The U.S. Golf Association is, technically, a charity.
According to a ProPublica investigation, the U.S Golf Association has assets valued at $791 million. In 2022, the organization had $223 million in revenue and $263 million in expenses, leaving it $28 million in the hole.
Those expenses included 10 people making more than $500,000 a year, including $1.7 million for CEO Mike Whan and $2.3 million for former CEO Mike Davis. There was also a lot of first class and charter travel for employees.
That followed $21 million in net income for 2021 and $334 million in net income in 2020 and a similar roller coaster of financial wins and losses year to year. The biggest expenses tend to be “program services,” which one would expect from an organization that stages large professional golf events.
Oakmont Golf Club is a private social club with a 501(c)7 designation. The same ProPublica nonprofit database shows a $12.7 million revenue for 2023 and $10.4 million in expenses, providing a comfortable $2.3 million income cushion. Over the last 10 years, the club posted positive income of $500,000 to $2.5 million five times and losses of $135,000 to $518,000 five times.
That ebb and flow does not stop finance website Insider Monkey from placing Oakmont as tenth on its list of the 30 most expensive golf clubs in the world. For reference, Augusta National is fourth, Pebble Beach is seventh, St. Andrews in Scotland is ninth and Trump National Doral is 26th.
So why does Pennsylvania have to underwrite half of a grant for improvements to Oakmont to accommodate the USGA?
The national organization has submitted a grant application for $2.3 million to cover costs of $4.8 million expansion including private roads, staging grounds, shuttle stations and improved admission facilities.
These would be to accommodate the U.S. Open returning to Oakmont in 2025. In 2021, when a slate of upcoming events at Oakmont was announced, then-Gov. Tom Wolf spoke of a “partnership” with the USGA, while then Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman called it a “handshake deal.”
Now the hands are out for cash.
Does a sporting event like the U.S. Open benefit the area? It can.
But how does a community — or the state — benefit when $2.3 million isn’t going to help schools or ambulance services or fire departments but is going to cover costs of an event staged by two organizations with well-padded financials? And why does the $2.3 million cost only come out three years after the handshake?
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That doesn’t sound very Open at all.