P.J. Boatwright, Jr

P.J. Boatwright, Jr.


I’ve been thinking a lot about P.J. lately. His full name was Pervis James Boatwright, Jr which is probably why he went with just P. J. Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading about the USGA Boatwright Intern gathering at Golf House in Far Hills, NJ where over 200 young people from all over the US came together for a learning session. They will now return to their respective Allied Golf Associations with useful training to immensely help those associations for the rest of the season.
Or perhaps it was reading about his two grandsons who are competing in the 9th USGA Four-Ball Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. P.J. would have been so proud.
Or maybe it’s the upcoming US Open at Pinehurst. It will be the third Open played at the famed #2 course. Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, P.J said you couldn’t hold an Open at Pinehurst because it was so remote no one would come. How wrong he was.


P.J. was from the Carolinas and was the Executive Director of the Carolinas Golf Association from 1955 to 1959 when he left to become the Assistant Executive Director of the USGA working under Joe Dey. When Joe left in 1969 to be the Czar of the newly formed PGA Tour, P.J. became the USGA Executive Director. He was a renowned authority on the Rules of Golf. Prior to moving into golf administration P.J. was a very accomplished player. He won three Carolina Opens and qualified for and made the cut in the 1950 US Open at Merion.
P.J. was one of my mentors when I worked at the USGA for five seasons from June 1977 to August 1981. I had played golf my whole life and had qualified for the US Amateur at Bel Air in 1976, but I knew very little about golf administration, rules and how to set up a course for tournament play. PJ, along with Frank Hannigan and Tom Meeks took me under their wings and showed me the ropes. I am forever grateful. Golf administration became my life’s work and I truly enjoyed it.
P.J. was a quiet, shy person often perceived as arrogant or aloof. But if you could get past that veneer he was a humble and deeply generous person. P.J. died way too yet age 63 but his legacy lives on especially in the value to golf of the USGA Boatwright Intern Program.