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Articles by Dan Loman
Pioneering pro
This is an American story. It’s about a pioneer in our national championship. It shows strength in the face of adversity. It involves the weakness of bigotry and the courage to stand up to it. It illustrates the pursuit of excellence and the frailty of fate. It’s about forging a life in a game against all odds.
Influential Ally
Since the dawn of television, there has been a massive disparity between media coverage of men’s and women’s sporting events, resulting in significantly less money in women’s sports. Although coverage of women’s sports has grown, there remains a disparity that Detroit-based financial services company Ally Financial has been seeking to address.
Back to basics
Nothing has been officially announced, but Cleveland Golf representatives are confirming the rumors that this once full-line clubmaker has indeed gone back to basics. That means the business Roger Cleveland established in 1979 is now producing only its renowned wedges, which are currently played by major-championship winners J.J. Spaun, Hideki Matsuyama and Shane Lowry, and will continue to develop and sell putters. Often, this sort of restructuring is viewed as a sign of trouble and desperation.
Just being Roger
Roger Maltbie has stories, the kind that have been told and retold over drinks and dinners, their edges still sharp, the details still clear and the beauty still in the essential truth of the story itself. Like the story about how he won the inaugural Memorial Tournament 50 years ago when a lousy 4-iron shot caromed off a piece of rebar holding a gallery rope in place and bounced onto the green, helping him beat an angry Hale Irwin in a playoff.
TaylorMade to make driver launches biennial
Rory McIlroy used TaylorMade's new Qi4D driver to win the 2026 Masters. Michael Reaves, Getty Images The news that TaylorMade will move to a two-year cycle on new driver launches is seismic for the company, and it has industry-wide implications. In recent years, TaylorMade, alongside Callaway Golf, introduced a new driver early each year. This stands in juxtaposition to the cadence of driver launches from Titleist and Ping, which introduce new drivers every other year.
Profile of a Pro: Danny Watters
Danny Watters Courtesy of Danny Watters Danny Watters’ career as a PGA of America professional is a testament to the mentoring that’s prevalent in the association. Watters grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, playing on a public course. For $5 for the entire summer, he played every day until dark at Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course and became proficient at the game.
Developer sells Cabot Cape Breton
Cabot Cliffs Photo by Jacob Sjöman Canadian golf developer Ben Cowan-Dewar has sold the crown jewel of his Cabot Collection, Nova Scotia’s Cabot Cape Breton, to Canadian businessman John Bragg. Cabot Cape Breton is home to acclaimed golf courses Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs. Also included in the sale is Cabot Bordeaux, a 36-hole luxury resort in southwest France that Cowan-Dewar purchased in July 2024.
B. Draddy’s ‘good hang’
There are many ways to activate a brand at a golf event. One way companies do it is by setting up tables or tents on site that display their product. Not B. Draddy. For the past three years, the premium golf and lifestyle apparel brand has sent the Draddy Camper up and down the East Coast to club events such as member-guests and corporate outings to provide an unforgettable wholesale gifting experience. The camper not only contains B.
Profound impact
My assignment was to cover the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. But when the plane touched down in the Big Easy on a sunny Tuesday and I powered up my phone it burst alive with a symphony of sound heralding missed calls and texts all with the same message: “Lorena Ochoa says she’s retiring and will explain at a news conference in Mexico City on Friday. Get there.” This was shocking news.
Data dispute
The Darrell Survey helps consumers navigate a myriad of choices in golf equipment. Phil Inglis, Getty Images The company that generates the data that enables golf equipment companies to make claims about professional tour equipment usage is in a serious dispute with the PGA Tour, one that could bring an end to a decades-long business arrangement.
A plea for D.C. public golf
The Langston Golf Course sits along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Linda Davidson, The Washington Post via Getty Images As a former golf industry executive, I have had the good fortune to play at some of the world’s most iconic courses, including Pebble Beach, Oakmont and St. Andrews. Yet, here I am at Langston Golf Course, my adopted home in Washington, D.C. Langston is a special place.
A champion’s humility
SAN ROQUE, SPAIN | That February day, 11 days after his 60th birthday, José María Olazábal sat in the clubhouse at Valderrama and looked out over the back nine holes of the golf course, the site of Europe’s victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup. A gusting poniente (wind from the west) was rattling the cork trees that line the course and kicking up white horses of spray on the Mediterranean in the distance.
Retreat leader
Mike Rymer and his wife, Erin Courtesy John Steinbreder EVANS, GEORGIA | Founded in 2005 and located some 15 miles northwest of the city of Augusta, Champions Retreat Golf Club is the only club that has three nine-hole courses individually designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. It has also served since 2019 as host site for the first two days of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which then stages the third and final round at Augusta National.
Crude awakening
Oil production looms large behind Freddy Schott at the 2026 Bahrain Championship on Feb. 1. Warren Little, Getty Images The United States’ and Israel’s conflict in Iran, which has resulted in a virtual closing of the Strait of Hormuz, has caused drastic increases in energy costs for businesses and consumers. The game and business of golf do not get a hall pass from this conflict and its consequences.
Labor land mine
H-2B visas allow immigrant workers to travel to the U.S. and work as temporary non-agricultural laborers. Some of golf’s most influential business voices are advocating for change within the industry’s core labor structure, with the issue potentially stranding the Trump administration in a political no-man’s land.
Good shepherd
There is much that distinguishes Royal Dornoch and makes it one of the best-known places in golf. Its acclaimed Championship course, for starters, and the fact that the game has been played on the links of this Scottish Highlands town since the 17th century. The architectural ancestry of Dornoch, on which King Edward VII bestowed a royal designation in 1906, is impressive as well.
Rolapp lends clarity to vision for tour’s future
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp Tracy Wilcox, PGA Tour via Getty Images PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | The setting for Brian Rolapp’s state of the PGA Tour media session Wednesday morning – on a small stage set in the airy lobby inside the tour’s contemporary “global home” as they call it – did more than provide room for the crowd of invited guests that approached 1,100 people, some of whom leaned over railings on the second and third floors to see and hear what the tour’s CEO had to say.
‘Just one of the guys’
One spring morning nearly 30 years ago, as Arnold Palmer and I were working on his much-anticipated memoir, I asked him to tell me about the famous Bay Hill Shootout. At his invitation, I’d played in it twice, found it to be loads of fun and even collected 50 bucks as Arnie’s playing partner in my second exposure to the event. So, as we sat in his cozy Bay Hill workshop (as usual, Arnie was rewrapping a club), I asked him what the daily Shootout meant to him.
Fun, fast and frictionless
Toptracer Go technology removes the need for golfers to have an in-bay screen to see their data. Courtesy Toptracer Range technology provider Toptracer is set to roll out two new products this year for client facilities worldwide. First highlighted at the PGA Show in January, the company’s Toptracer Go and Toptracer IQ platforms are positioned to bolster the brand’s extensive suite of tools for range owners, aiming to create an all-in-one solution for eligible operations.
A step ahead
The FJ FitLab uses 3D scanning to determine a golfer's ideal shoe size and structure. Courtesy FootJoy Titleist has long believed in custom fitting for both golf balls and golf clubs. The theory is simple: proper fitting will lead to better scores, which leads to more enjoyment and likely increased frequency of play. Now its sister company FootJoy is getting into the custom-fitting business for footwear.
Critical coating
The process of painting golf balls is precise and highly specialized. In addition to shedding light on how competitive and cutthroat the golf business can be, the legal battle that erupted last month between TaylorMade and Callaway Golf revealed just how critical certain processes are when it comes to the manufacture of golf balls. Perhaps the most surprising of those is the importance of paint and how much that material and the way it is applied affects how far and sure balls fly.
A new day at Brittas Bay
ORLANDO, FLORIDA | It is natural to feel sadness when a friend sells a place he has possessed for a long time. Especially when it’s one on which you have made some pretty special memories yourself. And it can certainly hurt when the new owners bring in bulldozers that for all intents and purposes raze a spot you have come to know and love.
‘Breath of fresh air’
Be it in America or the U.K., you don’t wait until the last few holes for the excitement to kick in. It starts at the beginning, when it’s Charley Hull’s turn to tee off and the fans are yelling “Go Charley! Go Charley!” She whacks her drive down the fairway and she’s up, up and away. Slow play? She hates it. “There’s no doubt that Charley is a breath of fresh air,” said Pádraig Harrington, the winner of two Opens and a PGA Championship, of the 29-year-old Englishwoman.
Creative investment
According to the National Golf Foundation, total on-course golf participation rose to 29.1 million in 2025 from 24.3 million in 2019, an increase of nearly 20 percent. By adding off-course participation, the number climbed more than 40 percent to 48.1 million. This post-COVID-19 swell precipitated high-water marks in revenue for Allied Golf Associations, the keepers of the amateur game at the statewide level across the nation.
Trick of the light?
Disputes between golf ball manufacturers are common, but they rarely wind up in court. An ongoing skirmish between TaylorMade and Callaway Golf might be the exception. On Jan. 15, TaylorMade filed a lawsuit against Callaway in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
Great Expectations
Rounds played continued to rise in 2025, a trend that might be difficult to sustain. Getty Images With the golf industry’s annual gathering at the PGA Show concluding today, a new year in the business of the game has begun in earnest. As in past years, Global Golf Post checked in with industry analyst Casey Alexander, a managing director for Compass Point Research & Trading, for his take on what 2026 will bring.
'Cautious optimism' for golf courses
Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association, sees reason for optimism but is also aware that change can happen quickly. Courtesy Jay Karen Golf course owners across the country enjoyed another year of strong demand in 2025. The latest U.S. participation numbers show that last year is virtually assured of being the fourth record-setting year for rounds played in the past five.
Fortune smiles
JUPITER, FLORIDA | It’s rehearsal night in advance of the inaugural Golf Channel Games at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter, an elaborate and sometimes charmingly chaotic made-for-television skills competition featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler with Smylie Kaufman there to be Smylie Kaufman.
Youth movement
Youth on Course has made it possible for youths 6-18 to play golf at more than 2,000 courses for just $5 a round. Courtesy Youth on Course Golf is expensive. The cost of clubs, balls, clothes, shoes, greens fees and more can be a big turnoff for potential golfers and parents who are thinking about introducing their children to the game. Youth on Course is a non-profit organization that seeks to alleviate that burden for kids ages 6-18.
Georgia peach
Editor's note: This story was originally published at GGP+ on June 9, 2023. This version includes additional photos that were not published originally. The boy who would be King Charles III was a wee lad and not yet invested as the Prince of Wales when he stumbled upon meeting a short and ample gentleman with a Southern drawl as sweet and thick as sorghum molasses in the 1950s at a golf course in Scotland.
Second acts
A dejected Mark Roe of England addresses the media after being disqualified from the 2003 Open Championship. Andrew Redington, Getty Images Mark Roe’s best-of-the-day 67 placed him among the leaders in the third round of the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George’s. What is more, the fact that he had spoken of “a level of calm” he had never known before was quite something from the European Tour’s court jester.
Distinguished dozen
This is the season when golf industry watchers reflect on who did – or did not – prosper in the sport in 2025. For those who follow the competitive game, talk centers on Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. No one else is even mentioned when it comes to discussing who had the best year because the Ulsterman and the Texas transplant separated themselves so much from the rest of the field. Looking at the resort world, it has a standout of its own in Omni Hotels & Resorts.
IAGA honors Gowan, Ryan and Shoup
Ed Gowan is surrounded by his family after being honored with the IAGA Distinguished Service Award. Courtesy IAGA The International Association of Golf Administrators honored three individuals and one foundation with awards at its 2025 annual conference at Horseshoe Bay Resort near Austin, Texas.
'Top of the pyramid'
Zero Restriction has provided apparel for the U.S. Solheim Cup team since 2013, including 2024's victorious squad. Amy Lemus, NurPhoto via Getty Images On Monday, Summit Golf Brands announced that in 2026 and 2028 its apparel companies B. Draddy and Zero Restriction will fully outfit the U.S. Solheim Cup team. The Americans will tee it up wearing apparel from B. Draddy’s new Draddy Sport Women’s Collection, which will launch in March, and Zero Restriction outerwear.
A simple assist
Members of Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, donated 500 pounds of food for a local food bank. Courtesy Brittany Stewart Brittany Stewart, the director of retail at famed Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, grew up as a Girl Scout in central New Jersey and first encountered the notion of serving her community during those formative years. “All my life, I have tried to give back to the community as much as I can,” she said.
Bellwether boon
Both Acushnet Holdings Corp. and Topgolf Callaway Brands, the two publicly traded golf equipment companies, released their third-quarter earnings last week, and the results speak to the robust health of the golf equipment sector of the industry. Topgolf Callaway, parent of the Callaway Golf club and ball business as well as the Odyssey putter brand, reported that golf equipment sales for the first nine months of the year increased 0.3 percent to $1.161 billion compared to the same period in 2024.
Rory McIlroy’s back nine
Rory McIlroy was bewildered. Happily bewildered, but bewildered nonetheless. “Grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is maybe a little tougher than it used to be,” he said in June at the RBC Canadian Open. A week later, ahead of the U.S. Open, he said: “You dream about the final putt going in at the Masters, but you don’t think about what comes next.” Asked if he’d come up with a plan for “Phase 2 Rory”, he conceded: “I don’t have one.
Master of the lesson tee
Jim McLean said mentoring junior golfers has been one of the most important parts of his life. Darren Carroll, PGA of America Perhaps the most surprising thing about Jim McLean being inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame this past Wednesday is how unsurprising it was. In fact, many people thought the 75-year-old native of the Pacific Northwest was already a member of that august shrine. And that makes sense when one considers all that McLean has accomplished in golf.
Making mentorship count
Junior golfers have the opportunity to learn from mentors like Michael McDermott on the course during GolfBridge events. Michael McDermott and Cole Berman, both past Philadelphia Amateur champions, had been individually pondering the idea of bridging the older and younger generations in golf. The pair, who played an epic match in the round of 16 at the 2016 Philly Am, fondly remember being fortified for life with advice when they were on the course with older players.
The other Peter Dawson
The offer was sealed with a handshake on a March night in 1999. Ian Webb, chairman of the General Committee of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and chairman of the committee formed to find a successor to then-secretary Sir Michael Bonallack, stretched out his hand to Peter Dawson. “Well done, Peter,” Webb said in his soft voice tinged with a Northern Ireland accent. “But remember one thing. In accepting this job, you are my epitaph. If you make a balls of this, I go down with you.
Relational leadership
Editor's Note: Next Thursday, Global Golf Post will unveil the inaugural class of GGP Futures, an initiative intended to celebrate the golf industry's emerging leaders. In partnership with the National Golf Foundation, GGP Futures will recognize new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler as its Rising Executive of the Year. Today's GGPBiz previews the initiative with a profile of Kessler, highlighting his achievements as a golf executive, published author and devoted father.
Long road home
After 28 years at Callaway, Roger Cleveland has returned to the company he started in 1979 and that bears his name. Cleveland Golf Jack Nicklaus once stated that “golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.” Few people appreciate the veracity of that adage as well as Roger Cleveland.
Bert Yancey’s secret torment
On Sunday, June 5, 1966, Eugene Cernan stepped out of the Gemini 9A spacecraft orbiting the Earth. Strapped to his back was a Buck Rogers-like space pack. For the first time, an astronaut would travel in space outside of a capsule and untethered. Unfortunately, Cernan encountered complications, and his helmet visor fogged. Unable to see, he had to return to the capsule without accomplishing that part of the mission.
Innovation and soul
The Titleist Shop at Pinehurst is a one-of-a-kind collaboration. Courtesy Pinehurst PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA | If you have ever walked into an Apple Store, you understand the feeling. Cutting edge. Modern. Cool. Now, step inside the new Titleist Shop at Padgett Center at Pinehurst Resort.
Strategy and luck
PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND | Phillip Allen, the president of Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts, slipped into his seat at a high-top table just off the bustling lobby in the Portrush Adelphi hotel during Open Championship week and took a moment to consider how something so seemingly self-evident hadn’t happened until now. “I would love to say we had this grand strategy from the beginning.
Fighting spirit
Rich Lerner knows the cue. The red light is on and Brandel Chamblee is in the midst of a verbal dissertation on Golf Channel’s popular “Live From” show during the game’s biggest events when Paul McGinley, sitting to the left of Chamblee, locks eyes with Lerner. It’s a subtle movement, even just a head nod, that says McGinley wants to tag himself in. Given Chamblee’s conviction and combativeness, it is not a moment for the meek. McGinley is many things but meek is not one of them.
Tartan touch
Headcovers. Every golfer has them, but doesn’t always think about them. After all, when you buy a new driver there’s usually a headcover included. Some people are different, seeking to memorialize an amazing experience at a golf course by buying an accessory that brings back good memories. For example, this writer bought his driver headcover from the Dunes Club in Michigan, Mike Keiser’s first course.
Stepping up
Editor’s Note: Over the past four decades, the Ryder Cup has grown into one of golf’s greatest spectacles – and moneymakers. With the 2025 matches between the United States and Europe set to tee off on the vaunted Black Course at New York’s Bethpage State Park next Friday, it’s worth recalling a man whose investment in the Ryder Cup – both emotional and financial – helped keep the event afloat in the years following World War II. It could be argued that Robert A.
Why call it ‘Second Wind’?
Herbert Warren Wind When I was living in Manhattan more than a half century ago my eye was often caught by stories in the New York Herald Tribune by a T. Waverley Root. I was unsure whether Waverley Root was a man or a woman, and down the years have forgotten whether he/she had a particular specialty (turns out he was a food writer of some renown). One thing I haven’t forgotten is the byline.
Shared impact
Successfully managing and growing a brand in the golf industry is a challenging proposition under the best of circumstances; however, doing so without a clear understanding of where input costs will settle due to tariffs will be a test for every organization over the next several months. And there will be no clarity until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the Trump tariffs.
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