Televised Professional Golf......no longer relevant?

[MelloYello]

When I got into golf as a college student in 2009, golf on TV was really cool. It was undoubtedly exciting and was definitely a factor driving my interest in the game.

 

Back then, Tiger was in his prime (we thought) and we were only beginning to see people like Rory McIlroy and Jason Day arrive on a scene that featured Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott as major contenders. Fast forward to 2022 and I can't tell you the last (men's) tournament I watched. And it's not just apathy. I've honestly grown to dislike a lot of men's professional golf. And this is far from uncommon. 

 

I ask golfers today if they watch and they respond, "No, but I still tune in for the majors." In time, I think this will evolve into, "I still tune in for Sunday's final round....if there's a big name at the top."

 

I ask golfers today who they pull for and they tell me, "I don't really have a favorite" or "I just root against X because he's a tool."

 

I ask golfers today if the power element so entrenched in the modern game is good and most say they no longer get a thrill from it since it's so common. 

 

I ask people what they dislike and they collectively say, "the money." And while I don't know this for a fact, it does feel like there's a massive wealth inequality problem where the players at the tippy top get all the money. 

 

I ask people about LIV and like me, most haven't even bothered to watch a single event.

 

In short, everyone's thinking the same thing and we all seem to agree pro golf sort of sucks now. And the fact the house of cards so quickly fell apart overnight with LIV just shows how sponsors contributing to "record purses" don't actually mean you're okay. Things can still pop unexpectedly and the whole operation can grind to a halt overnight. 

 

Want a prediction? Here's what we all think >> eventually the LIV tour will collapse due to lack of interest and funding being cut off by the Saudi's and the players who are young enough or for whatever reason against retirement will rejoin the PGA and attempt to rebrand in some big event nobody will care much about. 

 

So I guess, my question is about the future of golf for us and what the lack of pro tours means when we get to say, 2050. Where are we heading? I can't imagine whether or not I'd have stuck with golf had the professional game not been around in 2010. So is this evolution or a market crash? Maybe this is how it ends, LOL?

 

Most golf content seems to be non-Professional these days. YouTube is where most golf fans seem to lurk. That's where podcasters, vloggers, instructors, and equipment shlomps live. Nobody really cares much about the Professionals anymore and it seems most are actually secretly pulling for the whole thing to collapse as the money seems dirty and the idea of a 20-something getting rich with endorsements and retiring in Florida seems....let's just say "uninspiring" to the fans at home. 

 

So as a "General" question, where are we going? 

 

To be clear, this isn't a question about pro golf in 2050. This is a question about what the collapse of pro golf's popularity means for the rest of us and the game in general. 

 

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Edited November 27, 2022 by MelloYello

[North Butte]

I never watched a bit of golf until I'd been playing a while. And even once I started I'm not sure I ever watched nearly as much as most of the guys I play golf with. It was more of something to watch on rainy days when I couldn't play or to have running in the background while I messed about in the house. 

 

But over the past decade or so, as the coverage has gotten lamer and lamer and the interminable "routines" and general silliness of the players has just gone off the charts I've totally lost what little interest I had.

 

So if there's some sort of collapse in popularity happening, I'm not surprised. My only question is why it took this long. I personally just don't feel any connection between golf, the game I play, and Golf the televised so-called sport. 

[MelloYello]

1 minute ago, North Butte said:

I never watched a bit of golf until I'd been playing a while. And even once I started I'm not sure I ever watched nearly as much as most of the guys I play golf with. It was more of something to watch on rainy days when I couldn't play or to have running in the background while I messed about in the house. 

 

But over the past decade or so, as the coverage has gotten lamer and lamer and the interminable "routines" and general silliness of the players has just gone off the charts I've totally lost what little interest I had.

 

So if there's some sort of collapse in popularity happening, I'm not surprised. My only question is why it took this long. I personally just don't feel any connection between golf, the game I play, and Golf the televised so-called sport. 

 

This seems to be the general refrain I here from everyone. 

 

So I guess it might be just as practical to ask...how does pro golf still exist and what will it's trajectory be in another couple decades? What benefit are the sponsors getting from it if nobody is actually paying any attention? 

[chisag]

... Professional golf has slowly become a game I no longer identify with. Tiger came along and hit it farther and was in better shape than anyone else and was very exciting to watch. Fast forward and everyone is in great shape, has instructors, started at age 2 and hit it over 300yds and bunkers at 280 are just aiming points. Towering irons from 230 or longer into par 5's. I just have little interest in watching someone hit it 330 into light rough and hit a 9 iron 165 unto a green and stop it after a hop or two. 

... I do watch the women every tournament and I can identify with the average LPGA players game if not the Korda's and Tavatanakit's. They hit more interesting shots than the men instead of just bomb and gouge. I do watch every round of a Major and the Ryder/Prez Cups and some of the exhibitions. But the average PGA Tour event just doesn't interest me anymore. 

[North Butte]

22 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

This seems to be the general refrain I here from everyone. 

 

So I guess it might be just as practical to ask...how does pro golf still exist and what will it's trajectory be in another couple decades? What benefit are the sponsors getting from it if nobody is actually paying any attention? 

No idea. The people I know who watch a LOT of televised golf probably average older than me (and I'm in my 60's). But then again, I don't talk about golf with a heck of a lot of 30-50 year olds so maybe they watch too.

 

I will say when I finish a round and eat lunch in the snack bar, if there's golf on TV and a couple groups of 30-sometimes come in they will ask for it to be changed to a football or basketball or baseball game instead. The older guys are happy to leave it on the golf. 

 

P.S. One other thing I've noticed. If there's any Premier League football (soccer) being broadcast the younger assistant pros who work in the pro shop will be watching it instead of golf on the pro shop TV every single time. So they may have a generational issue with golf if these dudes prefer European soccer to the European Tour. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by North Butte

[Albatross Dreamer]

4 minutes ago, chisag said:

... Professional golf has slowly become a game I no longer identify with. Tiger came along and hit it farther and was in better shape than anyone else and was very exciting to watch. Fast forward and everyone is in great shape, has instructors, started at age 2 and hit it over 300yds and bunkers at 280 are just aiming points. Towering irons from 230 or longer into par 5's. I just have little interest in watching someone hit it 330 into light rough and hit a 9 iron 165 unto a green and stop it after a hop or two. 

... I do watch the women every tournament and I can identify with the average LPGA players game if not the Korda's and Tavatanakit's. They hit more interesting shots than the men instead of just bomb and gouge. I do watch every round of a Major and the Ryder/Prez Cups and some of the exhibitions. But the average PGA Tour event just doesn't interest me anymore. 

I agree with this. Only watched a few PGA events today and to me it wasn't anything noteworthy. I don't mind players crushing the ball, but the skill level requirements could be made higher.  Players should be punished for hitting a shot offline. Make the rough harder, the bunkers harder, etc. Obviously there's limits to how much they can manipulate a course assuming "regular golfers" play it, but most courses right now don't give me a reason to watch pros play them.

[ram01002]

Driver/wedge into every hole on soft TPC courses is extremely boring to me. Next year and every year l watch the Masters, US Open, British Open, and ignore it otherwise. 

[cgasucks]

For me, I only watch the US Open and The Masters.   

 

[MelloYello]

18 minutes ago, chisag said:

... Professional golf has slowly become a game I no longer identify with. Tiger came along and hit it farther and was in better shape than anyone else and was very exciting to watch. Fast forward and everyone is in great shape, has instructors, started at age 2 and hit it over 300yds and bunkers at 280 are just aiming points. Towering irons from 230 or longer into par 5's. I just have little interest in watching someone hit it 330 into light rough and hit a 9 iron 165 unto a green and stop it after a hop or two. 

... I do watch the women every tournament and I can identify with the average LPGA players game if not the Korda's and Tavatanakit's. They hit more interesting shots than the men instead of just bomb and gouge. I do watch every round of a Major and the Ryder/Prez Cups and some of the exhibitions. But the average PGA Tour event just doesn't interest me anymore. 

 

Yeah, the game was vulnerable. The jocks came for it and the PGA embraced it.

 

Looks like a mistake in the long run. 

 

 

[PEI_Golfer]

17 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

Yeah, the game was vulnerable. The jocks came for it and the PGA embraced it.

 

Looks like a mistake in the long run. 

 

 

...   Maybe the fact that watching golf on TV was never that entertaining to begin with...

 

Has absolutely nothing to do with golf attracting better athletes from pursuing other sports... 

 

For me, Masters Sunday was ALWAYS a great time, to be on the course because it was usually empty!  I can remember playing 18 in a cart in under 2 hrs and still making it home at a reasonable time...

Edited November 28, 2022 by PEI_Golfer

[Steele47]

Yeap.  They've become just a bunch of exhibitionists.

[Nard_S]

''Driver / wedge'' golf bores me to death.

 

The ball flies too straight. 

The tee shots ARE too long. 

The ''art'' of ball striking and maneuvering ball flight died decades ago. Tiger is last of that belief system and breed. He's not there, so golf is not there for me.

The majors still kind of get it. The Masters knows where it is going but for most part Pro Golf is walking dead.

[MelloYello]

41 minutes ago, PEI_Golfer said:

...   Maybe the fact that watching golf on TV was never that entertaining to begin with...

 

Has absolutely nothing to do with golf attracting better athletes from pursuing other sports... 

 

For me, Masters Sunday was ALWAYS a great time, to be on the course because it was usually empty!  I can remember playing 18 in a cart in under 2 hrs and still making it home at a reasonable time...

 

Haha, okay, touché. 

 

 

But there was definitely a time 10-years ago when I would consider access to golf elites by way of magazines, interviews, clinics, lessons, etc. to be cherished content. These days, my apathy for those at the top seems almost personal. That's what seems so striking. 

 

Why was it that Tiger and Rory came off as likable in a way that nobody today seems to be? Why is coverage today so off-putting? 

[MelloYello]

40 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

''Driver / wedge'' golf bores me to death.

 

The ball flies too straight. 

The tee shots ARE too long. 

The ''art'' of ball striking and maneuvering ball flight died decades ago. Tiger is last of that belief system and breed. He's not there, so golf is not there for me.

The majors still kind of get it. The Masters knows where it is going but for most part Pro Golf is walking dead.

 

I too find myself wanting to say this but I think it's more reactionary than it is true.

 

I think the reality is simply that today's golfers are just physically superior as a group to all but the most powerful players in past eras. Look at how far today's players can hit balatas and persimmons. It's not the technology that is propping them up. They really are that strong/fast. 

 

The game has changed because it was vulnerable to attack from jocks. Tiger made that popular to the point that modern golfers are expected to be physically gifted in some way, shape or form. 

 

The problem seems to be that the modern game embraces that as a feature, rather than a bug, choosing to make courses longer, rather than tougher. Course ratings also lean heavily on length as a key driver in course difficulty, thus building youth & power into the game's structural identity.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by MelloYello

[jordan2240]

I'm 62.  I tend to watch most on Sunday when the winner will be determined, though I'll usually watch a little of the other days - and that's regardless of what tour I'm watching.  The tournaments I enjoy most are the ones with a good number of top players in the lineup or that have some notable hole like the waste management open.

 

So for me, I watch pretty much like I always did.  And let's remember, bowling is still on tv.

Edited November 28, 2022 by jordan2240

[bekgolf]

57 yo here.

 

I like watching golf on tv.  The thing is that in order to appreciate it a person has to be invested in it.  By invested I mean time.  The truly great shots happen in real time but they don't happen all the time.

 

Golf on tv isn't for the short attention span crowd, it never has been.

[MelloYello]

Here's the other side of the argument....I don't watch an ounce of Champion's Tour. Never have. Never will. Couldn't care less about a bunch of retirement-age guys who want to try and notch some relevancy now that the competition level has suddenly fallen off a cliff. So if it were purely about distance being offense, I guess I'd be watching Champion's Tour. But I'm not. 

 

[MelloYello]

3 minutes ago, bekgolf said:

57 yo here.

 

I like watching golf on tv.  The thing is that in order to appreciate it a person has to be invested in it.  By invested I mean time.  The truly great shots happen in real time but they don't happen all the time.

 

Golf on tv isn't for the short attention span crowd, it never has been.

 

I don't know about attention span. I think it really is a particular feature of the men's game. 

 

Like many here, I watch a crap ton of the LPGA, essentially every event. So it's not an issue with attention. I really do feel the men's game has somehow fallen into being sort of unappealing with some being apathetic and some outright disliking it for some particular reason. 

[Albatross Dreamer]

44 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

''Driver / wedge'' golf bores me to death.

 

The ball flies too straight. 

The tee shots ARE too long. 

The ''art'' of ball striking and maneuvering ball flight died decades ago. Tiger is last of that belief system and breed. He's not there, so golf is not there for me.

The majors still kind of get it. The Masters knows where it is going but for most part Pro Golf is walking dead.

I don't think those things have to be mutually exclusive right? Meaning, if they were to narrow the fairways, lengthen the rough, toughen the bunkers, etc or some combo wouldn't that bring back the need for ball striking skills and course management?

 

Considering the average WRX'er carries 350 I'd expect the pros to have longer tee shots then that. It's similar to the NBA for me though for people that follow it. They've loosened the rules to favor offense too much so that now watching it isn't really basketball anymore. Same could apply to PGA in some ways IMO.

[Nard_S]

3 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

I too find myself wanting to say this but I think it's more reactionary than it is true.

 

I think the reality is simply that today's golfers are just physically superior as a group to all but the most powerful players in past eras. Look at how far today's player can hit balatas and persimmons. It's not the technology that is propping them up. They really are that strong/fast. 

 

 

They are better, they have better short games too. That's how it should be. All athletes are better than 25 years ago. Truth, they fold like paper in windy conditions, they lack nuance in a way that most had back in day.  The tech, the setup has concentrated their talent & attention to ball speed and launch angle. It's made the game too 2-dimensionalal. There are no new Tiger's and it has zero to do with wins. It's how he plays and how they don't. It's because of the baseline gear that is now used and nothing else. They are good but we only get the hyped up, dumbed down version of how good they are. It's patronizing all the way around. The game is committing suicide all to sell next year's driver.

[2bGood]

This is an interesting link to check out tracking the ratings for the final days of all the Majors go back as far as they can. If you graph these numbers you don't see a steady decline, but you do see TIGER spikes all over the place and overall viewership getting lower.

 

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/major-golf-ratings-historical-masters-us-open-british-pga-championship-tiger-woods/

Edited November 28, 2022 by 2bGood

[bekgolf]

3 minutes ago, Albatross Dreamer said:

I don't think those things have to be mutually exclusive right? Meaning, if they were to narrow the fairways, lengthen the rough, toughen the bunkers, etc or some combo wouldn't that bring back the need for ball striking skills and course management?

 

Considering the average WRX'er carries 350 I'd expect the pros to have longer tee shots then that. It's similar to the NBA for me though for people that follow it. They've loosened the rules to favor offense too much so that now watching it isn't really basketball anymore. Same could apply to PGA in some ways IMO.

 

I'd love to see a PGA Tour event at Sahalee.  I don't think it will happen again but I can hope.  Only precision ball striking would be rewarded, everything else would be punished.

 

5 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

I don't know about attention span. I think it really is a particular feature of the men's game. 

 

Like many here, I watch a crap ton of the LPGA, essentially every event. So it's not an issue with attention. I really do feel the men's game has somehow fallen into being sort of unappealing with some being apathetic and some outright disliking it for some particular reason. 

 

I watch it all with the exception of the Champions Tour.  From time to time I'll watch it but they don't seem to have the fire in their belly anymore.  LPGA is good golf.

[Nard_S]

6 minutes ago, Albatross Dreamer said:

I don't think those things have to be mutually exclusive right? Meaning, if they were to narrow the fairways, lengthen the rough, toughen the bunkers, etc or some combo wouldn't that bring back the need for ball striking skills and course management?

That has not worked because you get Bryson at the 2020 US Open. You get a guy who muscles out of rough and wins by being strong enough to hold club face in deep rough. Rest of field look pedantic. The wind & taming of ball spin has been neutralized too much at the Pro level. It's not nostalgia to say so either. It's fact. Good for me on Sunday round, bad for me as a spectator watching a Sunday final. 

[rd1959]

I'm 63 so I had the honor of watching guys like Miller Barber, Calvin Peete, Nicklaus. Palmer, Trevino, Watson, Norman, Seve, the list goes on and on.
 When Tiger and all the heavy hitters started rolling in, IMO, it started being like watching watching the same swing over and over again. It got very boring to watch.

[klebs01]

The few good courses like Riv are still interesting to watch. The repetitive TPC courses need to be binned. Those asking for narrower fairways are wrong, that just makes distance more important. 
 

the format needs to change. The PGAt product is stale. Liv has a much better format for stroke play with a condensed viewing window and all big names on course at the same time. 
 

I don’t find the LPGA more interesting and rarely watch. 

[Hickory4ever]

Other than the Masters, the Open Championship, and the US Open, I rarely watch men’s golf. I do like watching the LPGA on occasion because the game more resembles what the game most of us play.

 

For me, I love to play golf and that love of the game is not dependent on the professional game. I find most players to be boring and not as entertaining as they used to be now that the jocks have taken over and the game seems to have got slower. 

[ThinkingPlus]

I pretty much watch all of it nearly every week.  PGAT, DP World Tour, and LPGA.  Sometimes watch the old guys.  Watched the LET final event this week.  It's all good in different ways.

[SteelieD]

It’s all become too homogeneous. A whole lot of really good golfers playing bomb and gouge. Driver/9 iron to a par five? Impressive but boring. The money has taken all the personalities away.
 

Too much sponsor money at risk for these guys to have anything but a plain vanilla personality. I’m sure they’re a bunch of nice guys but not a single one of ‘em gets me juiced enough to tune in. Cantlay? Scheffler? 🥱 

 

I love golf and I’ll watch the majors but regular tournaments? Not unless there’s nothing else to do. 
 

As has been said, I actually enjoy watching the LPGA. They still hit it longer than me but at least the distances are relatable. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by SteelieD

[lookylookitzadam]

These days i’ll only watch PGA tour for majors and courses I have played. Even then it’s typically only Sunday now. 
 

The commentators are boring and just regurgitate “back in my day” anecdotes and always seem to talk over the only interesting bits like player/caddy discussions. 

 

LPGA is definitely much more enjoyable to watch but I don’t know enough about the players or their courses to really get into it. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by lookylookitzadam

[Brooks_Cupcake]

2 hours ago, ram01002 said:

Driver/wedge into every hole on soft TPC courses is extremely boring to me. Next year and every year l watch the Masters, US Open, British Open, and ignore it otherwise. 

This👆👆👆

I much prefer watching the women’s game these days, and am tired of the LIV vs PGA debate led by a bunch of rich, pompous nobodies that don’t affect my life either way.

Im out on the tour unless Rory is in the field and Charlie Woods 😉