PGA of America governance needs fixing, says Hall of Famer Bob Ford

More: Exclusive Q&A: New PGA of America CEO Terry Clark on upgrading his major, ball rollback, disappearing of Don Rea Jr.

Ford said he met Clark at the Masters for an hour and "hope springs eternal." He's encouraged that change is in the works under the new leadership, some of which was outlined Wednesday during a press conference at the PGA Championship. But Ford is less concerned with Clark’s abilities than the built-in challenges that he will face – the same ones that doomed past CEOs Joe Steranka, Pete Bevacqua and Seth Waugh after six-year stints to being set up for failure before Sprague and Clark. Each became weary of the nonsense around the governance structure that gave a new president every two years and a bloated board too much power and control.

Ford said it’s high time that the PGA, which has a governance committee, fixes its governance if it wants Clark or any future leaders to have a shot at success.

“It didn't matter to me the name of the person who became our next CEO, it's surviving the machine and the machine's broken,” Ford said in late February. “Until we fix the machine, I don't know that anybody has a great chance of being successful.”

Ford is tired of talking about the problem. It has been identified and now it’s time to fix it, he said. How does he plan to do that?

May 13, 2026; Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA; Aronimink sign behind golfers on the tenth hole during a practice round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

“I like to stir the pot," he said. "It's fine to say we don't like how we are run, well, how are we going to run it differently? That's really the question and that's for bigger people than golf professionals – we can't come up with something like that – so we need somebody in the governance world that has done this before and I think as long as all of us say, yeah, we need change then I think we can do it,” he said. “I'd like to come up with an answer to this problem and there's quite a few of us that are working towards that end.”

Ford noted that he has enlisted several prominent PGA members who believe there is a better model and simply want the PGA to flourish, to be part of the effort. “We're very committed to doing this and hopefully we can do it,” Ford said. “Because the train is off the tracks and you can't run a railroad with 22 board members.”

Ford was referring to the size of the PGA’s Board of Directors, which is composed of the President, Vice President, Secretary and 19 Directors who establish Association policy. The Directors include representatives from each of the Association’s 14 Districts, three Independent Directors, an At-Large Member Director and a Player Director, who is a member of the PGA Tour. The addition of a PGA of America golf professional as an at-large director started in 2019. Ford wondered how anything ever gets done. It’s been an issue for the leadership for decades.

“That’s really not a board, that’s a focus group,” said Jim Awtrey, the first PGA professional to be named the association’s executive director in 1993. He went on to be named the PGA’s first CEO, holding the position until his retirement in November 2005.

Ford added that the Ryder Cup debacle only strengthened their resolve to act, and that they have been talking about the need for change to the governance at the PGA for the last couple of years, dating to Waugh's tenure.

“The club pros are running it and we're not qualified to run it,” said Ford, who’d like to see more CEOs and leaders from the business world that love golf and want to give back be appointed to a slimmed-down board. “We need to stay in our lane and do our jobs and do what we're good at and running a 30,000-person association is not what we do, it's not what we're good at, plus the guys that run it are only there for two and three years and they're out. I mean, it's crazy.”

There are signs that the PGA is willing to make changes to reflect that running the PGA is big business in the modern sports world.

Whereas hiring a CEO with a background as a PGA pro was the top priority when Sprague was chosen for the role in 2025, that wasn’t the case in the search that landed Clark. Instead, the PGA sought a chief operating officer with a background as a PGA member. Phil Anderson, a member for more than 20 years and a graduate of New Mexico State University’s Professional Golf Management Program, was selected following a national search. The former general manager and COO at Hazeltine National Golf Club began his new role on April 20. Every two years, the PGA's staff has to deal with a new president with a different personality and constantly shifting priorities. Empowering the CEO would be a first step towards enacting meaningful change inside the walls of the PGA's headquarters so that it can better address the needs of its constituents.

“It's time for us to get more organized and hire some key people that are in that world that can affect change,” Ford said. “I think everybody agrees that it's time and the time is now, and I hope we can do it sooner rather than later.”

Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA of America's 'broken' machine needs fixing, says Hall of Famer