facility of its president that the process borders on presenting the association and its president in a defensive light. How else can the collective impact of the following be interpreted: The facility president is invited to the GIS, to visit GCSAA headquarters and to attend one of the three major golf tournaments, all at the association’s expense; and the GCSAA c.e.o. will fly in to present a grant for as much as $10,000 to the home facility?

There’s little need for all this because golf facilities expect to make sacrifices on behalf of the game and out of respect for their superintendents. Veteran GCSAA members want the association to back down the process. The GCSAA would be seen in a truer light simply by continuing to invite the employer to the GIS, to play in the supporting GIS golf tournament and by continuing to present a grant for a meaningful facility purpose.

Money dilutes sacrifice
The game of golf has been built on the foundation of volunteerism, i.e., people and facilities always willing to make the necessary sacrifices to serve the game and make it better. The GCSAA negates the concept of sacrifice and goes directly against the traditions of golf when it makes money so readily available to its board members, i.e., the $200-per-trip, get-around-town money, as much as $4,000 for clothing and travel accessories, and the $10,000 honorarium given to outgoing immediate past presidents, a practice that might be better received if the outgoing past president was given the option of contributing this $10,000 to a charity of his/her choice.

No one should be asked to serve on the GCSAA board without a complete understanding that the tour of duty will involve opportunity, responsibility and sacrifice. If a candidate isn’t able or ready to accept this, either he/she is not the right candidate or is being asked too early in his/her career to consider board service.

The leadership of every societal group should reflect the culture and economic profile of its constituency. Present GCSAA policy doesn’t allow for this, rather, it sets board members apart from the general association membership. The GCSAA should follow industry precedent less and take the lead to create a model, transparent, board-benefit package that would reflect the true nature of its membership. It’s better to earn respect leading than to lose ground following. GCN

Two versions of the GCSAA board perk list can be found on the Internet, one with dollar values at http://www.gcsaa.org/Chapters/delegates/chapdel/2005/2005delegates_4.pdf, and another without dollar values via Google using the search phrase “GCSAA support for volunteers.”