Biography

Deane Beman - World Golf Hall of Fame: Year Inducted: 2000

If Yankee Stadium is the House that Ruth built, then the World Golf Hall of Fame is the House that Beman built-and now he will live there as a permanent resident. Deane Beman was a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame's Class of 2000, selected by the World Golf Foundation board of directors for his Lifetime Achievement in golf.

While Beman is certainly best remembered for his work as the commissioner of the PGA TOUR, his resume as a player isn't too shabby, either. Beman, who left a successful practice as an insurance broker to pursue the tour, won five PGA TOUR titles, a pair of U.S. Amateurs, The Amateur Championship and competed on four U.S. Walker Cup teams.

"As an amateur, I'd like to be remembered as being at the top of my competition," Beman says. "I was right there with the best of them. "

After succeeding Joe Dey as commissioner in 1974, Beman grew the tour's assets from approximately $500,000-$700,000 in 1974 to an estimated $500 million-$800 million when he retired in 1994. Much of this new profit and growth was due to television. A direct result of the popularity of golf on television was the escalating tournament purses that made players millionaires many times over and raised the profile of professional golf to new heights. During his tenure, Beman ushered in the creation of the SENIOR PGA TOUR (now called the Champions Tour). No sport has bottled nostalgia as successfully as golf's SENIOR TOUR, considered by many the sports success story of the 1980s. The SENIOR TOUR arrived just in time to encompass the magnetism of Arnold Palmer. What started as a gathering of old friends blossomed into a circuit with seemingly limitless potential. Two tournaments and a total purse of $250,000 evolved into a schedule of 45 events with prize money in excess of $54 million. "When we started, the players didn't want to play more than 10 tournaments a year. They wanted to play a little bit to get out of the house. Then, when they started playing, they found out how much they missed it-the competition, the camaraderie. They said, 'Let's play more,' and here we are," Beman said.

In 1989, Beman created the Ben Hogan Tour (now called the Nationwide Tour) as a proving ground for young professionals that also took the sport into 30 additional markets and created a launching pad for the careers of John Daly, Tom Lehman and David Duval, just to name a few. Beman is also referred to as "the Father of Stadium Golf." The TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass was the first product born of Beman's dream to build a network of spectator-friendly courses to accommodate the growing popularity of professional golf. As the permanent home of the PGA TOUR's PLAYERS Championship, it was the first of its kind, featuring mounds, high banks and earthen amphitheatres specifically designed to handle larger crowds. "That first concept was routed literally on the back of a placemat where he (course architect Pete Dye) first sketched out the layout of the holes," Beman fondly recalls.

The Stadium Course has become a prototype for other viewer-friendly courses. Today, the Tournament Players Club network has sprouted up across the country as well as internationally.

In May of 1998, another of Beman's ideas became reality when the World Golf Village, home of the World Golf Hall of Fame, opened. Beman had the idea of constructing a PGA TOUR Hall of Fame somewhere in Northeast Florida, near tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra and near Interstate 95. However, the concept grew in scope as golf organizations, such as the LPGA and others around the world, learned of the project and asked to participate. "It was too big for just the PGA TOUR," said Beman. "We had to ask the rest of the world to join us."

In 1994, Beman retired as commissioner, leaving his successor, Tim Finchem, with a successful company to run. "I like the Peter Jacobsen quote," said Finchem, referring to the player and former PGA TOUR Policy Board member's take on Beman's success. "He said, 'Deane built a Mercedes; all Tim has to do is keep his foot on the gas.' Anyone in our sport owes him a debt of gratitude."

Significant Victories: PGA TOUR: 4

1969: Texas Open
1970: Greater Milwaukee Open
1972: Quad Cities Open
1973: Shrine-Robinson Open

Other Wins: 3

1959 Amateur Championship
1960: U.S. Amateur
1963: U.S. Amateur

Other Accomplishments:

Member of 4 Walker Cup teams. Developed Stadium golf concept and TPC network. Created SENIOR PGA TOUR Now Champions Tour) and Ben Hogan Tour (now Nationwide Tour). Visionary behind World Golf Hall of Fame. Instituted top 125 all-exempt TOUR.    

Former US Tour czar warns hi-tech equipment threatens golf 16 February 2005  

Former US Tour czar Deane Beman has called on golf's regulators to take drastic action over modern hi-tech equipment or see the sport plunge into decline. Beman, a two-time US amateur title holder and a British amateur champion, voiced his fears in a letter sent to the United States Golf Association(USGA), who along with the RetA regulate what equipment is or is not legal.

The 67-year-old Beman, who during his 20-year-reign as US Tour commissioner turned the American tour into a billion dollar business, complained that the modern golf ball and the distance it travels, was going to make courses obsolete within 15 years.

"In the next 15 years a new generation of Tour players routinely will be able to drive the ball 330-360 yards rendering all courses obsolete," said Beman.

"All of us in golf revere and honor the shot-making skills of Ben Hogan. He must be turning in his grave knowing that we have allowed the golf ball that is so forgiving and goes so straight that size and power have completely eclipsed his total ball-striking skills we once all sought to emulate.

"Of course the ball is not the sole culprit; but it is the prime facilitator. All other technology - large headed drivers, perimeter weighting etc, - would be marginalised with a golf ball that curves."

 Beman insists the modern-day low scores in tournaments supports his argument.

"Scoring in the PGA Tour keeps going down and will go even lower. The Hawaiian Open is a good example of where we are headed," he writes.  

Beman reveals that the average winning score in 1970-72 was 273.5. In 2002-04 it had dropped to 264.

Beman insists that the problem does not just affect professionel golf but also the growth of the amateur game.

"Make no mistake about it; this is not just a Tour problem. The trend has been led by the USGA's policy of lengthening established golf courses for championships in an attempt to protect par.

"Golf course architects trying to keep par meaningful build and rebuild golf courses longer with more water, forced carries and repelling greens.

"This may be ok for the highly skilled player, but these courses become torture chambers for the average player and impossible for beginners.

"Millions of potential golfers have been and will be literally 'driven' away from the game," warned Beman.

For several years now golf legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman have warned that distant limits must be placed on the ball but Beman is the highest administration official to join the clamour.

If the USGA, who have set up a ball research programme, does not act, Augusta National might.

The all-powerful club and it's Masters tournament is the only event that could force players to all play the same ball. According to Golf World, Augusta National and chairman Hootie Johnson are closely watching to see if the ball problem is resolved. "Beman has a good point," said a source close to several Augusta National members. "I think Hootie is still willing to wait and see how things progress within the ruling organizations."          

References’
http://www.wgv.com/hof/member.php?member=1023
http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0109001.html
http://news.lifestyle.co.uk/technology/55899-technology.htm  
http://www.historicgolf.com/page_photo.cfm?photoid=491