Few people in the golf industry have enjoyed a career quite like Ed Gowan’s. Whether overseeing the explosive growth of a state association (Arizona), serving as a Rules official at some of golf’s most prestigious championships, to establishing initiatives and events that make the game better not just locally but globally, Gowan, 72, has seemingly done it all.

In November, Gowan formally announced his retirement, effective this month, from the Arizona Golf Association (AGA) after serving as its executive director for 36 years. When Gowan arrived, the AGA had a staff of two serving 120 clubs and 23,000 members. The AGA now employs 23 individuals who serve more than 600 clubs and 90,000 members.

Gowan brought the USGA’s Handicap and Course Rating Systems to Arizona and founded the Arizona Golf Foundation, the AGA’s charitable arm. He also is the co-founder of the Patriot All-America Invitational, a collegiate golf showcase that expanded in 2021 to include female players. This unique event, held every December at The Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Ariz., honors the U.S. military with each competitor carrying a golf bag that displays the name of a fallen hero.

Not bad for a kid who was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.

Gowan got his break in the game not long after receiving a one-year deferment from U.S. military service during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. His first gig was helping an amateur association publish a newsletter for 4,500 public course players, while also doing travel junkets to the Caribbean and assisting with running tournaments in northeast Ohio.

Gowan had grown up playing football and baseball until injuries led him to golf. He lowered his handicap from an 8 to a plus-4 in two years.

That inspired a passion for the Rules of Golf and a fulfilling career in golf administration, first with the LPGA Tour and then the AGA.

“The deferment meant I could be drafted at any time,” said Gowan, “so golf was providing a living while I waited for the draft, which never came. I’ve been blessed ever since. No one can plan a career, it’s just as Robert Frost said, ‘I took the path less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.’”

In 1977, the LPGA Tour, specifically legendary-player-turned-administrator Betsy Rawls, hired Gowan as a Rules official. Four years later, thanks to then-Commissioner Ray Volpe, Gowan became responsible for all Tour operations under John Laupheimer, the new commissioner and former USGA executive director for administration. Gowan quickly became one of the top officials in the game, and his expertise led to the USGA asking him to serve on its Rules of Golf Committee. He joined the effort under chairman Bill Williams to rewrite the code – along with The R&A – for the 1984 edition of the Rules of Golf.

Over time, that led to Gowan working at 130 USGA championships, including 35 U.S. Opens.

“I was [always] rules-conscious playing football and baseball in high school,” said Gowan. “When I started playing tournaments following college, a few mistakes led me to want to learn [them], and then working with a golf association, it was my job to know. The real incentive came from Betsy Rawls, whose knowledge of the history behind the Rules was exceptional. Working under Betsy for four years and coming to know P.J. Boatwright and Joe Dey gave me mentors nobody could possibly match.”

Boatwright, who was considered the foremost Rules expert in the world and succeeded Dey as the USGA’s executive director, gave Gowan his first U.S. Open assignment in 1981 at Merion Golf Club. When an official failed to show up, Gowan took responsibility for the par-3 17th hole on Saturday and Sunday, leading to a long tenure on the Rules of Golf Committee.

“I got to walk with [Seve] Ballesteros and [Rocco] Mediate in the last round at Pebble Beach in 1992 with the howling winds, watching Seve play one miracle shot after another to Mediate’s amazement,” said Gowan. “The first Shinnecock [U.S.] Open [in 1986] and then working each year with committee members, now all longtime friends, it has been a special life experience.”

In 1985, the Arizona Golf Association, one of 59 Allied Golf Associations that partner with the USGA, was searching for its next executive director. By then, Gowan had already overseen operations of more than 30 tournaments for the LPGA Tour, including events in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ireland and England. In fact, Gowan helped launch the British and Irish Women’s Opens, assisted in bringing Rules, Handicapping and Course Rating to places such as Chinese Taipei and Peru, and helped design or renovate more than 20 courses. He was even invited to become a member of The R&A.

With the blessing of his AGA board, Gowan has found time to give back outside of his association duties. He twice served as president of the International Association of Golf Administrators, and was a member of the USGA’s Regional Affairs and Rules of Golf committees.  

“Much of what I have done outside of Arizona came from seeing opportunity and acting,” said Gowan. “I love exploring the possible. Once one has a reputation for thinking outside the box, opportunities abound. The word no is not in my vocabulary. Nor will it be in the future.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.