Roger Yaffe | Former Executive Director of the WGCA

In this episode of College Golf Today, host Kelly Okun speaks with Roger Yaffe, the recently retired Executive Director of the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA).

In the role for 26 years, Roger is credited for elevating women's college golf to where it is today. From quintupling the number of coaches in the organization to gaining more visibility through deals with partners like Golf Channel, women's golf has grown leaps and bounds during his tenure.

Roger also shares his journey into the golf industry, which began in a unique way in high school. He praises his past boards and presidents for the organization’s progress, expresses gratitude to coaches and staff, shares his excitement for Courtney Trimble's start as CEO of the WGCA and voices hope for clarity amid ongoing uncertainty in college athletics.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to College Golf Today, Inspiring Tomorrow's Coaches and Players, a podcast in partnership with the Women's Golf Coaches Association and Fairway to Green. I'm your host, Kelly Okin, and a former Division I and Professional Golfer. We are excited to dive into College Golf's biggest topics with the coaches themselves. We're talking best coaching and recruiting practices, their take on current trends like NIL, and stage advice for new and aspiring coaches, all straight from

Meet Roger Yaffe: Former Executive Director of the WGCA

SPEAKER_01 0:26

the source. Today we're joined by Roger Gaffey, the former executive director of the WGCA. After twenty-six years in the role, Roger has controlled the number of coaches in the organization and built the coaches' convention to the level of prestige it is today. He shares how he became involved in the golf industry at a young age and answers questions about how his WGCA tenure has led to incredible growth in women's college golf, especially among the coaches. Roger, thanks so much for joining us today. Really excited to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Thank you so much. I'm excited to have the opportunity

Growing Women's College Golf Through its Coaches

SPEAKER_00 0:57

to do this.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

You're the executive director of the WGCA. You have three weeks left of your long tenure before you retire. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

It's been a long run. I took the job in November of 1998. The organization at that point had about 150 member coaches. We put on a convention like we have this week in Las Vegas, and I think there were 70 coaches in attendance. And now, 27 years later, we have close to 800 coaches as members. We have 200 plus attendees at this convention, and women's collegiate golf looks completely different than what it did 27 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah, can you take us back to 27 years ago? First of all, thank you for all you've done to grow the game for the game.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

I appreciate it. I definitely benefited.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

I'm fortunate that everybody allowed me to hang around for 27 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I'm sure it looked a little less hopeful back then for women's golf. What did that landscape look like?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I don't know if I would say it looked less hopeful. I think the vision of where we were going, I don't think we could have envisioned where we're at today. Just simply because of the size of the sport, the financial resources associated with the sport, especially at universities and the financial commitments they would make behind college golf, let alone women's collegiate golf. And so I think there was always a vision of where it could be, but I don't think we at that point probably could have seen it ourselves at that point. And I'm proud to have been a small part of where we've gotten to. And certainly I'm leaving at a time where there's still a lot of unknown day-to-day within our sport and certainly collegiate sports in general. So maybe it's a good time to be bowing out, but I'll be excited to watch from the sidelines as we see kind of where we go.

Roger Yaffe's Golf Legacy

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Thinking back on your legacy here, what have been some of the highlights and some of the biggest lessons you've taken away from it?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So I think the biggest highlights for me are interactions with our member coaches. I've gotten to build a lot of friendships, and the good news is those friendships will continue, whether I'm here or not. And I think I look back at those relationships, many of them, not all of them, that have been 27 years in the making. There's still a few coaches that are around that were here that predated me, and

More Coaches, More Impact

SPEAKER_00 3:16

there's certainly the majority of them that are new coaches. But I certainly I think one of the things that I am proud of is our coaching community is getting younger. We have provided through a lot of our work and certainly others more opportunities for coaches. When I first started, only one coach was allowed to provide advice for any team. You were not allowed two coaches to provide advice.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah. And so that was an effort to have that change. And in fact, our friends at the USGA were behind that effort because it was a rules of golf issue. And so just even what maybe you think of as being a minor thing, there were programs, some of the more well-funded programs that had a second coach, but most programs didn't because if they could justify why they needed a second coach to be able to be on the golf course providing advice, they weren't going to fund it. That change alone probably added, if you think of the totality of women's college golf, and it certainly started at Division I, but I've seen it filter down to the smaller divisions. I think you could easily say that's probably added five to seven hundred and fifty new college golf positions just because of that change. So I, you know, certainly that's one thing that I'm proud of. Uh I'm proud of our relationship that we've built with the Golf Coaches Association of America, our men's coaches' counterpart. When I first got in here, there was really not a relationship. But there are so many things that both associations, and whether you're a men's college golfer or a women's college golf coach, there's commonalities. And so you have more strength in numbers when you're trying to make change. And so I think I'm proud of the relationship that we built with the GCAA. I'm proud of the convention. I'm proud of what we were able to create in terms of an experience for our coaches and the speakers that we can bring in. I do remember the early days, and you didn't have a lot of coaches, and we didn't have a lot of money. So your speakers were people you could get for free, often cases. And so I think I'm proud of the experience that we'd be able to create for those coaches that do attend conventions. So those are just some of the highlights. Obviously, what's happened at the Division I level with our NCA championship, because that has dramatically changed. And I'm not just talking about the format change, but obviously our relationship with our partners at Golf Channel and being able to televise and give more visibility through that event, and now that's filtered down where there's more in-season events that are televised. So I think just the visibility of college golf and specifically women's college golf is in a place that I'm not sure I would have even envisioned 20 plus years ago.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Oh well, thank you for being our leader in that sense. Have you heard any stories from coaches or from players about the impact that you've had, or they wouldn't have been somewhere if it weren't for you or what you were doing?

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I think certainly some, and again, I'm gonna put the credit back on our leadership. We have a board of directors that are made up of coaches, and they're really the ones that are the stewards of where the association goes, and I'm basically been the one to get us to that point. But they're the visionaries with it. And so I obviously I hear stories through our board members and past boards. The commitment level that, and I know I'm probably not answering a question, but the commitment level that so many have put into the organization, and certainly for all of the past presidents that we've had for the organization, each one of them has put their fingerprints on where we're at today. So certainly, yeah, I would say I do hear some of those stories, but again, it's not about me. It's about the coaches and it's about the student athletes that's who make up college golf.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Courtney

New Leadership Ahead

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Trimble is your successor in leading the WGCA. How excited are you to have her come on board?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Courtney's a former coach, obviously. She coached as a head coach at Central Florida and Louisville. And I think that, you know, in her new role, taking over for myself, there's no doubt that she brings the coaching experience. I was never a coach. I grew up playing golf. I grew up playing competitively, but I never even thought about getting into college coaching, quite honestly. So I think Courtney does bring that experience. But what's great about Courtney is it's not just her previous coaching experience, it's her business acumen as well. And being able to pair those two things is gonna serve this organization well into the future.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

What has it been like working with 14 presidents?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Wow, I wasn't even aware of the number. I would say they each, as I said before, they each have a legacy within this organization. I wouldn't want to name them all because I'm sure I would forget some names, but I think back to 1998, Julie Manning, who was at Iowa State, who was the first president that I worked with, and quite honestly was the one that fired me. So obviously I owe her a debt of gratitude. And it was neat because she ended up many years later on the Women's Golf Committee. So getting to re-engage with Julie was great. But I think of so many, and again, I'm gonna miss names here, but the Therese Hessians of the world and the Denise St. Pierre of the World, Judy Pavone, Kelly Hester, who is the only one that sometimes I'm wondering what she was doing, but she's the only one that was a president and then decided to come back and do it again. So Kelly's one of my best friends in this organization, and I was thrilled to have her come back and serve a second round as being president because it's a huge time commitment. But again, there's so many. Angie Larkin, Christy Knight, Amy Bond at Florida State. Amy's was put into a position where she had to take on some extra time in her role. So that's something that other presidents did not, so certainly owe her a debt of gratitude. Lisa Strom, who's most recent leading into Kelly, Todd Erline from Wisconsin, who during my time is the only male that has been president of the organization. And one of the things I enjoyed about working with Todd was he had somewhat of a different perspective of being a man who is a coach of a women's golf program. And I think that having that was a unique opportunity for those couple years. So I know I've missed names, but each one of them has been a pleasure to work with, and each one of them in their own unique ways have been really instrumental to the organization.

Roger Yaffe’s Golf Journey

SPEAKER_01 9:37

And diving back into a little bit of your golf experience, what inspired you to get involved with the WGCA in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Well, I grew up playing competitively, went to college at SMU, I did not play college golf. There's a long story behind that, we'll save that one for another day. But I grew up in South Florida and knew I wanted to somehow work in the golf business, just didn't know how and certainly was not a good enough player to probably even think about becoming a PGA professional, PGA club professional. So I looked at other opportunities within the business world. I'm a marketing major many years ago, and was fortunate that an opportunity arose at the National Golf Foundation, which is in Jupiter, Florida, which is where I grew up. And one of the first things I did at NGF, and again, this is going back to 1989, I'm dating myself, was they put me in charge of uh helping to put on teaching and coaching seminars that NGF was sponsoring. And through doing those, I had the opportunity to meet a number of great teachers and coaches, as well as college coaches and LPGA teaching professionals. So after doing that for five years, an opportunity opened up with the LPGA to work within what at that point was called their teaching club professional division, it's now called LPGA Professionals. So I made the move up to Daytona Beach and worked there for a little over three years. And that's where I really started to get connected to a lot of the women's collegiate golf coaches because many of them are LPGA members and or PGA members. And so that's where the connection happened and then decided to go out on my own and create my own business. And right away, first opportunity was a call to work with what was called the National Golf Coaches Association, and then we later changed it to the Women's Golf Coaches Association.

Why Women’s Golf

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Wow, and what drew you to women's golf instead of men's golf at the time?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

I think one of the things that drew me, and again, I'll go back to my time at the LPGA because that's really where that started. That opportunity, there's a couple things that really were important to me to explore that and ultimately take it. I have to give credit to Cindy Davis. Cindy was my first manager at the LPGA, and many people know Cindy. She went on to be president at Nike Golf. She was a vice president at the golf channel, very illustrious golf industry career, and she took a chance on a young guy from South Florida to move up to Daytona to take on that role. But I think beyond Cindy, it was the opportunity to, I think, work within a portion of the golf industry that maybe isn't necessarily, and keep in mind now we're talking 30 years ago, wasn't necessarily the first choice of maybe others, especially being a man. And I thought that would be a unique opportunity there to experience something that maybe a lot of others that hadn't. And then I grew a passion for women's golf from that. So that's really where that started. And then obviously when this opportunity arose, it was just a continuation of being able to work in an industry that I was passionate about and work with a constituency that I had grown a lot for.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

I know so many of us in the golf industry, especially on the women's side, is as soon as you start watching the women play, you're immediately hooked, you become a fan. And I think that's why so many of us are trying to get more eyes on the game so that we can get more fans and hopefully more girls playing too.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that one of the things that I'm proud of, obviously, I've been in this role for a few years, is I'm proud that the organization has hired a woman to take over the reins. It was time. I think I've done a nice job, but I think it was time to do that. And again, this is an organization that's going places. And I felt like I did as much as I could do, and it was time to pass it on. And again, look forward to kind of watching from the sidelines.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah,

Thanking the College Golf Coaches

SPEAKER_01 13:34

and do you have a message for all those who you've worked with? Obviously, you said the friendships are gonna surpass this role. You're still gonna have them, but anything you'd like to say to all the coaches and everyone you've worked with.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Just thank you for the support. It wasn't always easy, but the support was always there. And again, what is great about this organization, and I think it's probably one of the reasons I've stayed in it as long as I have, is the passion that many of the coaches have for their profession and their industry and for this organization. So it's just a gratitude, a thank you, thank you on behalf of my family, and hopefully I can stay somehow part of it, again, even if it's from a distance.

The Future of College Golf

SPEAKER_01 14:14

And you said to yourself, golf is or really college sports as a whole are a little uncertain right now. What vote do you have for the future for both the coaches and the players?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Well, clarification, I think, is certainly right off the top. There's obviously a lot going on. The NCA is still figuring things out. We're in a world, we're in a litigious world, so litigation going on. So I think there's a lot of things that are still very much up in the air that I wouldn't even want to try to project where we'll end up. But I will say, while I think there are concerns about college athletics just in general, but certainly for what are considered maybe not the major sports or, you know, sometimes called the Olympic sports. While we have to keep our eye on the ball with that, I think there is a unique aspect of college golf that helps to protect us a little bit in that space. So that's my hope. And again, I think clarification, I think that's really from talking to coaches, that's the big part, you know, because rules are changing, the landscape is changing, and it never is feeling like it's done changing. And so I think getting to that point will give everybody more of a sense of comfort. Where we end up, I don't know. But I feel like wherever that is within college golf, we'll be in a good place.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I'm glad

Roger Yaffe's Retirement Plans

SPEAKER_01 15:38

to hear that. And what is next for you?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

So I'm still involved in doing some of the same types of things that I've done with the Women's Golf Coaches Association, and I do that with some other organizations. So I'm gonna continue doing that for probably a few years. I've been doing this for 27 years, and probably for the last 25, I've said I need to play more golf. But like anybody that's in the golf business, you know that when you get in the golf business, the one thing that happens is you probably play less for whatever reason that is. I so love to be able to maybe play a little bit more. But um, I'm still gonna keep my hand in doing some stuff. And, you know, I don't know if this is the end for me as it relates to the golf industry. I hope it's not, but it was time for this organization to take the next step. So we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah, Roger, thank you, and a personal thank you for me because without college golf and the world you built it into, I probably wouldn't be here interviewing right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Thank you so much. I don't know if I could take credit for that. Who knows? Maybe I'll become a podcast host. What do you think? If you need the cohort, you know, I've got some free talks.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Always, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I do want to say one other thing, maybe if I can before we're done. I do want to give some recognition to Paige Moroda. Paige has been with me for the last 10 years and was brought on to really kind of operate a lot of the things day-to-day. She's the one day-to-day that's been running this organization, and I'm kind of been there in the in the rear view mirror here to keep us on the path. But really, Paige has been one that has been instrumental, and I know she's gonna miss this as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah, I had the privilege of meeting her this week, and she is superwoman.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yeah, she is, she is. She does all the stuff that I used to do 20 some odd years ago, and I'm glad that Paige is doing it now. But again, Paige will be passing that along, and Courtney's gonna create a great team.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, I'm looking forward

Roger Yaffe's Unique High School Golf Experience

SPEAKER_01 17:32

to it. Roger, you mentioned you grew up in Jupiter. Any chance you went to Benjamin High School?

SPEAKER_00 17:36

I did. I'm gonna really show my age now. I actually graduated in 1985. 44 kids in my graduating class. Finally broke the top five for my high school golf team when I was a senior. Let's put it this way, I I broke top five, but I rarely was in the four counting scores. If that tells you anything about the quality of golf at Benjamin in those days. As I still call him, Mr. Nicholas was around the program a lot, played golf with Gary Nicholas. But yeah, I loved going to Benjamin. It was a very small private high school. I guess if you want to think about it, everybody knew about everybody else. Actually, we just had uh a month and a half ago our 40th reunion. Wow. Which again makes me feel old. Well, I'll get there at some point. But yes, I was Benjamin and had a great experience there.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah, I'm not too far behind. I'm about to have my 15th year of reunion. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

That school's changed a lot since I've been there, I know. And in fact, this the campus that we were on, I think is part of the campus now for the elementary school, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Wow, that wasn't there when I was there. Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

So uh they moved to a new campus and as it's grown. But yeah, I had an opportunity, and again, I think about my golf career and getting into it, and certainly when I was in high school, I kind of thought about it, but you didn't know when you were in high school what you were gonna do. But I do think back around that and being at Benjamin, and Benjamin was always uh I don't want to say it was a golf factory, but it was a golf factory. And having the opportunity to be around Mr. Nicholas in the early to mid-80s was a pretty cool experience. I still remember playing in some golf tournaments, and our secret weapon when Gary was playing is Mr. Nicholas would be out driving in his golf cart, and he didn't want to be too he wanted to be inconspicuous, so we'd kind of park in the woods a little bit. But trust me, we made sure that the team, the players from the other teams, you did you ever play Cardinal Newman?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

All the time.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, so Cardinal Newman are our arch enemy. We made sure that Mr. Nicholas was watching them tee off because it makes make people a little bit more nervous.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

And I know now Cardinal Newman has Brooks Kepko and Chase Kepko to boast. They were around my age.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Stage do, but we're still Benjamin Buccaneers, right? We're still we're still cheering on the bucks.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

That is too funny. And yeah, Jack Nicholas, his grandkids were there when I was there. None of them were on the golf team yet. I think they joined later after I graduated. But that internship, I got to intern with Nicholas Companies at the time, and it just kickstarted everything I wanted to do in golf market.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

I sent my resume to Golden Bear Enterprises many times, but I'm not sure anybody ever read it.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

So yeah, well, they used to be right across from the lower school campus, their office they've moved since then.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

But in I don't know what I now Charlie Woods uh taking over the rain is I know they just won another state championship. They did. So was excited to see that.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Yeah, and Kai Trump just had her LPGA debut as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

That's correct, and we'll be very soon a women's collegiate golfer at the University of Miami. So it's neat to be around that opportunity and that experience.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

It is. That's such a small world. Yep, it is.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

It is.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Thank you so much, Roger. I really appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed doing this.