Golf Canada’s new CEO Laurence Applebaum has a glittery CV, an insanely busy schedule, a ton of energy, a solid mandate from his board of directors, and one enormous challenge: to make the association relevant and profitable in the 21st century.
Since the late 1970s until earlier this summer, there were three (count ‘em, three) CEOs of Golf Canada. Over that same timeframe, Canadians elected nine prime ministers, including two named Trudeau.
Our PM operates out of the House of Commons, while Golf Canada’s CEO is headquartered at Golf House in Oakville, Ontario.
While one was elected, and the other appointed, both share much in common: their positions are political; and they represent a diverse cross-section of people and businesses.
Now Golf Canada has a fourth CEO. And like our PM, he’s youthful, energetic, and oozing confidence. “I wasn’t going to move my family from south Florida for just any status-quo job,” says Laurence Applebaum, responding to his mid-summer hiring.
Golf Canada’s search committee didn’t want a status-quo CEO, and they certainly didn’t get one in the Toronto-born businessman.
Although he’s worked in the equipment sector of the golf business during stages of his multitudinous career, he is an “outsider.”
The last two Golf Canada CEOs were both inside hires: marketer Scott Simmons (2007-16), and rules expert Stephen Ross (1989-2006).
Applebaum’s sports career spans over 20 years in Canada, Europe and the United States. For the past five, he was executive vice-president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) headquartered in Florida, and while there, oversaw strategic and operational initiatives, including the day-to-day operations of the women’s global pro tennis circuit, tournament operations, on-site competition, player relations and development, broadcast operations and new business development.
He also served as vice-president of outdoor sportswear giant Salomon Canada (2006-2011), and worked in senior roles at Wilson Sports, and Nike Golf Canada. He humbly calls himself “a sporting goods guy.”
Roland Deveau, president of Golf Canada’s board of directors, said the Richard Ivey School of Business graduate has a “drive and energy level” that’s infectious. And that energy was on display recently when Applebaum quick-stepped into his office for a one-on-two interview with this author and Pro Shop magazine’s publisher Randy McDonald. He was dressed smartly, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up – a metaphor for the zeal he brings to his new job?
In the first 65 days of his tenure, he visited nine of our ten provinces, visited 120 clubs, met with owners, general managers, pros, superintendents, volunteers, and other stakeholders. He also found time to complete a tour of all the major summer tournaments, both amateur and professional, and installed a “hundred-day plan” that sets in place his short-term priorities: “tournaments, serving members, and working with other associations and groups.”
The long-term goals are still undefined, but making the association “relevant” to its membership base is the ultimate goal. Whether those fixes are cosmetic, systematic, or over the long haul create a dramatic paradigm shift, running on the spot just doesn’t cut it anymore in the business world, he says.
Here are just a few of the challenges facing both him and Golf Canada over the next few years:
- build the Golf Canada brand with public players across Canada;
- cut expenses and increase revenues at Golf House;
- make each professional tournament best-in-class;
- fulfill the duties as NSO (National Sports Organization) for golf in Canada;
- grow membership numbers from an untapped pool (5-million+) of public golfers;
- create an inspired working environment for employees at Golf House;
- reach out to millennials through new social media platforms;
- oversee the completion of a new-look home for Golf House and a permanent home for the RBC Canadian Open;
- partner with provincial golf associations to create a seamless model for success;
- continue to lead the NAGA (National Allied Golf Associations) advocacy work for the golf industry;
- lead the charge to shrink Canada’s disparate group of associations (over 80, at last count) into a workable few;
- create a board of directors that better reflects the vast majority of golf in Canada, the public golfer; and
- be recognized as one of the world’s top golf associations.
Golf Canada has been in financial free fall since 2006, when it became golf’s NSO (National Sports Organization). A Pro Shop article published last year estimated losses of $22 million, and that further drained a slush fund that once hit $50 million when Glen Abbey was sold to Club Link. Most troubling, a bylaw put in place by the board of directors to keep a cap on the principle, has been virtually ignored.
So, who does the governing body and their boards of directors answer to when it comes to financial questions? Should they answer to someone?
Will Applebaum enforce tough new expense controls, like limiting board members from travelling to and from the annual general meetings, or spending a week hobnobbing at lavish parties at the Masters? A six-figure expense to hold the AGM in the hometown of the newest elected president might be considered an over-reach, especially since today’s technology (Skype or Facetime) allows for time savings and cost trimming.
It’s still unclear what Applebaum’s fiscal targets will be both short, and long-term, but one reason he said he was hired was to help bring “financial buoyancy” to the association. He’s certainly not intimidated by the challenge, and says, confidently, “I’ve run substantial businesses larger than this.”
He calls the Golf Canada model “complex,” and that it is, like a Mesopotamian board game with plenty of pieces. It’s basically a business hybrid: a private sector, membership driven entity, that’s partially funded by taxpayers, and provides programs at the grassroots level. Since its inception as the NSO, it has received about $10 million in funding from Ottawa, a figure that sounds generous, but includes funding programs, and doesn’t protect it against losses. Will a cost-benefit analysis of programs, staffing, and even Golf Canada expenses, reveal opportunities to cut losses, or improve revenues?
“I plan to review, analyze, and craft a plan,” says Applebaum, who is still in the early days of re-assessing the association’s financial goals.
Golf Canada has three solid sponsors for its professional tournaments, but the association is on the hook for losses, especially those at the RBC Canadian Open, and the association’s vulnerability was exposed a few years back (2014) when it held our national men’s open at Royal Montreal.
Only a light dusting of fans attended, and helped feed into the overall $1.4 million loss in Golf Canada’s books that year. Today’s tournament is stymied by a dog of a date – a week after the British Open – and some critics suggest it might be better off to farm out the risk of running it to outside event organizers. But Applebaum won’t be signing up to that one anytime soon.
During his first few days on the job, he observed a magical week at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. The event turned into a celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary of Confederation, and its “hockey rink” motif on the Par 3, 7th hole, was a huge success with fans and players alike.
Crowds at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in Ottawa were “12 deep,” he says, and when the local favourite, Brooke Henderson shot a 63 on Saturday, he called the buzz in the crowd one of the most exciting he’s ever experienced.
The Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary also pulled in huge crowds, sported a star-studded field, has a rich base of volunteers, and continues as one of the most popular stops on the senior circuit.
The tournaments, as a whole, help draw together the communities that host them, and Canadianizing all our professional tournaments seems like a no-brainer, says Applebaum.
When the RCGA was formed more than a century ago, clubs were private and membership driven and entry was restrictive. The elite ran the game, and set the rules. A membership card meant something because most players needed a handicap to compete in club events. But as club numbers continue to dive across North America (60 years ago, 95 per cent of golfers were club members; today it’s dwindled down to 5 to 10 per cent), Golf Canada’s membership numbers have stalled. It now sits just north of 300,000, and Applebaum says another incentive-driven membership drive will be introduced. The past three were met with shrugs and few sign-ups. The last one so exceeded its grasp, it resulted in severe cramping, and $5 million in losses.
Should the three-strike rule be applied here?
Extracting members from the richer public player base is an opportunity Applebaum wants to pursue, and grabbing even a small percentage of the five-million plus players could enrich Golf Canada coffers.
Major demographic shifts are already driving change in the game. Applebaum saw this at work firsthand while visiting clubs in the lower mainland of B.C. Many of the programs are targeted directly at the multicultural communities. On his cross-Canada tour, he was also impressed by many of the junior programs, operating independently of the Golf Canada programs. Perhaps these can be replicated in other markets across the country?
Small clubs are still the beating heart of golf in Canada. They make up 80 per cent of the clubs currently in operation. One is Oak Gables Golf Club near Ancaster, Ontario, and operated by Stephen Ross. Yes, that Ross, the former Golf Canada CEO. He’s one of the many golf industry experts Applebaum consulted with during his summer travels.
The new CEO said his predecessor offered some wise advice: get out of the office, and meet and talk to the people.
That’s what the new CEO promises to do. While golf operated at the upper strata of society for years, and exclusion was ripe at private clubs, and even in the halls of Golf House, that world had disappeared like persimmon woods.
Applebaum recalls fondly his time in the golf equipment business, and still retains a deep contact list. He understands the nuances of golf at the industry level, and the passion that everyone inside the game brings to the table. His cross-Canada tour reinforced that opinion, and had him pumped for the possibilities of finding a model of success that helps all major stakeholders.
A few years back, Golf Canada joined with fellow associates in NAGA (the National Allied Golf Associations) to produce the first ever Economic Impact Study for the industry. The document put the final figure at $14 billion, and provided a benchmark. The report was part of a failed attempt to get the federal government to allow golfers to use golf as a legitimate business expense. NAGA’s united front, backed by real numbers, is an example of how Golf Canada can be a leader and advocate for change.
Golf Tourism England recently partnered with England Golf, the governing body, to unite the stakeholders within the golf tourism business. The hope is to stir up extra income for club members. Canada’s golf tourism business is still very much in its infancy, and a coupling between Golf Canada and Destination Canada to drive more business here, seems a logical extension of their mandate.
Applebaum found a “real appetite for newness and change,” during his first weeks on the job, and he understands the change has to be driven by “inclusiveness.” Any association that was formed at the end of the 19th century, and etched its governance model in stone tablets, will struggle with change, and Golf Canada is very much a work in progress. Its board of governors has allowed money to pour out of its coffers, with nary a finger raised in protest, or ideas for rich revenue growth. If the board can’t hold Golf Canada’s feet to the fire, who can, or why does it exist in the first place?
Hiring an outsider with a fresh approach to re-imagine the model is a good first start.
Applebaum’s business acumen, high-energy leadership style, and dedication to inclusiveness, are very much needed at this time in history.
But encrypted in all the Golf Canada losses, and the fact the game’s base is still concentrated in a no-growth demographic (old, white, male), makes the challenge more acute. Even the game’s greatest winner, Jack Nicklaus, the man who designed Glen Abbey, and is being leaned on as a partner in a bid to build another permanent home for the RBC Canadian Open, was another industry icon Applebaum met during his first few days in office. Even the ‘Golden Bear’ says golf has to loosen up, speed up, and be made fun again.
The governance model drawn up and set in stone by the original 12 members of the Royal Canadian Golf Association when they met in Ottawa near the end of the 19th century should be consigned to the dust heap.
The three men who held the job of CEO before Applebaum, including Geordie Hilton (1978-89), had to dance on a thin beam, bridging the divide between a bygone era and today. They were all whip-smart, and brought unique talents to their position. Hilton oversaw a game on the ascendency, riding a wave of support from the boomer demographic turned on to the game by the charismatic Palmer, the blond bomber Nicklaus, and Nancy Lopez.
But as the game has become more grassroots, and caters to the public golfer, Golf Canada’s governance model caters to an older model, a bastion of manicured privilege. The makeup of the current Golf Canada board of governors does not reflect the future of the game. Most importantly, only one board member actually has any ‘skin in the game’ as a club owner!
One of the largest tasks Applebaum will be faced with is the management of the board and having the right governors in place who represent the game and are able to guide the future.
A CEO can have a profound impact on an organization, but only if that organization recognizes that at times, it needs to shed its skin.
This might be Applebaum’s toughest task. A board comfortable in overseeing years of losses, has to collectively look in the mirror. Its new CEO needs to be given a mandate to re-do its internal structure.
Golf is a calculus for the soul. In many ways, it’s not a game, but a passion. It’s that passion that Applebaum found most infectious as he travelled the country during his first few weeks on the job.
When asked to sum up Golf Canada’s impact within the golf community, he said, rather bluntly: “We are irrelevant.” His honesty was refreshing. But what will his goal be? He says he wants golfers to say, “I want to be a member [of Golf Canada].”
To do that, he’ll have to move Golf Canada forward, from a small, clubby, and limited association, into a true NSO that represents the grassroots of the game. That will allow it to fulfill its most important role: growing the game.
