Max Elbin
Max Elbin, born Carl Maxwell Elbin (1920–2008), was an American golf pro who served a three-year term as president of the PGA of America starting in 1965. He began as a teen caddie in Maryland and won his club’s Caddie Championship. In 1940 he became Lew Worsham’s assistant at Burning Tree Club, earning $19 a week, and worked winter jobs at Indian Creek Club for $25 a week. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II as a B-29 crew chief over New Guinea, the Philippines, and Tokyo. After the war, he took over as the Burning Tree pro at age 26 in a handshake deal when Worsham left for a pro career.
As Burning Tree’s pro, Elbin played golf with six presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and George H. W. Bush. In 1965 he became the 15th president of the PGA of America, at a time when touring pros formed the PGA Tour under leaders like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. The new arrangement split events, with the PGA Tour running the World Series of Golf and the PGA of America controlling the Ryder Cup, which grew into one of golf’s most popular events by Elbin’s death.
He died at 88 in Bethesda, Maryland, from heart failure, survived by his wife Mary and five children. His youngest son, William "Kelly" Elbin, later worked for the PGA of America as Director of Communications and Publications.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:35 (CET).