David Wellen
Yeah, apologies for the ramble there. I think the Tour could improve if it had more of the venues under full control. The player equity program definitely helped unify on that end of things.
Link to commentJoshua Lambert
I went with Matt Salva at Profectus and had a great experience. Got fit into Mizuno irons, Calloway driver, and ping 3 wood so brand doesn’t matter to him.
Link to commentTyler Greene
Nashville Golf Crazies!
I’m “potentially” in the market for some new sticks this year. Do any of you have experience/recommendations working with a specific fitter locally? I would prefer to work with someone who is brand agnostic.
Link to commentChris King
All good points that I wouldn't take issue with, until the end. The Tour is already the centralized rights holder (aside from the majors and that's not changing). I'm skeptical the repackaging of these 20 events will generate significantly more in TV rights money and this type of plan devalues the other 10-15 events. Hopefully we will all learn more next week!
Link to commentDavid Wellen
I think all of things coalesce together. The Acquired podcast recently released their dive into F1, a business that has a number of similarities to professional golf.
- The governing body? Established a long time ago and has always existed just as the sport's rulemaking authority and caretaker of the rules (just like the R&A and USGA).
- Where the sport plays? Individually owned and operated locations scattered throughout the globe, all more or less controlling the economics associated with their events, some have written the rules about who can/can't play in them, and each location has layout quirks that are entirely up to the track owner to decide what to do (or not) about it.
- Who plays it? A strange association of individuals with a lot of sponsors and money invested in their success. They have to travel to every location in order for it to all work at each competition. It used to be that the competitors would choose which events they participated in based on payout potential.
Then one man more or less took over the sport, centralized a ton of power, and made a boatload of money for himself and the participants, then sold it to another owner.
Pearce highlighted this below - and the TFE team have hinted at this on pods - I don't think the plan is to eliminate the Tour as it exists today and replace it wholecloth. I think the plan is take a handful of the best events and "sit" the scarcity tour on top of PGAT as we think of it today. They'll call it the FedEx Series or something like that, and it'll be all the things we've heard - shorter season, a bit more limited fields, and more truer in/out relegation for who is in these tournaments (i.e., fewer/no sponsor's exemptions).
The rest of the PGAT will continue on and anyone who is in the new elevated tour will be able to play in those events - perhaps there's a secondary points competition, perhaps there's some modified points that will help those folks get into the upper tier, who knows on those mechanics.
Altogether, I think this meshes together a lot of the ideas that have been thrown around. The worldwide tour idea gets some run, there's more true up and down in the players in the fields, and the new tour can centralize power with this new series and be able to extract more value from its commercial partners. I don't think it is as easy as waving the magic wand and getting all of this on day 1. And, I have no idea if Rolapp and SSG are pursuing this path - but it would be strange if they weren't.
Tennis has the same problem in today's sports media bidding economy (and baseball's TV rights, but that's another story). Without a centralized holder/owner of rights, venues, and the players, the money can outmaneuver the product owners. Imagine each NFL team scheduling its own season - media companies and sponsors negotiating against a confederated business leaves value on the table from the Tour's perspective. To be sure, the Tour doesn't own 15 venues it can roll out tomorrow to say "these are the tournaments" but it can give itself leverage to get venues on board for long, concurrent periods with the shiny new object. Particularly with the ratings bump last year (ratings!) and increasing popularity of the sport, I think PGAT can go to CBS, NBC, and anyone else to say "we have one rights package, 20 tournaments, the 100 best players in the world, the drama of who is up and down - who wants it?"
Link to commentGlen Saunders
I think a shorter season is fine, but I don't think they should skip weeks. I get the idea of a smaller schedule but some of the best events Ive watched are full field events where someone new wins. I love watching the stars but I hope it doesn't hurt new guys chances of getting in events
Link to commentAlan Onnen
Just played there two weeks ago for the first time and it was truly a blast. Interesting choices abound.
Link to commentMike Ihm
Saw that email too. Great news for them and the city. Glen Golf Park is really fun and well done.
Link to commentNathan Carr
Episode 3/6/26
Stray of the day: Speed trainers
Honorable Mention: Bowlers
Link to commentJohn Cusick
I'm using the "Field" section on the tour site which says how each player got in the tournament.
It's showing Li as 49th (in fedex rank) and he got in by "Current FedExCup Points List (projected thru Cognizant Classic)".
They nuked Knapp off the page, but I think was top 50 or better as well after good showings on west coast, so he at least graduated out of the Swing 5.
What's showing for this week as swing are: Dahman, Putnam, Moore, Mitchell, & N Hojgaard
Sponsors are Greyserman, Horschel, Kirk, & Spieth
While I somewhat agree since Jordan is 47th, I'm taking the tour's site as gospel on this. I'm sure there's some buried nonsense about him already being in the field, superseding alternate status.
Happy to have this or any other discussion outside of the comments. Gostick92@gmail.com
Link to commentEddie Bajek
Need a ruling!
When Knapp withdrew, Haotong Li got in. If Spieth was not a Sponsor Exemption, he would have been the alternate over Li. I think in my Siggy spreadsheet tab, I am going to count Li and not Spieth, since Spieth would have been in the event anyways.
Link to commentEddie Bajek
I think you are 100% correct.
But also think a lot of people are projecting their own desires onto Rolapp's plan.
Link to commentEthan Fisher
I am very new to this and have little of substance to say, but my wife and I have taken our 2-month old out to the golf course twice since his birth. We've pushed him in a stroller while we've carried our bags. I am hoping these outings throughout the year create the slightest spark of interest in his sweet little brain for 2027 so he'll passionately want to swing a club. After that, I will refer to other comments here for advice.
Link to commentMark Harbeson
Looks amazing. Hope I get to play there someday. Golf on the Australian coast, for less than $100, AND a brewpub nearby? This could be heaven.
Laughed at the note about Mike Clayton sneaking on to play the course when it was closed. Truly one of us!
Link to commentChris King
I'm not sure I buy the people need to miss it argument, and I'm even more skeptical that if the inventory drops from 40 events a year to 30 that the Tour will make more money. The golf audience is by nature relatively small and playing fewer events won't appreciably change the ceiling, IMO.
That being said, my opinion really isn't important! Ha!
Link to commentTyler Rosser
I know she said they get pretty backed up, but in her opinion they're one of the best she could find. She's been working with a local leather shop to work on protoyping some needlepoint finishing, so if that ever gets going I'll make sure to holler back at you.
Link to commentPearce Barringer
There is a belief that people need to miss golf on TV. When there's a tournament on more than 40 weeks out of the year, it's hard to build excitement from the average fan about tournaments outside of the Players and the Majors. The people who I know that watch golf don't really care about the good tournaments like Riviera any more than the Deere or Craig Ranch. If you cut the fat, maybe that changes?
If there's fewer tournaments, you can also put more resources into the ones you keep, too. The broadcast partners like to talk about how much of an effort it is to put on this massive production week in and week out. If you cut their commitment in half, they can, theoretically, really focus in on what they have left. That's also true for tournament organizers.
Something the Shotgun Start guys have been saying on the pod is that the Mules on the new PGA B Tour will still be playing for 8ish million dollar purses, which is plenty of money. I think the same is true for TV Coverage. There are a lot people who are going to tune in to watch golf pretty much no matter what, and that isn't going to change. Tournaments like the Cognizant will continue to exist, they will just have fewer big names and the broadcast will look different. Theoretically, that frees them up to really focus on improving 25 tournaments and make that the flagship product of the PGA Tour. Then, you'd hope, pro golf would gain popularity.
Link to commentJoseph Zale
Played SAB a year ago and this is a great capture - thank you! SAB is a wild, fun ride that pushes decision making and thinking on nearly every shot. The daily rate and accessibility make it one of the great values in the world. Hope they keep the same low key vibe (maybe with a bit of investment as it is a little shabby in spots on simple things like signage and some basic conditioning). The approach and public nature of the course makes for a great contrast with the private clubs around the Sand Belt.
Ps Kangaroos are real and everywhere - a bit unnerving but you get used to them and another cool feature.
Link to commentBeau Scroggins
I have similar skepticism. If a scarcity schedule is indeed the plan I think its risky on a product that is relatively unpopular (when compared to other entertainment products). I can't imagine a world where just because there are fewer events that everything becomes suddenly more popular or better. A scarcity of product alone can't be the solve. Seems like there needs to be a lot of other investments around this to make things work. Will be interesting to see if there's more to the plan. Let's hope so.
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