With Wednesday’s joint announcement by the two governing bodies about detailed proposed changes to the Rules that are planned to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, Mate could provide an insider’s perspective on the overhaul process that’s taken place.

After all, the CGA executive director — along with former CGA staffers Thomas Pagel and (just recently) Pete Lis — serve on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, which is on the ground floor of the proposed changes that were announced on Wednesday.

“It’s exciting to finally have the duct tape off my mouth because I’ve been sworn to secrecy the last two years,” Mate said on Wednesday. “This is a lot of fun and pretty cool.”

The initial stages of the Rules modernization project predate Mate joining the USGA Rules of Golf Committee in 2015, but he’s been intimately involved in the process since then.

Among the changes that are proposed for 2019 implementation: searches for a lost ball would be limited to three minutes rather than the current five; players could drop a ball from any height rather than the current shoulder height; a caddie would no longer be allowed to line up a player; there would be no penalty if a ball you hit struck you, your caddie, or your equipment; also, no penalty would result for a ball — struck on the putting green — hitting the flag in the hole; spike marks and almost all other damage on a green could be repaired; a club could be grounded and loose impediments removed in a penalty area; loose impediments could also be moved in a bunker; there would be no penalty for accidentally moving your ball while searching for it or for accidentally moving your ball or ball marker when it’s on the putting green.

For more detail and specifics, CLICK HERE.

“The overriding theme is that we were hearing from golfers at all levels that the Rules were just complex (and) they were hard to understand,” said Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of rules and amateur status. “We are listening. The Rules have become dense and, for many, too confusing.”

Mate likewise welcomes the whole Rules modernization effort.

“I just think it’s really exciting,” Mate said. “This is historic. It’s never happened where the USGA and the R&A have come out and said, ‘What do you think?’ Never has there been a more cool opportunity because the game needs to be more approachable. What better way to do it than say, ‘We want your input.’ The USGA is looking for your feedback — good, bad or otherwise.”

By midday on Wednesday, Mate had already talked to numerous golfers about the proposed changes.

“The excitement people have and the passion they have to know that the Rules are really going to be more approachable … Those people are more engaged,” he said. “It will be interesting to see how much confusion there is over, ‘All right, when do these take effect?’ This is a long time (until 2019). This isn’t (the same as the process that led to the banning of) anchoring. Everybody knew that it was probably a fait accompli that anchoring was going to go away, but it was a way to ease people into it. This is the opposite. (People may think) ‘I don’t want to ease into these; I want to start now.’ So it’ll be interesting to me to see how much pressure the USGA and the R&A get to move up that date from 2019 to 2018. In the meantime maybe what will end up happening, rather than that, is clubs will start adopting them right now. They’ll say, ‘We’re playing by the 2019 Rule book.'”

Overall, what was announced on Wednesday “is unprecedented and it’s in step with the times,” Mate added. “The term ‘modernization’ is a great global label to put on this project. It’s also modern from the standpoint of giving the game a new face. The new USGA (is) more player-friendly and actually cares what you might think. Instead of keeping these things under wraps — secrecy and ivory tower — they’re being brought down to you, every golfer in America. So it’s really cool.”
 

The U.S., Canada, The Bahamas, Brazil, Scotland, England, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, Thailand and Australia.

And if he’s forgotten a nation or two, that’s understandable. Things can become a bit of a blur when racking up frequent-flyer miles at roughly a six-figure-per-year pace.

But now, his command of the Rules of Golf will bring him back home in a sense — to a place where he laid his foundation in the golf business. You see, for a decade before being hired by the LPGA, Lis worked for the CGA, spending the last seven years of that stint as the association’s director of rules and competitions.

And now, after being named by the LPGA late last year to serve as its liaison on the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee, Lis will attend his first committee meeting in about three weeks as part of the USGA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. And though the business at hand will be very important — with the Rules modernization and simplification project going full throttle — it will be a “family” reunion of sorts. After all, three of the roughly dozen committee members worked at the CGA together a decade ago — Ed Mate (who remains the CGA’s executive director), Thomas Pagel (currently the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Status) and Lis (a manager of rules and competition for the LPGA Tour).

“On a personal level, I take great pride in that,” Mate said last month. “For a long time, Colorado has had strong representation with the USGA. And it’s nice because you can be candid with friends.”

Indeed, among the other Coloradans in recent decades who have served on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee are Will Nicholson Jr., M.J. Mastalir, Jim Bunch, Robin Jervey and Christie Austin. Nicholson, Mastalir, Bunch and Austin have all chaired the committee, with Austin being the first woman to have done so.

Both Mate and Lis serve as “advisory members” of the committee, with Mate representing state and regional golf associations and Lis the LPGA.

“It’s a unique and unbeliebable opportunity,” Lis said in a phone interview last month. “I remember when Ed, Thomas and I would talk Rules at a mediocre level (while with the CGA). Now, I’ll be sitting there with those guys and some of the best Rules minds in the world. Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to provide a little insight and help out.

“I’m excited to do it. I’m sure there will be a little nerves about when to speak up. But I’m there as an LPGA liaison. Hopefully I can help them from the tour’s perspective.”

Lis and Mate, both relative newcomers to the Rules of Golf Committee (Mate joined in the fall of 2015), have come on board at a key time as the USGA and R&A are in the midst of a special project designed to simplify and clarify the Rules of Golf. The new Local Rule that eliminates the penalty when a ball is accidentally moved on the putting green is a working example of the simplification.

For Lis, filling a role on the USGA Rules Committee is a good fit, given his current role with the LPGA, his former role with the CGA, and his long association with the USGA.

What does it say about the CGA to have three current or former staffers now serving on one of the golf world’s top rule-making bodies?

“It goes back to Ed Mate and what a great leader he’s been,” Lis said. “You look at the entire staff and where people have gone. He did a great job challenging us. It was the same with Thomas (Pagel).

“It’s an honor. All of Colorado in general has had good representation on the committee with M.J., Christie, Will and Jim Bunch.”

These days, Lis said he works about 25 LPGA Tour-related events each year, putting him on the road about 29 weeks with the preparation involved. (He’s pictured above, in green, alongside Stacy Lewis at the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club in Parker.) Last year, one of the events he worked was in Brazil for the women’s Olympic tournament, which (along with the men’s competition) marked the return of Olympic golf after a 112-year hiatus.

“It was much better than it was billed,” Lis said of the Summer Games. “I didn’t see one mosquito. It was cool to be a small part of history. I was fortunate to walk with Shanshan Feng (of China), the bronze medal winner. And I had the distinction of (giving out) the first pace of play penalty in the Olympics — to a Brazilian player, unfortunately. But I managed to get out of there alive.”

All told, Lis doesn’t mind all the travel he does for work.

“I really enjoy going to all the places,” said Lis, who is based in the Milwaukee area along with his girlfriend, Kelley Mawhinney, a former CWGA tournament and junior golf operations manager. “Fifteen hours (traveling overseas) is a long trip, but it’s a pretty special opportunity.

“I love what I do. I love the interaction with players, volunteers and staff. I feel the exact same at the LPGA as I did with the CGA. We’re all brothers and sisters. It doesn’t feel like a job, but kind of a traveling circus.”
  

By the time the USGA and R&A released their 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf on Oct. 26, CGA executive director Ed Mate had already returned from meetings in Far Hills, N.J., that began to set the stage for the next edition.

Basically, it’s an ever-evolving process, and the personnel working behind the scenes on such matters come and go.

Mate (left), who’s headed up the staff of the CGA since 2000, is one of the newcomers to the Rules of Golf decision-making process.

In fact, with his recent appointment to the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, he becomes the first CGA staff member to ever serve on the committee. He’s one of five advisory members on the 13-member committee as he’s filling the slot reserved for a representative of the state and regional golf associations. Former CWGA executive director Robin Jervey served in that same position several years ago.

Being the first CGA staffer on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee “is not a compliment to me, but to the CGA,” Mate said. “We have a good reputation” with the USGA.

Indeed, two living Coloradans have been presidents of the USGA, Will Nicholson Jr., and Judy Bell. And in the last quarter-century, several other residents of the Centennial State have served on the powerful USGA Executive Committee, including M.J. Mastalir, Jim Bunch and Christie Austin.

Nicholson has been a fixture on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee since 1974 and is among those currently serving alongside Mate. Other Coloradans who have been on the committee in the relatively recent past are Mastalir, Bunch and Austin, all of whom have chaired the committee, and Jervey. Austin was the first female chair of the Rules of Golf Commitee, which works with the R&A in establishing and interpreting rules standards worldwide.

For Mate, having a hand in the process is a dream come true.

“I’m very excited to be on the committee,” he said. “I can tell you how welcome I felt and how sincere (others on the committee) were in welcoming my input. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have every opportunity to contribute.”

The invitation to serve on the committee came from a person with whom Mate is very familiar, Thomas Pagel. Pagel has been the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf & Amateur Status since 2011. He worked on the CGA staff from 2003-08 and was the assistant executive director of the association for two years until being named executive director of the Utah Golf Association in 2008.

Pagel asked Mate during this year’s U.S. Women’s Open if he’d like to join the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. And, after checking with the CGA board, Mate couldn’t say yes quickly enough.

“It’s pretty much a no-brainer for me,” he said. “I’m a self-proclaimed Rules geek. I’ve always been interested in the Rules since I got involved in the game. So to be part of process is amazing.”

The USGA Rules of Golf Committee, along with its R&A counterpart and their executive committees, are currently attempting to streamline the Rules as much as is practical.

“The stated objective is to find a way to simplify the Rules,” Pagel said on Oct. 26. “That’s our primary focus moving forward. … Are there wholesale ways to help simplify it?”

The USGA Rules of Golf Committee typically includes advisory reprepsentatives from the PGA of America, the Mexican Golf Federation, the PGA and LPGA Tours, and from state and regional golf associations. They and the rest of the committee normally meet three times per year.

To read about the changes made for the 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf, CLICK HERE.