The Wizard Behind The Curtain

Mike Livingston has built upon the founders’ legacy and traditions and made one of the most respected golf retailers in America

BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR

His LinkedIn profile says he’s the ‘General Manager’, but Mike Livingston is not a big titles guy. He really doesn’t mind what position you credit him with or what comes after his name. But make no mistake, Livingston is the man in charge at Puetz Golf, and has been for 20 years.

After a nomadic childhood (his father was in the Marine Corps), Livingston settled in the Seattle area and attended Inglemoor High School, graduating in 1981. He immediately joined the Army and spent four years as a reconnaissance scout for the 25th Infantry Division in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Following his time in the military, Livingston went to work for Pro Golf Discount simultaneously earning an Associate degree from Bellevue College and playing on the golf team.

From there, he transferred to the University of Washington and left there with a Bachelor’s in Economics. During his time at Montlake, he also made the move from Pro Golf Discount to Puetz Golf, working at the company’s second store in Bellevue when not knee-deep in textbooks.

Things started ramping up from there. “In the fall of 1990, I was given the opportunity to open Puetz Golf’s third store — in Tacoma — and jumped on it,” Livingston remembers. “I stayed there from the fall of 1990 to the spring of ’95 when I had the game-changing opportunity to design, build, staff, stock and merchandise the fourth location in the Southcenter area.”

Three years later, David Puetz had seen enough. The son of Peter Puetz who had founded the company at its humble Aurora Avenue driving range in 1945 together with his brother Alvin, and who was now operating the business, summoned Livingston from Southcenter and installed him at company headquarters where he assisted with marketing and buying.

In late 2003 though, Puetz stepped down from the daily operation, and gave Livingston the responsibility of steering the company at a time when golf equipment was about ready to explode with innovation.

Livingston acknowledges the terrific impact David Puetz had on his career. “David was an absolute gem to work for,” he says. “He was the wizard behind the curtain — just got the job done quietly and efficiently.”

Livingston clearly learned a great deal from his boss, because in the 25 years he has been Puetz Golf’s general manager (or whatever you want to call him) he’s become something of a behind-the-scenes wizard himself.

And he’s seen a lot of changes in his time. “I remember starting in golf retail when woods were made of wood,” he says. “But when titanium took over and, though it certainly wasn’t the only factor, it helped revolutionize golf equipment. Golf gear got so much better very quickly and, though its rise wasn’t quite as lively, club fitting wasn’t very far behind. The level of fitting we can offer today with state-of-the-art launch monitors and a highly-skilled team is like night and day compared with where fitting was 20 years ago.”

How he does business has also evolved almost beyond recognition. “The internet and improvement in software has obviously changed the world and, consequently, how companies are run,” he says. “Today, I can keep track of everything incredibly close, and even remotely. I can access sales figures, inventory numbers, staff details, etc. from a desk at home, or on the road, and conduct meetings with vendors virtually.”

Outside of Puetz, golf retail has seen many significant developments this century and equipment sales have evolved. Hard goods have moved almost entirely out of pro shops (green grass accounts) and into big-box golf stores of which Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Superstore and Worldwide Golf Shops (made up of eight separate retail brands including Edwin Watts Golf, Roger Dunn Golf Shops and the Golfer’s Warehouse, with a total of over 80 stores in 20 states) are currently the leaders, and Livingston recognizes the stability they have brought to the industry.

“Their emergence has generally been a good thing for the golf consumer,” he says. “They’ve helped bring a large measure of cohesion to golf retail since the economic meltdown of 2008 through 2010.”

The stores Livingston mentions are certainly competitors, of course, but the Seattle market is dominated by two entirely local, independent companies — Puetz Golf and Pro Golf Discount with whom Livingston says he enjoys a healthy, respectful relationship with their principal leadership.

Retaining that dominance in the face of big-business is one of Livingston’s proudest accomplishments at Puetz, and has been achieved, he adds, partly by being a member of a powerful, 43-member buying group (National Golf Buyers Association,) partly because of his hard-working and passionate staff and partly because the western Washington golfer feels comfortable buying at Puetz.

“Our relationship with our customers is obviously very important,” he says, “and something we’ve always worked hard to foster. I think they appreciate the authentic, local vibe.”

The success of the Southcenter store which he opened 28 years ago has been another highlight of Livingston’s career but, despite these, and numerous other significant wins, he distills the reason for his longevity at Puetz into a few simple words. “I just think I’ve made more good decisions than bad,” he said.

While that’s certainly true, it could be a straightforward, more instinctive, visceral quality that has enabled Livingston to thrive — he loves it. Golf, business, and the golf business — he loves it all.

He does have interests outside the game, but Livingston would be the first to admit he is a golf person. “I met my wife on a golf course,” he says. “My best friends are all golfers. I love the people I work with and making deals with our vendors whom I regard as good friends. I love the golf industry and feel very fortunate to be a part of it.”

Livingston has obviously earned the perks that come with the job, and some of those perks are special for sure. He’s been invited to Oakmont, Oakland Hills, and numerous other historic courses. He’s been a patron at countless Masters and been a guest at Berckmans Place (mega-exclusive, club-owned hospitality building to the right of the 5th fairway at Augusta National). “And I’ve played with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Tony Finau and most notably Tiger Woods.”

The occasion was a Nike client day at Trump National in Palos Verdes, Calif., in the fall of 2006 where Woods had just come off five or six victories in a row. “That was pretty special,” says Livingston.

Most days aren’t like that, of course. A more typical day might see him settling in his office around 7 a.m. when he’ll begin working through an extensive ‘to do’ list that might include Zoom or in-person meetings with vendors, checking inventory, previewing new equipment, renewing store location leases, reviewing 401k plans, interviewing candidates for staff positions, and any number of smaller, but no less important, tasks to ensure the continued success of Seattle’s original golf retailer.

After all that and when he finally calls it a day, Livingston might prepare dinner for his wife and son, a competitive ski racer with whom he heads to Snoqualmie for practice three or four times a week. “I’m a bit of an amateur chef,” he says, “and there’s no greater pleasure than cooking and eating a good meal with my family.” In addition to being a true family man, he’s also a huge Seattle sports nut — a season-ticket holder of the Kraken, a Mariners apologist and die-hard Huskies fan.

If there are no games on and dinner’s over, however, he’ll sit down in front of the TV and turn on the Golf Channel. He might have been surrounded by the game and its people for nearly 40 years, and it might take up 90 percent of his waking hours, but he can’t get enough of the game. Because, at the end of the day, the only title Mike Livingston really cares about is ‘golfer’.