Business Executives Drawn to Golf

A demographic study by the National Golf Foundation shows that 44 percent of all golfers who are heads of their household are in either professional management or administrative positions.

In comparison, 36 percent who are heads of their household are in blue-collar or clerical/sales positions. Only 12 percent of golfers who were heads of their household were retired.

The sport of golf appears to help golfers in business.

For Tyson Foods Inc. President and CEO John Tyson and University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, the love of golf certainly hasn’t slowed them down professionally.

In fact, a roll call of some of the area’s top golfers include some of Northwest Arkansas’ most successful businessmen: Dr. Luke Knox, a Fayetteville neurosurgeon; John David Lindsey, managing broker for Lindsey & Associates Inc.’s Rogers office; Jim Gabel, senior vice president of Lindsey & Associates; Rob Costner, fresh commodities sales manager for Tyson Foods; Greg Hays, owner of Ozark Cleaners; Gregg Ogden, president of Athletic World Advertising; Dr. Scott Bailey, a Fayetteville gynecologist; Diamond broker Danny White of Rogers; Dick McClelland, president of the Bank of Rogers; and Keith Harmon, a vice-president at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Fox hunting has for centuries been dubbed “the sport of kings,” but in Northwest Arkansas, leaders of the business world prefer golf.