Plotting A Global Course

World Golf Foundation CEO Steve Mona looks to the future

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This spring, Steve Mona became the CEO of the World Golf Foundation and as a result, has no small task list ahead of him.
The Green Magazine recently had the opportunity to sit with him to gain an understanding of the Foundation’s plans.

How do you see the big picture from where you sit?
One of the specific reasons I was hired is to bring together all of the different entities that make up the Foundation. The best way to think of it is that we function like the holding company under which several operating companies have existed and in which the operating companies have more recognition than the holding company. To give you a sense of scale, golf is a $76 billion industry—larger than newspapers, movie or music­—and it employs 2 million people. It is reasonably well sized and makes an impact on the US economy. With respect to human impact, golf annually generates $3.5 billion for charity, with $130 million coming from the LPGA, PGA and Champions Tours. The other billions come from local tournaments and events. Many charities are largely dependent on golf raising money for them; we are in first place in terms of sports that generate charitable money.

What are the plans for the development of the sport worldwide?
We definitely are interested in seeing golf develop worldwide in countries where it doesn’t exist in a basic form. However, we don’t try to colonize the golf world, so to speak. We allow good old capitalism occur—for instance, if a resort developer makes a decision, we encourage that but don’t drive the process. Or if a real estate developer looks at a vacation home area and there is a course that comes as an amenity, we don’t have seed money but we would encourage that. One thing we do is approach governments to help them understand how golf can have an impact on their country as a draw for tourism. For instance, I was on a trip to Ireland during which I played seven courses for seven days. They told us that 80% of tourists who come to the courses are from the US. In May we voted to allow global expansion of The First Tee program, which has been domestic thus far. There have to be certain parameters first—if the governing bodies of a country wish to have the program and if there is financial underpinning we can expand. We are also assisting in the efforts to have golf included in 2016 Olympic games.

What would you like to see checked off your to do list in five years?
One thing to be done with Golf 20/20 is to come together as an industry and support an adult player development program that would lead to more adults trying and staying in the game. On an annual basis three million try the game and another 3 million drop. The reasons people leave are death, infirmity or [the need to take care of their] kids—there is also a large number that leave because it’s too difficult, too expensive or takes too much time. Golf 20/20 would address that. I want to see the entire industry support this program, which will really address golf’s biggest problem: no net growth in the game. We think golf should be embraced by more people.

What are the Foundation’s plans in the area of diversity?
We are evaluating the role of the Foundation in creating greater diversity in the game. The plan is to have a proposal in late 2008 to implement in 2009. Several years ago there was the Minority Golf Foundation, but that was a tough time financially. They asked the WGF to take it under its banner , and in subsequent years it has only existed in the legal sense. It is very seriously being discussed it belongs as part of our mandate as something we would embrace.