CEO Golfers: Utility Leaders Are No Duffers (Golf Digest)
October 25, 2006
These days, utility executives have their hands full -- in some cases, full of the finest quality grips money can buy.
Golf Digest magazine ranks American CEOs every two years based on their golf handicaps. The best 200 CEOs are listed in the magazine's highly publicized index, which appeared this year in the October 2006 issue and online.
Eleven energy utility CEOs made it into the top 200 this year, with handicaps of 4 to 15. A handicap is an index of what a golfer shoots above par. The lowest handicaps indicate the best golfers. A zero or "scratch" handicap player will shoot par in their best rounds.
Single-digit handicaps take years of lessons and dedicated practice. Four utility top brass have endured the suffering, and they're in good company among 72 Fortune 1000 CEOs with handicaps under 10, including the heads of Comcast, AT&T, IBM, Kerr-McGee, and Charles Schwab himself.
Utility CEO golf rankings
| RANK | CEO | Hdcp | Utility |
| 8 | Barry E. Davis | 4.2 | Crosstex Energy |
| 10* | Mayo A. Shattuck III | 5.2 | Constellation Energy Group (Will merge with FPL -- Florida Power & Light -- headed by #112.) |
| 31 | David W. Joos | 7.3 | CMS Energy |
| 62* | David M. Ratcliffe | 9.4 | Southern Company (One of the largest producers of electricity in the US.) |
| 97* | Anthony F. Earley | 11.1 | DTE Energy |
| 103 | Michael J. Chesser | 11.3 | Great Plains Energy (Parent company of Kansas City Power & Light in MO.) |
| 112* | Lewis Hay III | 11.6 | FPL Group (Florida Power & Light, merging with Constellation, headed by #10.) |
| 116* | David V. McClanahan | 11.7 | Centerpoint Energy |
| 163* | Thomas E. Skains | 13.7 | Piedmont Natural Gas |
| 181 | Anthony J. Alexander | 14.7 | FirstEnergy |
| 186* | Joel V. Staff | 15.0 | Reliant Energy |
| * Tied with other CEOs for this ranking. | |||
Interesting facts
- 93% of the 200 CEOs in the index will play 20 or more rounds this year. 57% will play 30 or more. Only one said he'd play fewer than 10 rounds this year.
- 75% have paid $300 or more for a green fee. The highest any admits to paying is $600.
- 65% belong to at least two private golf clubs. 45% belong to four or more private clubs.
You might also find the index as a paid advertising insert in the latest issue of Fortune magazine. (The back half of the insert is dedicated to a long, admiring article about sports agent Mark McCormack, written by his wife, Betsy.)