Anne McCarthy

From her days as a beginning player under the tutelage of noted professional instructors Bob Baldassari and the late Ross Coon, to her years developing as a player with future husband Joe at courses like Middleton and Sagamore Springs and through the Boston Amateur Golf Society (BAGS)Anne McCarthy made lasting friendships for the 15 years she was on the North Shore golf scene.

From that modest start in the game, McCarthy proceeded through the ranks as a teaching pro and successful merchandiser to where she finds herself in 2009 as director of licensing and merchandise for the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Not bad for a woman with “city” roots in Charlestown and Everett.

“You might call me a bit of a late bloomer for the golf business,” says McCarthy, who is in her third year working for LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens out of the Daytona Beach headquarters. “But once I got into the game with my husband and then on the business side, well, it’s been non-stop. And now I’ve got my dream job. The LPGA offers me everything I’ve ever wanted professionally.”

And more daily challenges than she could have imagined a year ago because of the global economic crisis. Yes, it is clearly affecting the world’s top golf tours, like the LPGA and the PGA. But in McCarthy’s case, selling a product with such a diverse and international roster of young star players, McCarthy has a terrific opportunity working with companies from around the world for gearing their LPGA-affiliated products to the consumer.

“We’re licensing with companies who wish to be identified with the LPGA ‘These Girls Rock’ Tour, our communications platform for the past several years,” McCarthy, 48, said. “We develop on-line components for our partners. We conduct test marketing. We work with our vendors; all great people looking to help their companies and help take the LPGA and its players to a new level of success and appeal to the golfing public.”

It has been a wonderful ride in the game for McCarthy, who served as a teaching professional for Jim Lane at Winchester in 2000 and 2001 and previously at Oakley and Framingham. She learned about the merchandising business in those pro shops, but she started a faster learning curve when she worked for tournament director Sean Sovacool as an intern during the 2001 United States Senior Open at Salem.

Soon thereafter McCarthy followed Sovacool to Birmingham, Alabama-based Bruno Event Team Marketing and became director of merchandise for U.S. Women’s Opens that Sovacool oversaw for Bruno at The Orchards, Cherry Hills and Newport. While with Bruno she met Mike Nichols, the LPGA’s vice president of tournament business affairs. She later learned of the job opening at the LPGA, applied, and was hired.

“The three months working at Salem were short term, but they gave me the exposure to understand the many facets of championship golf at the highest level, from club integration to operations to volunteers, and a little merchandising,” she explained. “It all boils down to good old fashioned customer service at every level.”

McCarthy focuses on licensing the LPGA brand, working with companies that wish to be identified with the best women golfers in the world. The process includes logo utilization to help these companies maximize their marketplace position through the LPGA brand.

Among the companies playing a major role with the LPGA in 2009 are Ashworth, Imperial Headwear, Cutter & Buck, and Danvers-based Tournament Solutions, led by John Lawrence and Pam Berube.

“For me it’s all about licensing the best corporate names and products to benefit the LPGA and those companies and products on the retail level,” McCarthy said. “The other part of my job is doing on-site merchandising at LPGA tournaments, including The Solheim Cup (the women’s pro golf’s version of the Ryder Cup).”

Bill Susetka, the LPGA chief marketing officer, calls McCarthy, “a valuable member of our staff. Her vast knowledge of the golf industry, her hands-on experience and supplier-based insights make her a key player in the development and broader implementation of all our merchandise initiatives.”