PROFESSIONAL
What I like …
“There is a new level of excitement …
as the USGA has moved from a ‘no’
culture to a ‘let’s consider it’ culture.”
AN INSIGHT: Women’s professional golf is a bargain. Buy now or pay much more later. I don’t know if the LPGA will get a TV rights deal in the next couple years, but do think they will have one in five years.
AN INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN MY CAREER: (CMO) Tom Wade at the PGA Tour in the early ’90s (where Hyde rose from a cart barn attendant at TPC Sawgrass to manager of consumer marketing for the PGA Tour). Engaging his Procter & Gamble background, he changed the way the tour justifies its value as a corporate marketing platform and is the reason the tour was prepared to reap the benefits of the Tiger Woods era. Along the way he took the time for some career coaching, which I’ll always appreciate.
AN OUT-OF-THE-BOX IDEA: Calling the Cubs world champions.
A TIMELESS IDEA: Manual scoreboards
A MARKETING IDEA: The Crowne Plaza ads featuring Phil Mickelson are a brilliant combination of message and entertainment.
FIND ONLINE: A snowplow attachment for my John Deere. I was really going to save this past winter by plowing my own driveway and it never snowed.
A BRAND: Vineyard Vines. When everybody was going casual at work, they started a company making neckties.
A TREND: The vegetable garden. Growing tomatoes couldn’t be easier. With the price of food, why not?
AN INNOVATION: High def. I can’t watch regular TV any more.
A COMPETITOR’S IDEA: The FedEx Cup is already highly successful and having the return that the tour and FedEx sought.
AN IDEA OR INVENTION I WISH I’D THOUGH OF: Golf Channel
A FANTASY JOB: Caddie for Joe Ogilvie on the PGA Tour. I know I could coach him to more wins and we could talk politics in golf, bridge and financial planning between shots.
What I like about …
WORKING AT THE USGA: My golf buddies think I know the rules now.
SPORTS: Heated rivalries. I really despise the Red Sox and Lakers. Norm Sloan and Darth Vader are about the same.
GOLF: Sandra Day O’Connor and Justin Timberlake could take on Bobby Knight and Thomas Friedman and have a competitive match using their USGA handicaps. No other sport offers such an experience across generations, genders and skill level.
THE U.S. OPEN: The character test.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE USGA: There is a new level of excitement at Golf House that has evolved as the USGA has moved from a “no” culture to a “let’s consider it” culture. The best example may be the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge which we launched with the publication and NBC this year and has already generated significant member growth, handicap awareness and a medium for us to discuss practical rules situations. This never would have had a chance in 2005.
What I would like …
TO CHANGE: The workweek. The Treo, wireless, etc., have changed expectations.
TO SEE DIFFERENT: More free time for my nieces and nephews. I’m glad I don’t have their schedules.
TO REINTRODUCE: The stymie (an old rule that required a golfer to play his or her ball around the path of a competitor’s ball on the putting green).
What I don’t like …
HEARING: “It took us five and a half hours to play.”
ABOUT GOLF: It’s too quiet. I’m a loud guy.
PERSONAL
What I like …
THAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME: I love ironing. My perfect Sunday is church, golf and watching two NFL games while ironing for five hours.
HERO: Bucky Dent
PLAYERS: At MasterCard (where Hyde was head of global sponsorships and events from 1996-2005), I played in a high number of pro-ams with LPGA, Champions Tour and PGA Tour players. People ask me who was the most fun to play with. Nick Price spent five hours making sure his pro-am partners had a great time.
TEAMS: Yankees, Jaguars, Jayhawks, Knicks (ugh!) and Rangers
CITY: Edinburgh
GOLF COURSE: Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland
POSSESSION: My Continental Airlines Platinum Elite Card
MEMENTO: Photo with Trevor Immelman and Yogi Berra when we played Bay Hill together in 2006. Trevor thought Yogi was a Hertz executive and Yogi picked Trevor because he wanted to play at 9 a.m. and tee off No. 10. Trevor shot 63 that day and they became fast friends. When Trevor won the Masters this year Yogi was thrilled. Golf makes another connection!
MUSIC: Hip-hop and Carrie Underwood
BOOKS: “The Match” by Mark Frost, and most any book on the American Revolution
GADGETS: Office shredder
TRIPS: I love going to Costco and could spend hours there
VACATION SPOT: Hualalai, on the Kona Coast of the Big Island
MOVIES: “Uncle Buck” and the movie with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in prison (“The Shawshank Redemption”)
ARTIST: Bobby Flay
QUOTE: “If a man does only what is required of him he is a slave. The moment he does more, he is a free man.” It was on the wall of my high school social studies class.
