Collision Course

You have to go a long way to find controversy in golf, which is just the way it happens in a sport so neatly pressed and packaged that caddies aren’t allowed to wear shorts.

Anyway, the ongoing dispute between two of golf’s most venerable institutions, Arnold Palmer and the United States Golf Assn., has managed to spring the game into the major leagues of sports controversy.

This isn’t Ray Lewis outside the nightclub in Atlanta or Rae Carruth hiding in a car trunk or Allen Iverson and his rap CD, but it’s fairly powerful stuff for golf, when the direction of the stripes on your shirt can be a source of friction.

The controversy has been raging hotter than an asphalt cart path in July. On Sunday, USGA President Trey Holland said the USGA would curtail using Palmer as honorary chairman of the members program.

Never mind that Palmer is one of the most revered golfers in history, that he has held the post since the program’s inception in 1975 or that 900,000 golfers have signed up since.

Give the boot to Arnold Palmer? And while you’re at it, why not torch Bobby Jones’ cabin at Augusta National?

It must not have sounded like such a terrific idea, because on Monday the USGA issued a statement from Holland that reaffirmed Palmer’s position with the members program.

“There’s no one who has done more for the game of golf than Arnold Palmer,” Holland said in the statement. “Our relationship with Mr. Palmer has benefited our association greatly. He says he wants to continue to help us grow the members program. We intend to work with him to accomplish this goal.”

Sounds a lot more reasonable than Holland’s comments 24 hours earlier: “I don’t think we want him to be a real visible part of that. We’re not real comfortable with that.”

What’s more, Holland gave details on how Palmer was being phased out. He said the USGA hadn’t used Palmer’s signature on the most recent letters sent out in December to recruit new members and that Palmer would be omitted from the USGA’s annual yearbook.

One more day and the USGA is going to have to see a doctor for a severe case of whiplash.

Palmer ran afoul of the USGA when he endorsed the new Callaway Golf ERC II driver, a club that does not conform to USGA specifications, exceeding the limits for how quickly the ball can travel off the club head on impact.

Palmer said the club is perfectly reasonable for recreational golf, but not for competition. The USGA said there is no such distinction, that golf is golf and that Palmer came down on the wrong side of the issue.

So what’s going to happen next?

You can be sure that there’s going to be a cooling-off period, which seems to have already begun. Palmer sent word through his business associates that he wasn’t going to comment. After issuing his statement, Holland was quiet too.

However, insiders say Palmer was livid about Holland’s comments Sunday.

“Let’s just say he certainly wasn’t delighted by the story,” said Doc Giffen, Palmer’s longtime spokesman at Arnold Palmer Enterprises. “And that’s an understatement.”

Holland called Palmer on Sunday night and tried to “smooth over” the matter, according to a source close to the situation.

David Fay, executive director of the USGA, had met with Palmer in October about the ERC II and said at the time that they disagreed, but that the USGA still wanted to keep Palmer as honorary chairman of the members program.

Then Holland took the opposite stand over the weekend, saying that Palmer’s role would not be as visible as it had been. At the annual meeting of the Georgia State Golf Assn., he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I don’t think we’re ever going to get to the point where we publicly fire Arnold Palmer. I don’t think that would be good for the game.”

The USGA then softened its position Monday. Marty Parkes, senior director of communications for the USGA, downplayed any notion that the USGA was dumping Palmer.

“We’ve had 25 years together and only one disagreement,” Parkes said. “While we are still at odds on this issue, I don’t think it would make sense to jettison a 25-year relationship over one disagreement.”

Parkes said the USGA’s decision not to use Palmer’s signature on the December mailings had been made months before the ERC II controversy erupted, as a marketing test to see if the signatures of Fay and Holland would have an impact on the membership drive. Parkes said “the equipment thing” made it “the ideal time to try” the alternate signatures.

As for Palmer’s being left out of the USGA yearbook, the publication is still being put together, Parkes said.

At this point, the USGA seems to know that making Palmer look like a victim isn’t going to make it in the public relations game, although some of those close to Palmer believe the kindler, gentler USGA is masking its true anti-Palmer sentiment.

“No one understands their extreme inflexibility,” said a source close to Palmer.

Adding to the problem is the USGA’s counterpart in Europe, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which has accepted the ERC II.

The USGA insists it is continuing to search for a common ground with Palmer. Palmer continues to insist that if there is a club that helps amateurs have a little more fun playing golf, then it’s fine with him.

Is there a place in the middle where both sides can be happy? After everyone cools off, we might find out. Then we can go look for a real controversy that everyone can get into . . . like why are those golf balls so big and those holes so small?