"People take the game too seriously"

John Paul Newport profiles Arnold Thiesfelt, a retired ad exec, who has a book out about the wild and crazy Time Inc. days when the expense account was more liberal and yes, the golf ball didn't go so far!

To hear Arnold Thiesfeldt tell it, golf has changed a lot in the last 50 years, and not much for the better. Courses are too difficult. The ball goes too far. Costs are out of hand. "People take the game too seriously," he said. "The camaraderie isn't what it used to be."

Even better are his stories about spending to help Time Inc. sell a few more ads...

As late as 1997, Sports Illustrated paid big money for 20 VIP seats for clients to travel on the Concorde to Spain with the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the matches at Valderrama.

Selling was more collaborative 40 years ago. The ad agencies had big staffs with which the magazine guys worked to develop plans and marketing gimmicks. Nowadays, companies use "more of a math equation," a former executive said. Changes in the tax code, tighter federal regulations on entertainment practices and the overall decline in print-ad sales have also had an effect.