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Ready
for a Challenge
Lost Tracks owner/pro Brian Whitcomb set to
become president of PGA of America
By Paul Ramsdell, PNGA Media
Brian Whitcomb stands to the right of Tiger
Woods as Jim Remy, Roger Warren and Joe Steranka look on.
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Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if someone has a question, comment
or concern regarding any aspect of golf and the pursuit of the game,
that person seeks out the nearest PGA golf professional.
Lessons, guidance, equipment, administration, rules, or just somebody
to listen to a player's favorite tale of how he almost made birdie
on the course's toughest hole - all of that, and more, falls under
the realm of the PGA golf professional.
Now, multiply all those vast and varied duties of a PGA pro by all
the PGA golf pros across the land, then you might have an idea of
what is facing Brian Whitcomb in the next two years.
Whitcomb, the owner and PGA golf professional at Lost Tracks Golf
Club in Bend, Ore., becomes president of the PGA of America this November.
"There's an enormity to the task," Whitcomb admitted. "I don't have
any illusions that every problem the golf industry or PGA professionals
face I'm just going to magically fix.
"I can tell you I'm going to work tirelessly toward that end."
Whitcomb currently is vice president of the association that represents
28,000 PGA professionals. The association also conducts one of golf's
major championships, the PGA Championship.
Since 2002, when Whitcomb was elected secretary, he knew the traditional
progression of officers within the PGA would mean he would be president
come November. Still, when the thought first hits home, that you're
going to be the president of the PGA of America, it can be daunting.
"I was overwhelmed by it. I'm humbled by it. I'm awed by it," he said,
but adding quickly, "I'm not afraid of it. I want to make that clear,
I'm not afraid of it, but I hold the PGA, and what it represents,
the brand, the game, the people behind it, I hold that as dear."
Whitcomb's background in golf follows the traditional model in some
ways, but not in others. He is a PGA golf professional who owns two
courses, both of which he designed.
Much of his golf background is in Arizona, but Whitcomb's home is
Central Oregon. He grew up on a ranch, and one of his father's fields
bordered Prineville Golf Club.
"I got that mentoring, that tutoring, from the PGA professionals,
so I kind of got that early start as a 6-, 7-, 8- and 9-year-old,"
Whitcomb said.
The mentoring paid off because after high school he played for Arizona
State.
Whitcomb worked at the Arizona Biltmore Country Club for a while,
and then in 1981 he leased the Paradise Valley Park Golf Course from
Maricopa County.
In 1989, he became partners with Tom Sneva, the 1983 winner of the
Indianapolis 500, and designed The 500 Club near Phoenix. After that
he built and sold another club in the Phoenix area before returning
home in 1995 to develop Lost Tracks.
"I just love Central Oregon," Whitcomb said.
"It was just a chance to kind of go home a little bit. The people
who play the game in Oregon, they're fun - and when I say Oregon I
should say the Northwest. I just love being around the game of golf
in the Northwest because people still play the game for the purest
of reasons," he said. "I just like the way the people celebrate the
game."
It's now Whitcomb's duty, though, to improve the game.
"Growth of the game is a huge issue, it has been since the PGA was
founded in 1916. That's part of our mission statement, to promote
the game and probably no time like right now is a better time to do
that," Whitcomb said.
"I'm a big believer in diversity," he added. "We need the face of
the PGA to look like the face of America. We're working toward that."
Whitcomb contends that despite being one of the industry's world leaders,
he's still just a basic club pro from the Northwest.
"I'm a traditional golf professional when I go home, and Lost Tracks
Golf Club is my universe when I'm home. I'm thankful for the opportunity
to give to the global part of the game of golf, and I'm just as thankful
to work in my own little sphere of Lost Tracks Golf Club." |
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