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IIn the same week that the PGA Tour announced that The Sentry will not be played in 2026 due to serious water issues in Kapalua, pushing back the start of next season by a week, it was another announcement that could have more ramifications in the long run.
Next fall, Good Good Golf will be the title sponsor of a new PGA Tour event in Austin, Texas, a strategic recognition by both parties of where the sport is and where it is going.
If you’re not familiar with Good Good Golf, it’s something of a new-age business, bringing together merchandise, media and its own community, resetting where golf exists as it reaches beyond the game’s traditional demographic.
While the tour is still backed by billion-dollar companies willing to put their names on events, the addition of a title sponsor that has built its brand online speaks to the changing times.
It’s a sport where, according to the National Golf Foundation, 28 million people would play golf on a course by 2024, while another 32 million would play golf off the course. The game is embedded in our culture like never before.
There are date nights at Topgolf. Luxury apartment complexes are equipped with golf simulators. Golf-oriented clothing brands now have standalone stores.
Comedian Kevin Hart loves golf. That includes NBA star LeBron James, who recently posted that half of what he sees on his social media feed is golf-related.
When you see photos of tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal these days, they are usually on the golf course. Comedian Nate Bargatze was part of Rory McIlroy’s offseason outing last year and “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost hosted a daily show of the Ryder Cup.
“Right now, golf feels different. It feels more grassroots and grassroots, I hate to say it from a consumer perspective, but golf is thriving despite the professional game going through a lot in the last four years,” said Chad Mumm, executive producer and creator of the Netflix series “Full Swing,” which has brought a look into professional golf to a wide audience.
“A lot of it has to do with COVID and things like Topgolf and simulators have made it easier for people to try it, to get their hands on a club. Then you see the online community, whether it’s Instagram or TikTok, now YouTube, where people can take an interest in the game and turn it into a real passion point or real fandom.
“On top of that, you have all these famous people… celebrities have already played golf, but now they’re doing it and posting about it all the time on social media. In a period of two years, you’ve seen that the stigma that golf carries in the U.S., at least for the last 60 years, has really fallen away and golf has become this thing that’s not an elite sport. It’s something that anyone can start doing and be passionate about.”
The byproduct of golf’s new profile is change, something that creates resistance in certain turns.
Traditionalists – you know who you are – shudder at the idea of music on the golf course, but that’s like trying to turn the tide. The golf fashion police are alive and well here and there, paying particular attention to cargo shorts and shirttails that are not tucked in properly. In some starchy places, push carts are not allowed.
With all the new people coming into the game, golf is facing not a reckoning, but the realization that it is bigger and – here’s that word – more diverse than ever. It has made golf better and like most other things, not one size fits all.
But golf has become less intimidating and more inviting.
This is the extended moment of wave. Private clubs have long waiting lists. Equipment has never been better. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood exude star power.
Spend an afternoon at The Cradle at Pinehurst, the short course where shoes are optional, music fills the air and transfusions are poured, and there’s no better example of how golf is changing.
Scroll online and explore the expanding golf universe.
Bryson DeChambeau has built an empire on YouTube by being his quirky self. Content creators, a breed that didn’t exist just a few years ago, are so well known among the new generation of golfers that they are playing their own events and distributing them across various viewing platforms.
According to AI, there have been more than 4.3 billion views of golf content on YouTube in the last 90 days. No wonder Good Good Golf has grown from a group of twenty-somethings posting videos online to a brand big enough to be the title sponsor of the PGA Tour next year.
Remember when the Masters only showed the final holes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons? Now the Masters can be an immersive online experience, seeing no barriers but a broader horizon.
Much like what’s happened to the written word – podcasts and videos have invaded the media space, but there’s still room for readers – the game is now more accommodating.
This is the extended moment of wave. Private clubs have long waiting lists. Equipment has never been better. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood exude star power.
The PGA Tour is currently being reshaped and there are many conjectures about what it will look like in, say, three years. The gamble is similar, but different.
Remember what Brian Rolapp, the tour’s new CEO, said in August:
“We’re going to honor the tradition, but we won’t be too tied to it.”
That’s where the game is going.
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