This story first appeared in the Spring 2025 edition of Northern Ohio Golfer Magazine, the official print publication of the Northern Ohio Golf Association. NOGA members who provide a mailing address in their GHIN account receive a copy mailed to their home twice per year. Not yet a NOGA member? JOIN NOW >
David Griffith is sitting in his office and is feeling uncomfortable.
The cause of the discomfort?
He is being asked to talk about himself.
If there is anything that makes David Griffith uncomfortable, it’s talking about David Griffith. Drawing attention to himself is not in the man’s DNA.
Griffith is in his sixth year as the Executive Director of the Northern Ohio Section of the PGA, his 25th year overall. The NOPGA is one of 41 such sections across the country, held in high regard. He is the face of the organization, its heart and soul.
Griffith, 52, steadfastly maintains that running a multimillion-dollar organization requires a comprehensive team effort.
He immediately redirects the conversation to his top-of-the-line staff – the handful of people he relies on daily. He also routinely commends the Section’s board of directors and marvels about the nearly 500 members and associates who make the NOPGA one of the most active and close-knit Sections in the country.
“I am so fortunate to have them,” Griffith said of Lynne Plaisance (Director of Operations), Danielle Monas (Foundation Director), Matt Rutland (Director of Competitions), Hayleigh Gray (Junior Golf Coordinator), Emily Jones (PGA Works Fellow). “We wouldn’t be able to do the things we do without each of them and their input. They’re all very passionate about what they do, and they are very dedicated people, true professionals.”
You can bet any discussion with Griffith will turn to the men who inspired/influenced him throughout his 40-year journey through a life in golf.
The list includes his father, Mike, a long-time and very popular Titleist sales rep; legendary Kent State coach Herb Page; former NOPGA Executive Director Dominic Antenucci – the man who kick-started the Section’s resurgence – and the late Joe Nageotte, the long-time tournament director. They are the foursome he follows every day. And there is no slow play in this job.
An accomplished player at Hudson High, Kent State, and as a high-profile amateur – he won the Ohio Mid-Am in 2013 and lost both the Cleveland Amateur and Summit County Amateur in playoffs – Griffith decided he wanted a career in golf at the age of 12.
“I knew early on that golf would be my life,” he said. “Somehow.”
So did others.
“David was destined to be in the golf business in one way or another,” said Page, who coached Griffith for four years. “He is the ultimate in resiliency and perseverance. He came into a very deep program, could have left any time, and played elsewhere. But worked hard and got into the lineup as a senior. He paid his dues and helped us win championships. He was the ultimate grinder.”
Like many adolescents, Griffith entertained boyhood dreams of reaching the PGA Tour. The dreams did not last long.
“I was good at the level I was playing at,” he explained. “But I realized that to play for a living, you had to be exceptional. And I wasn’t exceptional. I knew I didn’t have what was needed to play at that level.”
After graduating from KSU in 1996, he landed a job as an inside sales rep at the Acushnet Company’s West Coast operation in Carlsbad, California.
“For one reason or another, I didn’t like it,” he said. “I can’t give you specifics. I just knew I didn’t like it. I mean, weather-wise, I was in paradise and in the golf industry. But I was miserable and couldn’t wait to get home.”
Paradise lost in six months.
“I think he was homesick,” said his father. “He missed his friends and playing golf with his buddies. Heck, he had just graduated. He was a long way from home and alone. We all understood.”
What followed was a one-year stint working at Bob Barto‘s West Pines Driving Range and a two-year stay at Avon Oaks Country Club under head professional Judd Stephenson.
“I cannot begin to tell you how much I learned under both Bob and Judd,” Griffith said. “Immeasurable would be a good word.”
He also learned from his father.
“Not only did I learn the business side of golf, I learned how to build relationships,” he said. “My dad’s customer service was better than anyone I have ever seen. He worked his tail off, and he serviced people. He would always say, ‘If you can do it, you do it. If you can’t, you can’t. And you tell them that.’ He had a great ability to make everyone feel good and a great ability to build relationships. That was my dad.”
In the spring of 2000, Antenucci offered Griffith an entry-level job as the Section’s Assistant Tournament Director to work under fabled rules guru Nageotte. Already a fervent student of the Rules of Golf himself, Griffith jumped at the chance.
“Joe taught me everything about the rules of golf, how to communicate, and what it means to be a rules official,” he said. “I looked up to him. He was the smartest man I ever met.”
For the last 10 years, Griffith has been the rules official at the high school state tournament. He has served in events conducted by the Big 10, the Mid-American Conference, and the NCAA. He officiated in the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness and in Nationwide Tour events at Stonewater.
Griffith became the Section’s tournament director – a job he absolutely loves – and eventually was named to replace Antenucci as executive director upon his 2020 retirement. He agrees that following Antenucci was like being the guy who replaced Babe Ruth.
“I just didn’t want to screw it up,” he said. “Dominic and his wife, Eileen, had taken the Section to new levels and created a special culture that people are happy to be a part of. I learned so much from him about doing the right thing, treating people correctly, and creating relationships. We were so proud of what Dominic and Eileen accomplished, and I didn’t want to be the guy who screwed it up.”
He hasn’t. Griffith and his staff have expanded on what the Antenucci twosome had built.
Griffith’s personable demeanor and outgoing personality are not lost on his co-workers.
“David is an excellent relationship builder,” said Plaisance, whose 32 years with the Section makes her its longest-tenured employee, often referred to as Griffith’s ‘secret weapon” for her outstanding organizational skills. “He cares about people and everyone’s personal and professional growth. He is a great leader.”
Monas joined the Section as a PGA Works Fellow in 2020 and rose to the crucial position as director of the Foundation, the NOPGA’s charitable arm, in 2021. She is a vital cog in the NOPGA machine.
“David has been my biggest mentor,” said Monas, a former Mid-American Conference champion at the University of Akron. “He leads by example and always does the right thing. He is not afraid to do things himself. It’s not unusual to see him setting up tents, taking down tables, tee markers, and everything else at our events.”
Example: During one of the area’s recent overnight snowfalls, Monas arrived for work well before normal business hours. Griffith was already on site and shoveling the sidewalk outside the office.
“He’s usually the first one in and the last to leave,” said Monas.
Running a multimillion-dollar business such as the NOPGA is an incredibly demanding job.
“It’s not easy and it’s a 12-month-a-year job,” said former Lakewood Country Club Head Professional Tom Waitrovich, a member of the committee that approved Griffith as Antenucci’s heir apparent. “He is always available. An added positive is that he was a player and had been around. He realizes what our pros go through every day. He understands. He gets it.”
Griffith and his staff conduct 40 Section tournaments, including major events such as the Ohio Open, the Ohio Senior Open, the Mitchell-Haskell Tour Championship, the Denny Shute Match Play Championship, and the Section’s Professional, Senior, and Ladies Championships. Add a few Foundation events, 26 Junior Tour events, 13 Futures Tour events, and five collegiate events.
“I think when it’s all added, it’s close to 100 event days, and I think he was at every event,” said Monas.
Bringing sponsors on board, finding sites for Section events, negotiating contracts, commanding meetings, and making contacts. All decisions go through Griffith. The list of responsibilities is endless.
“There isn’t a part of it I don’t like,” Griffith said. “What’s the hardest part? Nothing. I love everything I do.”
When it comes to fund-raising and sponsorships, Griffith rarely misses a fairway.
“It’s no fun asking for money when you don’t believe in what you are selling,” he said. “But I believe in everything we do, and I believe what we do is worth everything we ever ask for.”
He does not hesitate when asked if he ever envisions himself in another job.
“No,” he says, smiling. “Never.”
Spoken like a man in true comfort. So long as he isn’t asked to talk about himself.
