There is a difference between retiring and actually being retired.
At least there is to Ty Votaw, who recently retired from the PGA Tour, ending a 31-year run as one of golf’s most omnipresent and influential administrators.
On the phone from his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, earlier this month, Votaw was beginning what sounds like a temporary transition from his workaday world to something, well, different.
“Yesterday (Tuesday, July 5) was my first official day of retirement. My last day at the tour was July 1. Saturday, Sunday, Monday felt like every other one except I didn’t have anything to look forward to in terms of going to the office or getting on an airplane. It was my first experience doing that in 31 years,” Votaw said.
The obvious question is how did he spend his newfound freedom?
He made some calls about his medical insurance and checked on his retirement fund, among other things. Votaw did his best to make it like a work day. Old habits, you know.
“I’ve made it a goal of mine to construct my business day around similar things I did when I was working. Spend an hour a day reading, an hour a day writing, an hour a day exercising, an hour a day trying to stay in touch with people who are important to me or networking,” Votaw said.
“I’m putting together a matrix of things I want to stay busy on. Hopefully that will work.”
“His combination of leadership, business acumen and diplomacy has undoubtedly changed the LPGA, the PGA Tour and the global game for the better.” – Jay Monahan
When Votaw, who turned 60 in February, graduated from law school at the University of North Carolina more than three decades ago, he went to work in Cincinnati with the ambition to one day be a partner in the Taft law firm, perhaps focusing on sports clients.
That’s where Votaw met Charlie Mechem, who became chairman and CEO of Taft Broadcasting, creating a successful group of television stations. Mechem eventually became commissioner of the LPGA Tour, and he asked Votaw to come along with him.
Thirty-one years later, Votaw has helped shape the path of professional golf.
Not bad for someone who admittedly didn’t know much about women’s golf when he followed Mechem to the LPGA Tour.
“I think it’s well-documented that I am not a great golfer. I grew up playing basketball, baseball and football,” Votaw said. “I knew who Nancy Lopez was, but I thought the opportunity to work with a guy like Charlie in sports was something that was very appealing to me.”
Eight years after joining the LPGA Tour, Votaw ascended into the role of commissioner, and the winds of change had already begun to blow.
In the summer of 1998, Se Ri Pak won the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, setting in motion a transformation that has reshaped women’s professional golf. When Pak won, the LPGA played 32 of its 36 events in the United States and had just one event in Asia.
This year, the LPGA has six scheduled events in Asia and seven of the top 13 players in the Rolex rankings are Asian. Add in the elevation of the Women’s British Open to major status and co-sanctioning what is now the Evian Championship with the Ladies European Tour and the landscape changed.
“Se Ri Pak, sanctioning the Evian Masters at the time and making the Weetabix Women’s Open a major and bringing an LPGA event to Korea because of the demand that was there with respect to Se Ri and other Korean players, that created this global reach for the LPGA that is bigger and more impactful today than it was then. It continues to have that impact,” Votaw said.
In late 2005, Votaw joined the PGA Tour, working for commissioner Tim Finchem and, more recently, Jay Monahan. Similar to what he pushed forward on the LPGA Tour, Votaw expanded the PGA Tour’s borders, making it a more global tour.
China. Japan. Malaysia. Mexico. Korea. Votaw was instrumental in bringing tournaments to each of those countries.
“Golf was a very U.S.-centric sport in 1991 when I got to the LPGA. Both the LPGA and the PGA Tour along with the Olympics have made it an even greater global sport,” Votaw said.
“It used to just be players and where they were from. Now there are tours, there are tournaments, there are business activities. All of those things came about because of a lot of people in both organizations who chose not to view the world from behind their desk but to view the world as a way of growing the game in a substantive and quality way.”
Perhaps Votaw’s crowning achievement was working alongside former R&A chief executive Peter Dawson to achieve golf’s inclusion in the Olympic Games, ending over a century of separation.
Growing the game. It has become a part of the game’s lexicon and, to be fair, there are times when it is more of a cliché than an actual commitment.
Not for Votaw. He has lived and breathed growing the game and intends to continue doing so.
“His combination of leadership, business acumen and diplomacy has undoubtedly changed the LPGA, the PGA Tour and the global game for the better,” Monahan said when Votaw’s retirement was announced earlier this year.
Perhaps Votaw’s crowning achievement was working alongside former R&A chief executive Peter Dawson to achieve golf’s inclusion in the Olympic Games, ending over a century of separation.
They made their first trip together in 2008 to the Olympics in Beijing, and eight years later, golf returned to the Games in Rio de Janeiro. It was a daunting challenge, competing with seven other sports to earn two open spots in the future Games.
“There were a lot of naysayers inside the game of golf and inside the Olympic movement,” Votaw said. “On the inside of the sport, why do we need the Olympics? We have major championships, the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, the Solheim Cup. Why do we need the Olympics?
“Would the top players play and how is this going to work with the worldwide golf schedule? If the top players don’t play, is that going to be a pockmark on the sport?
“In the Olympic movement there was the question of does this sport appeal to young people? Is this sport environmentally responsible? Is it an elitist sport? All of those questions percolated around.
“Within the Olympic movement, you had IOC members who had allegiances to other sports, whether it was baseball and softball staying in or rugby sevens. You had to navigate that in addition to the vote.”
Eventually, golf and rugby sevens were added to the Games. Having been part of the past two Summer Games, golf appears to be settled into a spot within the Olympic tapestry for the foreseeable future.
As for growing the game? There were approximately 100 national golf federations before golf was added to the Olympics. The number is now closer to 150, a direct result of golf’s inclusion.
“All of these statements that golf needs to grow around the world, it already has grown around the world. It needs to continue to grow, and it will continue to grow. It’s not this empty kind of goal that people aspire to,” Votaw said. “Golf is an absolute global game right now because of what the LPGA Tour has done, what the PGA Tour has done and the fact the Olympics were such a success in ’16 and ’20.”
Should he choose, Votaw could decide his work is done. He’s a loyal and devoted fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and he’s already begun mapping out a tentative plan to see as many shows as possible next year when their new tour begins. Combining his 100th show and his 10th wedding anniversary is on Votaw’s agenda.
In the meantime, he intends to stay in touch with the game and the people involved with it.
“I’m excited about new chapters,” Votaw said. “There are a few people who have picked up the phone and called asking for some advice or some help. I’m thinking about that, although I’m not going to make any big or long-term commitments until I decompress for the next six months and see what happens.
“I said I’m not going anywhere, to another place to work. If someone picks up the phone and calls me and that person or thing doesn’t compete with the PGA Tour, then I will listen. But if the phone never rings, I’m OK with that, too.
“I’ve told everybody that I’m always going to be on the other end of the phone if they need me for anything.”