From dictatorship to democracy.

The new US Ryder Cup set-up is now so open and all-embracing, don't be surprised if you - yes, you sitting there with a pot of tea reading this - get a phone call from the Task Force in the next few minutes asking for your input. In fact, there's your phone ringing right now.

Just over two years ago, the one man band that was Ted Bishop, the maverick past president of the PGA of America, did it his way and appointed Tom Watson as skipper. Watson then did it his way too with an autocratic reign that made Kim Jong-il look relatively flexible. Things have changed, of course. In this brave new dawn for Team America, which broke on Tuesday with the official unveiling of Davis Love III as captain for the 2016 match with Europe at Hazeltine, it seems just about everybody will get a say. Not necessarily my way, more his way and his way, oh and don't forget his way.

Laid back Phil Mickelson pitched up at the press conference in a black leather jacket and looked a bit like the Fonz while the grinning gathering in Florida talked about blueprints, fresh starts, continuity and a new culture. Happy Days indeed. They also stressed the importance of a Ryder Cup family which turned it into a schmaltzy golfing version of The Waltons. "The two greatest frustrations I've had is having zero input into the process and having zero continuity from year to year," said Mickelson, whose public mauling of Watson in the aftermath of last September's Ryder Cup at Gleneagles essentially set in motion the wheels of this major overhaul. "Both of those things the Ryder Cup task force has solved. We've never had input like this, from Ray Floyd to Rickie Fowler and everyone in between."

In this new American constitution, which is basically a re-hashing of what the Europeans have been doing for a while now, the US assistant captains will learn the ropes and be groomed to be skippers in the future. Past captains will be invited into the decision making while a newly created six-man committee will discuss and debate everything Ryder Cup related, from new captains to what kind of sauce they'll have on their Buffalo wings at supper time. The players, the most important cog in the machine, now have a big voice in the whole process instead of just being dictated to by the PGA of America. In addition to this, there is a tweak to the qualifying system with the first eight players on the points list being confirmed after the first FedEx Cup event, rather than at the conclusion of the 2016 US PGA Championship. The first three captain's picks will be named after the BMW Championship in September that year with the final wild card being named after the Tour Championship and just before the Ryder Cup itself. This should avoid the scenario that occurred in 2014 when Billy Horschel won the last two FedEx Cup events and was the in-form American player but couldn't make the team as it had already been finalised. By stretching it out until the last possible minute, Love will have the opportunity to pick a player that's on a hot streak.

Last September, the walloped US team trudged out of Gleneagles in disaccord and disarray. On Tuesday, Love and all those involved talked of harmony and unity. The players have now got what they wanted. If they lose another Ryder Cup next year, they'll only have themselves to blame this time.