OAKVILLE, Ont. – On Tuesday at the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, Golf Canada named Laurence Applebaum its new CEO Tuesday.
Applebaum is taking over for interim CEO Jeff Thompson, who replaced Scott Simmons after Simmons announced his resignation last fall.
Applebaum has spent the past six years working for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Florida as its executive vice president. The Toronto native first worked in the golf industry as a sales and marketing manager for Nike Golf in the late ’90s.
On Tuesday, Applebaum sat down with sportsnet.ca to discuss his new role, Canada’s two national golf championships, and the future of Glen Abbey and the importance of star players when it comes to growing the sport in this country.
Q: Do you think Golf Canada is in a good place right now?
Applebaum: The interesting part of our communication opportunities is to help the public understand what Golf Canada is. I think the brand change that happened five years ago (from the Royal Canadian Golf Association) was really strong, the branding got much improved. We need to do a better job of what Golf Canada is and whom we represent. That’s one big part of it. It’s in a really good place and I hope to bring it to a great place.
You’re taking over after former CEO Scott Simmons was leading the organization for a decade. Are you coming in with sweeping changes, or just learning as much as you can first, and then applying that learning?
Scott Simmons was at the helm for 10 years. That’s really admirable. He really made some real progress in a number of areas. We have to build on that. To make golf that premium experience from a consuming of championships to what we’re doing day-in and day-out with our content strategy, and also supporting our athletes.
Q: What has the staff reception been to your announcement as CEO?
Applebaum: Meeting with the team face-to-face and seeing the spark in their eye… there is energy in this place that is really invigorating. I hope I bring even more of that to the table. They are doing such good initiatives throughout Canada and maybe there is an opportunity to share those stories a bit more and to really give them a platform.
Q: What was your biggest accomplishment with the WTA?
Applebaum: The evolution the WTA has taken has been incredible. I will mention not only a good friend, but a fellow Canadian and former boss Stacey Allaster, the former CEO who really transformed the WTA and brought me down to Florida. The level of what the next CEO, Steve Simon, has done is equally impressive. The team has been amazing and I was part of a lot of things personally. The evolution of the WTA Finals, the culmination of the year, making a robust year-end championship the pinnacle of sport; we moved that from Istanbul to Singapore and that was an initiative I helped spearhead. That was incredible to move it to a new market. The benefit of that kind of experience is what I’m hoping to bring to this role.
Glen Abbey Golf Club (long-time host of the RBC Canadian Open) has been in a bit of a flux of late – it will, however, host the 2017 Canadian Open. What are your thoughts on the course?
Applebaum: Glen Abbey has built an incredible tradition. It’s an amazing golf course that has a ton of support by players on the PGA Tour, to be quite frank. Our goal is to have a long-term venue strategy that really is well aligned with our key partner in RBC, and working really directly with the PGA Tour to really support that. I can tell you in conversations with both those groups how aligned we are. There’s a lot of work ahead of us and I look forward to sharing that process and really being able to have an incredible position moving forward.
You talked about Mike Weir, Brooke Henderson, and Lorie Kane in your introductory remarks. How important are ‘stars’ in golf for the sport in Canada?
Applebaum: I think, as fans, we connect with these stories. Mike’s story is incredible. He’s not been top-of-mind in the last little bit as he re-tools his game and gets back to where he belongs. I’ve always loved watching him, been a big supporter of him, followed him at many events, and similarly with Lorie Kane. They’re both in the space where they are both Hall of Fame members, they’re incredible ambassadors… Canadians want to know what they’re doing and they want to hear from them, and we will. I can guarantee you they still have a big push left in them.
There are a handful of big-time players in the Canadian golf industry – RBC, Canadian Pacific Rail, ClubLink etc. – how key are those partnerships for Golf Canada?
Applebaum: We value those relationships immeasurably. We are going to be doing a really hard analysis of all of our partnerships and all of the development opportunities. We are quite open to looking at some really key partnerships moving forward. I’ve seen some of the work done by the team. It’s impressive and I want to blow that up to another level and engaging in a really robust group of partners.
Is there any shared learning between the RBC Canadian Open and the CP Canadian Women’s Open or are those totally separate entities?
Applebaum: The team, we share a lot of resources between those two, so the learnings are really great. I also think the learnings at what is going down at some of the best events on Tour overall is great. They are separate on some levels and they’re really integrated on others. It’s a challenge to run two world-class events in a five-week period, but it’s also exciting. We have a short summer, and we want to get after it.
There’s a lot of doom-and-gloom talk about golf itself in Canada. How would you respond to that kind of talk?
Applebaum: What I rely on is the strength of the numbers. The rounds are actually up in Canada in the last year. Golfers are playing more. Part of our efforts will really be to determine who has the opportunity to come into the game? What are the barriers to entry? It’s two things – it’s time and money. We can come up with a laundry list to make things faster – nine-hole opportunities, six-hole tournaments – a number of things in the innovative space we’re going to explore.
On the money side, we’ve got to make sure there is accessibility for every Canadian, and I will work with the equipment industry and the golf course owners to find out where those strike zone opportunities are.