Ruling on the rules no more: Slugger White retires in Memphis after 40-year career

After a remarkable 40-year run with the PGA Tour, Carlton White II – you know him best as Slugger – is hanging up his Panama hat after this week’s WGC-St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.

White, 71, became one of the most recognizable rules officials in golf, his bushy mustache and distinctive headwear garnering TV time to discuss a suspension of play, to officiate a sudden-death playoff or to break the bad news to a player to add two strokes for a rules violation – or worse, a disqualification. But like the best referees in football and basketball and umpires in baseball, White never wanted to be part of the story.

“That’s huge in our game,” he said. “We don’t want to be in the middle of it.”

White closed the rule book on a career that has seen him handle situations big and small while traveling the world and having a front-row seat to golf history. White grew up learning the game at Black Knight Country Club in Beckley, West Virginia. He still recalls teenage trips to The Greenbrier Resort to compete in the state amateur championship.

“It was like coming to Emerald City,” he said.

In 1971, fresh out of Ohio University, White drove to Pinehurst looking for a job, but he wouldn’t be there long. His dad was playing in the pro-am of the Indian River Open, a Florida mini-tour event in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, which was run by an old family friend. When the pro learned that Slugger was seeking work, he called him and said he needed some help.

“When do you need somebody?” Slugger recalled asking. “He said, ‘Yesterday.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ll be there tomorrow.’ ”

Slugger packed up his car and began working as a teaching pro, giving lessons at the municipal course, and playing the Florida mini-tours during his downtime. But his real dream was to play the PGA Tour and he was good enough to win the 1975 Met Open and play in 73 PGA Tour events between 1975 to 1981. When White finished fourth at the 1977 Texas Open, his best career finish, it helped lock up his card for another year, or as his fellow Tour pro pal Andy North joked, “You just assured yourself another year of misery.”

With career earnings of $32,279, White determined it was time to find another line of work to make a living. He was a finalist for a handful of club pro jobs in the northeast, but every time he was the bridesmaid.

“I look back and think, you know what, they really did me a favor,” he said.

It just so happened that then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, a former player in his own right, was seeking former players to work in tournament operations. Longtime rules official Mike Shea called White to see if he would be interested.

“It kind of fell in my lap,” White said.

Clyde Mangum, a former Tour deputy commissioner, invited him to meet at the Tour’s headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. They chatted for no more than 15 minutes before sending him in to meet with Beman. Afterwards, Mangum told him the job was his if he wanted it.

“I was hired right on the spot,” said White, who joined the Tour on Jan. 1, 1982.

White was promoted to tournament director in 1999, and to vice president of rules and competition in 2007. He applied the Rule book by the letter of the law. Late last year, both he and his longtime colleague Mark Russell announced plans to retire before the end of the 2020-21 season. White worked at some of his favorite events this season before turning off his walkie talkie once last time in Memphis.

Along the way, Jack Nicklaus gave him wine glasses as a retirement present during a dinner at the Memorial in June. At the Charles Schwab Challenge in May, he was given a replica of the Ben Hogan trophy with a plaque and the players, led by Ryan Palmer, gave him a pair of cowboy boots. He’ll miss the friendships he’s made, especially with his colleagues, many of whom he hired. As for the 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls and the long hours – he once logged 92 hours working The International – not so much.

He’s already started doing volunteer work at a food bank twice a week in his hometown of Ormond Beach, Florida, and plans to fish for bass, enjoy time with his granddaughter (wife Shelley is sister to former Tour winner Ken Green) and learn to play piano.

“I haven’t had it tuned in 30 years,” White said with a laugh. “My dad’s sister taught piano for 50 years and I never sat down with her for a lesson. I’m kicking myself. But I’m going to make up for lost time.”