I get the sentiment behind the post, but I disagree with a few of the points.
I hate watching most golf on TV, I think that comes down to the PGA and the broadcasters and the deals that they have signed. The package that they put out is garbage.
The fields being deep I don’t think is the negative you think it is. Parity is at its highest point in the game in my lifetime meaning that kids can latch onto one of any number of phenomenal golfers. Now, most of those golfers are rich white dudes, but diversity is growing in the game, and having a deeper field with more personalities I would think would make it easier for people to like/dislike more people.
The thing to me is, I don’t think it’s pro golf that’s really going to grow the game at this point for traditionally underrepresented communities. I think it’s a bit because it’s a chicken and the egg type of thing. You might have another Tiger, but the combination of background and transcendent talent, means that there’s a slim to none chance.
#growingthegame starts with how accessible the game is, and getting people to non-judgmental, and frankly, fucking fun places to engage with the game. Golf and the people who have a hand in running it, have to be more comfortable with golf breaking more ground than just 18 holes out in a field. Honestly the time is ripe, you see more and more resort courses adding in fun par 3’s that let people engage with the game differently, places like sweetens, winter park 9, etc. are steps in the right direction but more needs to be done. Companies like Malbon partnering with Schoolboy Q, and the shift in apparel lines have shown to be promising in the last few years. There’s a lot that has to be done in shifting the perceptual view of what it means to golf.
I think that golf has a major accessibility problem, and by addressing that problem you might cultivate an environment that allows for transcendent generational talent to engage with the game, and then become bright stars.
So yeah, I think there are a lot of problems, a lot of it falls on the PGA tour and their broadcasting partners and they need to fix those problems, but they also need to and can do significantly more in diversifying the game and cultivating an environment where this takeover would be less feasible.
To me, 72 holes with a cut, for tournament golf, is right. However, even if it isn’t, I don’t think that having teams, and a shiny new broadcasting package, or players earning a shit ton more money addresses the accessibility problems, nor do I think that anything LIV is doing will get your kids to engage with the sport more than they would if it was the PGA tour.
