The Golf Guy Podcast — Mark Newell, 65th President of the USGA

Mark Newell and I were partners at Latham & Watkins LLP for many decades, and we worked together in management as Mark was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Partner from 2002-2011 and I was global chair of the tax department from 2000-2011. Mark retired early from the firm and became General Counsel at the USGA from 2011-2012 and ultimately served as the 65th President of the USGA from 2018-2019. Mark’s time at the USGA was truly consequential, as his accomplishments included chairing the USGA Rules Committee (where he led the rule change on anchoring and then played a key role in the rules simplification process which led to the 2019 major revision of the rules), authoring the 2020 Distance Insights Report, co-chairing the World Handicap Initiative and revising the governance structure of the USGA. We talk with Mark about how he got started in the game and what led to his involvement with the USGA, we touch on his various accomplishments, and we go deep on the various rules initiatives he championed and the distance issue.