As a native West Virginian with 16 years of experience working for the state’s golf association, few have a better understanding of West Virginia’s golf landscape than Brad Ullman.
Over the last 17 months, since Ullman accepted a position as tournament director for LIV Golf, he has had the luxury of integrating himself into golf on a worldwide basis.
“It’s great meeting so many people across the globe that have the same passion for the game of golf,” said Ullman, a 2002 graduate of Williamstown High School and alumnus of Fairmont State, where he was a member of the golf team. “To go to places like South Australia and meet those fans, but also see the local community that supports the sport so heavily, it’s really unique to see that sort of thing.”
Ullman followed a unique path to his current position, one that began with the West Virginia Golf Association (WVGA) in 2007 when he was selected a United States Golf Association (USGA) PJ Boatwright Intern under the guidance of then-WVGA Executive Director Ken Tackett.
Ullman worked his way up to the Association’s Director of Junior Golf, became Director of Operations in 2012 and eventually replaced Tackett as Executive Director in 2014 after Tackett became a rules official on the PGA Tour.
After nine years as WVGA Executive Director, Ullman received a call from another West Virginia native, Slugger White, which led to his current title.
A longtime PGA Tour rules official who retired from that position in August 2021, White soon after accepted a position as Vice President of Rules and Competition Management for LIV Golf, a league financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which would debut in June 2022.
“I was in a rules of golf workshop in Milwaukee and Slugger White called me and said Greg Norman had asked him to put together a rules committee for LIV Golf,” Ullman recalled. “He wanted to know if I would have any interest being involved with it. That was a great honor for me to be asked to be involved as part of the committee.”
Since January 2023, Ullman has worked closely with White, who hails from Beckley, and eight other rules officials to determine appropriate setups at LIV events, of which there were 14 last year and this season.
“I’m responsible for a lot of the course marking and course setup at the majority of venues as well as working with Slugger White and managing the rules of golf,” Ullman said.
Ullman and other rules officials have a lot to consider when determining a course setup and pin locations, though past experience with such matters is beneficial.
“It’s still golf and 18 holes. You want to setup a course extremely fair, but challenging, and a setup that warrants the best players in the world,” Ullman said. “The entertainment value has to be engaging whether it be a reachable par 4 or dramatic par 5. There really isn’t a whole lot of difference. You’re still setting up a golf course to be fair for the players competing, but now you’re dealing more with setting up yardages, maybe flipping the front nine and back nine or changing routing.”
Among the more major differences for Ullman is giving strong consideration to spectators on site and doing his part to enhance their experience.
“We try to bring the golf closer to the fans and fans closer to the golf with all the various structures,” he said. “You think more of the entertainment value and the importance that plays within the competition, but ultimately competition is king and you have to have a fair 18 holes to play in order to showcase the best players in the world.”
There’s also the matter of having to be the bearer of bad news, a role Ullman doesn’t often fill, but nonetheless one that has surfaced.
“Pace of play is a challenging thing across golf, and at LIV Golf, it’s a very strict pace of play that our rules committee is in charge of enforcing,” Ullman said. “To have those hard conversations with players that they’ve been in breach of that pace of play policy can be hard. But something has always stuck with me that Ken Tackett told me about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to have those uncomfortable conversation, but ultimately learning to be comfortable with having them.”
In 2023, six LIV events were held internationally — one in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Mexico.
The league has already returned to Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Singapore this season along with an event added in Hong Kong, and it will conduct its next two competitions in Spain and United Kingdom.
“Adelaide was pretty iconic. Hong Kong Golf Club is such an iconic venue in Southeast Asia and with the history that club has in pro golf and in that part of the world, it was really neat to be there. Being in Singapore at Sentosa Island and Sentosa Golf Club, it’s a 36-hole facility manicured to the best of any golf course I’ve ever seen. So many stories like that of places we’re fortunate to go and compete, but those stick out.”
When LIV Golf isn’t competing in consecutive weeks, which it has done three times this season and will do once more in September, Ullman is generally on site nine days before the opening round.
As the first of three rounds draws closer, Ullman and others work to finalize a plan, though it’s almost sure to be altered in some capacity.
“There’s a lot to cover. You have morning meetings with the agronomy team to cover anything that may have popped up overnight with how they roll and mow the greens,” Ullman said. “Double check hole locations as well as dot the following days hole locations and setting tees for appropriate yardage for the day. The wind is a very important thing we have discussions about in the morning based on how long or short a hole should play. That’s a normal Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, but ultimately, Friday is always exciting, because it’s time for golf to be played, which is good.”
Arriving early to events also allows Ullman a firsthand look at the preparation of some of the world’s most accomplished golfers.
“I’m very lucky and fortunate to be in that position. Those players are very hard workers and you go out on at Monday at 8 a.m. and they’re pounding range balls, working on putts, things that the media doesn’t necessarily see,” Ullman said. “Especially with all of their obligations off the course, it’s been amazing to see how much they care, and not only for their game, but for LIV Golf League and it’s future.”
For the second straight year, LIV Golf will return to The Greenbrier’s Old White Course in August (16-18) for what marks its next event in the United States.
Last season was the venue’s first time hosting major professional golf since 2019 after it had played host to a PGA Tour event nine times starting in 2010.
It was during that event the first weekend of August when Bryson DeChambeau carded consecutive weekend rounds of 61 and 58 to claim a six-shot victory, which he capped with the lowest round in LIV history. DeChambeau went on to win again the next month in Chicago, and this year, he’s finished in the top 10 in all three major championships, including second at the PGA Championship before recently winning the United States Open for a second time.
“I’m always looking forward to coming back to West Virginia and The Greenbrier,” said Ullman, who resides in Charleston but estimates he travels for work no less than 180 days a year. “I’ve worked worked closely with guys like Hill Herrick (golf professional at The Greenbrier) and Kelly Shumate (Director of Agronomy at The Greenbrier) and they’ve been integral parts of golf, especially at The Greenbrier for many years. To work with them through the Callaway Junior Tour, West Virginia Amateur Championship to now LIV Golf, it’s special and neat to catch back up with all the friends I haven’t seen in a while and that means a lot to me.
“Also to showcase the fact that West Virginia has the amount of golf and the amount of good golf that it has, I always like bragging on the state when I’m traveling and certainly when I’m there.”