Twenty years ago golf lost its top two Rules and Competitions gurus–Joseph P. Dey and P.J. Boatwright, Jr. Each was the USGA’s driving force in the Rules of Golf and championship set-ups, most particularly the Open. Joe Dey left the Philadelphia Enquirer to become the USGA’s Executive Director in 1934, a post he held until 1969. He then became Commissioner of the PGA Tour. Boatwright came to the USGA in 1951 from the Carolinas Golf Association, where he was their Executive Director. PJ took over the Open upon Dey’s retirement and ran it until his death in 1991. Dey and Boatrwight passed away about a month apart. I was fortunate to know both of them, Boatwright better than Dey, and I have several treasured memories, not to mention stories I’ve heard or read about both.
I first met Joe Dey during the 1979 Open at Inverness Club in Toledo. He left the USGA ten years prior, but he returned to the Open most years to officiate. I was told nobody remembered names better than he. During the final round, he stopped by my station, the 18th hole, and asked, “Jeff, what do you think of your first Open?” He could have gotten my name in several ways, but he did recall this was my first Open, something I mentioned to him five days before. In that same Open, Fred Couples played in his first as an amateur, making the cut. An official saw Couples hit a fairway bunker shot and advised him he may have built a stance. A penalty was possible. After Couples signed his card, the official, Dey, and Couples headed to the now vacant first fairway where Couples demonstrated what he had done. Dey gave Fred the good news there was no penalty.
In 1934, Dey had recently been appointed USGA Executive Director; he hadn’t yet left from Philadelphia to New York City, where the USGA had an office in Manhattan. He received a call from the PGA of America President inviting him to officiate during the Ryder Cup at nearby Atlantic City Country Club. He accepted but was frightened–he didn’t know the Rules very well. Taking the train, he feverishly read the Rules book, hoping nothing would take place during his time as a referee that would embarrass him. He got through the Ryder Cup without incident, then left for New York and his new job. Upon settling in, he told his staff. “The executive of the USGA should be the most well respected Rules of Golf person in the world. I will be there in five years.” And he was. He always carried a Rules booklet. Dey considered the ministry as a career. He would have been a good one. He was an outstanding speaker and an evangelist for the game of golf, spreading the gospel of the game. Dey would have been very proud of the USGA’s efforts in Rules of Golf education–on-line programs, countless Rules inquiries answered, workshops around the country. He lived to see much of that take place and heartily supported those efforts.
One of my closest friends, Karl Olson, a golf course superintendent, was PJ’s Championship Agronomist for three years, so I have a few Boatwright stories from Karl. I worked for the USGA, 1980-84, three of those years at Golf House, so I have a few memories as well.
Dey and Boatwright were two very different people. Among the most notable differences–PJ could really play. Joe Dey was pleased when he broke 90. Boatwright won the Carolinas Amateur when he was the organization’s Executive Director and qualified for several USGA Championships, mostly Amateurs. He made the cut at the famed Merion US Open in 1950, Ben Hogan’s first major win after his horrible auto accident the year before. My first golf meeting was in Tucson for the International Association of Golf Administrators. I was paired with PJ at Tucson National. He parred sixteen holes. He played as much golf as possible with his schedule, much at Somerset Hills GC, a Tillinghast classic near USGA headquarters. He was one of the guys on the weekend.
I attended a Rules of Golf Workshop near Houston in 1979 taught by PJ and Betsy Rawls. These two old friends were among the best in the world at the Rules. The best part of their presentations were “war stories,” rules incidents with the world’s best players. The following year, PJ asked Betsy to be a Rules official at the Open, played at Baltusrol. She was the first women on an Open Rules Committee. A few months prior to that, she hired me to work as a Tournament Official on the LPGA Tour.
Another of my PJ favorites involved the 1983 Open at Oakmont. Radio conversation about pace of play never stopped. It still doesn’t till this day. Then PJ said something like–”as far as pace of play is concerned today, we’re dead.” The radios were less noisy the rest of the afternoon. Also, I remember how much the players liked and respected PJ. During the 1985 Open at Oakland Hills north of Detroit, I recall a locker room chat among Curtis Strange, Andy Bean, and PJ about how the next year’s Open at Shinnecock Hills would go, the club’s first. The players were concerned until Boatwright reassured them the site was terrific. At a US Amateur Players Dinner, PJ addressed the crowd about various regulations. One of his lines–”You all received information packets when you registered. Lots of information there. I played in a few Amateurs myself, and I never came to one to read.” That broke the ice. Although PJ didn’t graduate from Georgia Tech, he did attend the university. He was well educated and a terrific writer. I stopped by his office a few months before he died. He was wearing a hat, not his style, because of chemotherapy treatments and the subsequent hair loss. It was a Georgia Tech hat, and the Bulldogs were on their way to an NCAA football championship.
Upon entering the USGA headquarters, you see two large portraits on the main wall–Joe Dey and PJ Boatwright. Everyone in a job can be succeeded, but some cannot be replaced. That’s the way I feel about these two. I like PJ’s portrait in particular. He is shown holding a putter in the crook of his arm and a can of course marking paint, the two tools course set-up folks use when doing hole locations.
Knowledge and respect are more important than style as long as a person is genuine. Joe Dey was charismatic, outgoing, and passionate about the game. Boatwright was calm with a dry sense of humor and very well organized. Both were good leaders with different styles, excellent writers, good speakers in their own ways. Neither was perfect; both were great. I will never forget them. They retain an impact on the game twenty years after their passings.
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