Is the PGA Tour at a loss or at a crossroad?

[naval2006]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-tour-slump-west-coast-swing-2024

 

According to this  Golf Digest article the PGA Tour isn’t having the best of time. 
 

Personally, I haven’t watched golf on tv for a while. Last Sunday I saw Hideki’s closing holes and I thought his shots were the only thing worth showing. I found the broadcast dull, a few players were shown and mostly there’s a general lack of color. Perhaps it’s me, but I didn’t find any motivation to keep watching and have a good time with a beer, some comments with my son and Hideki at the prize ceremony. 
 

Several colorful stars are gone, players try to be politically correct all the time, no juicy postgame interviews. The hottest news during the west swing was the drunk rowdy crowds at the WM. 
 

I may sound as disappointed as the Golf Digest article so it’d be good to pop in and exchange opinions. 

[Golfinfloridaafter40]

26 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-tour-slump-west-coast-swing-2024

 

According to this  Golf Digest article the PGA Tour isn’t having the best of time. 
 

Personally, I haven’t watched golf on tv for a while. Last Sunday I saw Hideki’s closing holes and I thought his shots were the only thing worth showing. I found the broadcast dull, a few players were shown and mostly there’s a general lack of color. Perhaps it’s me, but I didn’t find any motivation to keep watching and have a good time with a beer, some comments with my son and Hideki at the prize ceremony. 
 

Several colorful stars are gone, players try to be politically correct all the time, no juicy postgame interviews. The hottest news during the west swing was the drunk rowdy crowds at the WM. 
 

I may sound as disappointed as the Golf Digest article so it’d be good to pop in and exchange opinions. 

The PGA viewership has been going down every year, but many people on here want to ignore this as if it isn't happening.  Are there exceptions?  ABSOLUTELY!  The Majors, a handful of bigger events, etc but all in all, the model isn't gaining new viewers and is losing viewers. There are simply too many tournaments for the best 25 or so players in the world to play them all and now that several of the biggest draws are gone, it will only get worse.  Is the answer LIV?  Maybe, maybe not, but I think LIV management understands what the PGA Tour Management is missing.  Meaning that something has to change to make golf more exciting and to bring in more world wide viewers.  I do not know what the answer is personally but I am glad someone is trying to do something about it because golf was my first love and nothing has changed all these years later.

 

BTW We aren't aloud here to state too many facts about LIV or the PGA Tour or we get attacked by the woke PGA only mob, and/or get our posts censored.  I hope the merger happens so we can find our way back to everyone playing in the 10 or so events I love watching, but that is just me.  In the end, I think Golf will benefit from this transition and so will the fans, in the meantime we just have to ignore the cry babies

[bcjim]

Ridiculous hit piece.  Reeks of thinly veiled liv propaganda. 

 

It's basically the opposite of reality. 

 

 

[bladehunter]

I’d say the tour is in the best place it’s been since 2017 or so.  Early retirement has brought up a whole new crop of stars.  

[GolfinDave]

I’ve actually watched more golf this year (PGA). The signature events have been great to see such a stacked field. I think it’ll only get better as we head toward the majors. I can’t remember watching much golf on the west coast swing before. I even added ESPN+ for the first time. 

[jaffabell]

I for sure miss some of the big names competing against eachother at these signature events. This last swing really highlighted how much Rahm, Smith, Brooks etc are missed at the regular tour events. Its great to see more of the up and coming stars but the top talent was missed. I just want to see them all play against eachother more than 4 times a year, its sad.

[Llortamaisey]

21 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

I’d say the tour is in the best place it’s been since 2017 or so.  Early retirement has brought up a whole new crop of stars.  

You’re absolutely right. It seems the problem is that the sponsors want the Tigers (obviously), the Rickie Fowlers, the Dustin Johnsons, the Brooks Keopkas, the Jordan Spieths, the JTs, et cetera. The sponsors don’t want to young up and comers that will be superstars soon. It feels like the Tour will have problems with sponsors because of this. 
 

And the Tour does a terrible job of promoting young talent or educating the sponsors on why they should want the new crop of stars. I guess it takes actual work to do that and that’s just too difficult. It feels like this great young talent that you mentioned is just going to be wasted. What a shame. 

[Golfinfloridaafter40]

7 minutes ago, Llortamaisey said:

You’re absolutely right. It seems the problem is that the sponsors want the Tigers (obviously), the Rickie Fowlers, the Dustin Johnsons, the Brooks Keopkas, the Jordan Spieths, the JTs, et cetera. The sponsors don’t want to young up and comers that will be superstars soon. It feels like the Tour will have problems with sponsors because of this. 
 

And the Tour does a terrible job of promoting young talent or educating the sponsors on why they should want the new crop of stars. I guess it takes actual work to do that and that’s just too difficult. It feels like this great young talent that you mentioned is just going to be wasted. What a shame. 

From what I have read, last year, this year, and for the foreseeable future there are TONS of great young players coming in.  I hope this is true, because some of the current best on the PGA Tour seem to be quite comfortable and have lost their hunger. We need the young pups to drive them

[dmecca2]

1 hour ago, Golfinfloridaafter40 said:

The PGA viewership has been going down every year, but many people on here want to ignore this as if it isn't happening.  Are there exceptions?  ABSOLUTELY!  The Majors, a handful of bigger events, etc but all in all, the model isn't gaining new viewers and is losing viewers. There are simply too many tournaments for the best 25 or so players in the world to play them all and now that several of the biggest draws are gone, it will only get worse.  Is the answer LIV?  Maybe, maybe not, but I think LIV management understands what the PGA Tour Management is missing.  Meaning that something has to change to make golf more exciting and to bring in more world wide viewers.  I do not know what the answer is personally but I am glad someone is trying to do something about it because golf was my first love and nothing has changed all these years later.

 

BTW We aren't aloud here to state too many facts about LIV or the PGA Tour or we get attacked by the woke PGA only mob, and/or get our posts censored.  I hope the merger happens so we can find our way back to everyone playing in the 10 or so events I love watching, but that is just me.  In the end, I think Golf will benefit from this transition and so will the fans, in the meantime we just have to ignore the cry babies

I would argue that the catalyst to this lull we are in now is, in fact, liv golf. They've taken the villains out of the tour and made it just a little more dull to watch, even though the TV product is better than ever, the schedule and courses are better than ever, the top (ranked) players play against each other more often, and the players are playing better on tougher setups.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Judging by attendance numbers at pga tour events the tour is doing better than ever!

 

The main issue with the tour is the broadcast and the number of commercials. Why so many commercials? Well in part because they need to fund ridiculous sums of money for players so they can semi-compete with an irrational, unrealistic economic actor that's employed an unsustainable business model. 

 

It's stunning how some of you don't understand. 

Edited February 20 by BlackDiamondPar5

[IndyArcher]

I personally think there is a major change that has to take place. The Tiger Woods days are over as much as I hate to admit it. The viewing format for the PFA on TV absolutely STINKS! Nothing is more frustrating to me than to be watching a broadcast and right in the middle of coverage being told that I have to go to another service to finish watching! Imagine watching the Indy 500 and ar lap 300 seeing a message telling you to go to another network to see the rest of the race! 
 

Heck, if I am using a PAY service to watch and STILL have to watch commercials, why cNt they at least show the entire event there? It’s an absolutely idiotic format IMO. 
 

And for some reason there is a current fixation with Rory. Even when he is playing horridly he gets more face-time than other players doing better and ranked higher. 
 

I simply don’t get the decision-making processes there. 

[MattC555]

The coverage isn't perfect, but it is as good, if not better, than I can remember.  I particularly like the featured groups available on ESPN+.  My only gripe is that a bunch of the best golfers in the world don't play on the PGA tour.  Would be great if they could come to some kind of agreement that would allow Rahm and others to play in events outside of majors.  No interest in watching LIV, but I miss watching Rahm, Bryson, Koepka, Johnson, and Cam. 

[ahenderX]

1 hour ago, Golfinfloridaafter40 said:

The PGA viewership has been going down every year, but many people on here want to ignore this as if it isn't happening.  Are there exceptions?  ABSOLUTELY!  The Majors, a handful of bigger events, etc but all in all, the model isn't gaining new viewers and is losing viewers. There are simply too many tournaments for the best 25 or so players in the world to play them all and now that several of the biggest draws are gone, it will only get worse.  Is the answer LIV?  Maybe, maybe not, but I think LIV management understands what the PGA Tour Management is missing.  Meaning that something has to change to make golf more exciting and to bring in more world wide viewers.  I do not know what the answer is personally but I am glad someone is trying to do something about it because golf was my first love and nothing has changed all these years later.

 

BTW We aren't aloud here to state too many facts about LIV or the PGA Tour or we get attacked by the woke PGA only mob, and/or get our posts censored.  I hope the merger happens so we can find our way back to everyone playing in the 10 or so events I love watching, but that is just me.  In the end, I think Golf will benefit from this transition and so will the fans, in the meantime we just have to ignore the cry babies

So what was your job title when you worked for LIV Golf? You have stated you used to work for LIV Golf.

[RobS]

According to the networks, the ratings overall have been going up.  Paramount (CBS) showed a 1% increase for 2023 (5% for the 9 signature events).  Somewhat ironic, the PGA Championship, a major, was the one individual event that showed the largest decline. ESPN+ reported the PGA Tour as their most streamed product on the platform last year.  The WM this year, while a mess in a lot of ways, was up 30+% and the 2nd most watched sporting event of the weekend behind the Super Bowl.  I'm personally less interested in televised pro golf than I have been in the past and while it 'feels' to me that there has been a steady decline, the data doesn't seem to support that.  As others have mentioned, there are some rising stars.  That's who I'm most interested in seeing at the moment.  It seems like all of pro golf is too fixated on players that have already peaked.

[GoGoErky]

1 hour ago, Golfinfloridaafter40 said:

The PGA viewership has been going down every year, but many people on here want to ignore this as if it isn't happening. 

What are the steaming numbers?

 

Using ratings isn’t a great measurement and it’s something that’s always been questionable for any tv show because it doesn’t account for number of viewers per tv as one example.

 

Cord cutting has been going on for awhile and a lot of people watch via streaming service while out and about or at home

[Itsjustagame]

Its not just golf. TV viewers have been dropping for years in most major sports.

[LeoLeo99]

I agree with the OP. I've lost interest.  Too many commercials, too many bland interviews.  

[Cliffy2020]

Wasted the last half hour of my life trying to find Total Audience Delivered numbers for the pga this season vs 22 & 23.  No luck.

 

Tournament attendance numbers YoY are tough to find too.  Plus, the west coast weather didn’t help this year either.

 

Cant imagine thinking the PGA being in a great spot right now or thinking there’s some mythical crop of new stars on the rise. 
 

No matter how you look at it, every tournament is a split-field.  That alone is the biggest turn-off.  Add in the exorbitant number of commercials, on air promos/reminders, select player coverage (regardless of present performance), and added difficulty even finding coverage.  Doesn’t sound like a winning recipe.  
 

All that being said, I think the Masters will have record viewership especially if it comes down to a LIV/PGA final group(s).  

[fixyurdivot]

The PGA just needs to replicate the Waste Management model for all elevated events... interest and financial problems solved. Professional golf has entered a new era, give the people what they want.  

 

 

I do think the PGA (as in Jay) completely miscalculated and screwed up big time in how they dealt with LIV.  Until this fracture within tour golf gets repaired and the field once again back together, things will not get better.  I also feel this two-tier elevated event format creates animosity between the "big names" and the mid/lower pack players.  

 

My interest level in main tour golf has waned a lot over the past few years.  I watch way more LPGA and Champions Tour, and LIV events.

 

[MaineMariner]

I get the sense that if the Household Names/Guys With Recognizable Faces aren't on the top of the leaderboard, people consider the tournament a failure.

 

This is, to me, totally bizarre. There are a metric ton of professional golfers, all very good, and all possessing the ability to go on a run of a lifetime at any moment. That's the beauty of the game. Of course, the best of the best will tend to finish higher than the average PGA Tour golfer, but to expect Jordan Spieth or Cam Smith to contend at every event is asinine. Even at the height of their games, they wouldn't contend every event. 

 

It strikes me as a very shallow, almost selfish perspective of sports. You can't be bothered to know or care about Nick Taylor? That's on you.

[st1800e]

What a clickbait title/headline/article by Golf Digest.  They’re in the business to attract readers and sell advertising , that is all. 

[dmeeksDC]

That article is lame. All it really tells us is where the writer stands. The PGA Tour events are absolutely packed with fans compared to any LIV event. Go to a LIV event and the attendance is like going to a college football game in the Mid-America Conference. The atmosphere is far from electric.
 

There are a ton of great golfers in the world and it’s the toughest competition that makes them better. New Tour stars are always on the rise. The big names that left won’t remain big names unless they win majors. No one cares about who wins their events. I have no issue with LIV existing, it is simply that I have zero interest in team golf beyond the Ryder and Presidents cups. Those teams represent nations. No one cares if Torque beats the Aces. People like teams that represent a country, city or a college. LIV seems to want to make golf like every other sport and what I love about golf is there is no other sport like it. It should avoid being like every other sport. 
 

So yes the PGA Tour made mistakes in how they dealt with LIV, but the problem LIV has is it is not catching on because it’s not a great product. Can’t blame the players for getting paid but it is not an interesting league. A handful of big names can’t overcome a bunch of goofy teams playing each other with no fan base with any passion for any of them. The WNBA has more fans and it’s a massive money loser. 

[ksher84]

My biggest gripe with watching PGA is that it's annoying to have to hop from app to app/channel to channel to watch

[Ronnie Mundt]

Jim Nantz can make anything dull. They need to revamp coverage completely.

[idrive]

What makes a player exciting?

[Ferguson]

1 hour ago, Itsjustagame said:

Its not just golf. TV viewers have been dropping for years in most major sports.

 

The millennials don't like soup or TV, apparently.

[bcjim]

In any given week at anytime, "top players" are missing, trunk slamming, finishing T52, whatever.  Legitimate competition is infinitely preferable to a contrived match between only "top players".

[shankasaurus rex]

Fix the channel hopping and you fix the PGA's biggest issue. Absolutely insane that anyone thinks that's a workable model.

[third-times-a-charm]

34 minutes ago, Ronnie Mundt said:

Jim Nantz can make anything dull. They need to revamp coverage completely.

Gotta bring in a yelling, swearing, tank-top wearing cowboy to yell at everyone. It's what ESPN did for CFB so it must be the best move...

[idrive]

It wasn't too long ago we had coverage the afternoon of a tournament and that was only on Sat. and Sun.

 

Slowly more coverage has been added but it isn't because of CBS, NBC.  Now, we are able to watch much more because ESPN has about 3-4 channels now covering from practically the first tee shot. I'm quite happy with being able to turn on the TV and watch way more golf than we used to be able to.

 

Is it a pain? Yes, no. It's a matter of older folks like me figuring out how it all works. How to let go of cable-satellite and figure out how to stream.

 

I really enjoy watching the ESPN channels.  Having to switch when the big boys pick up coverage isn't that difficult unless we try and make it such. Sooner or later the remote becomes your friend.

 

As far as all the names playing together, outside of the majors and the Players, show me a tournament when they did all play together. Always names missing.

 

 

.

Edited February 20 by idrive
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