Tag: pga

Hi, Craig

Golf’s future in my life was teetering on the edge in 2017. A hip injury prevented me from playing. Tiger Woods was pretty much over. I was not far from becoming someone who only watched The Masters. 

Attending that year’s Solheim Cup at Des Moines Golf & Country Club changed everything. Watching those 24 players interact with fans and play great golf reignited my love for the game. Plus I actually got to see them play, the Ryder Cup where I mostly saw the back of other people’s heads. I won’t say this turned me into an LPGA junkie, but in the years since I’ve been to women’s tournaments at Pebble Beach, Harding Park, Sharon Heights and Riviera. I’ll be back at Sharon Heights again next March, at Lake Merced Club next September and if there’s no baseball season to travel for maybe I’ll head to Inverness or the JM Eagle. When I have a choice of what golf to watch, I almost always choose to watch the LPGA.

So that’s where I’m coming from here. 

Listening to your interviews, I think you understand the opportunity and the challenge you face. As a fan who believes the Tour can still capitalize on this moment, here are five things I want you to consider. 

One: Marketing aggressive messages. I’ve heard you say the LPGA is a disruptor brand, and you’re right. Back that up with the way you message and market the Tour. 

Modern audiences reward believers who refuse to back down. They want you to stand for yourself. Do it. Assert a world where Nelly Korda has the best swing on the planet and defend that assertion against all doubters. Challenge the assumption that the best golf on Sunday afternoon is played by men. Challenge the assumption that driving distance is a prerequisite for great golf. Mock the foolish notion that a man with a three handicap could hold his own against Ayaka Furue. 

Your best marketing message should come with the risk that golf bro Twitter laughs at you for it. Find it and stand behind it. If you do, I think you’ll see the LPGA increase its share of attention across mainstream and social media. That’s a key part of creating a flywheel you need to grow the Tour’s stature in the game and in sports culture. 

Two: Forcing great courses to tell you no. I’m glad the Tour is back in the Bay Area but let’s be honest: Sharon Heights isn’t going to attract attention. Cal Club would. San Francisco Golf Club would. Cypress Point and Seminole sure would. They might laugh at you for asking, especially now with the PGA Tour potentially trying to get in. But you can offer all these clubs something the PGA Tour can’t: History. So go after them like a believer. Ask them this question point blank: 

How can you be one of the world’s greatest courses if a woman has never won there? 

If they don’t want an annual Tour stop, tell them hosting every five years is okay. The Tour gets the attention that comes with playing them, the clubs get a legitimate place in all of golf’s history. Win-win. 

Three: Wait…tournaments rotating to prestige courses…did I just describe a major? I think so. 

We need to talk about The Chevron. It’s great that Chevron put a massive amount of money into the tournament. Now it deserves a better course that connects it to golf history. Memorial Park can’t deliver that. It also hosts a men’s tournament only a few weeks earlier. Stop riding the coattails of a mid-tier PGA Tour event. 

I understand you’re trying to build something in Houston, and that’s laudable. But again I encourage you to think more aggressively. Why do you have to build anything? A believer would act like the LPGA deserves to host its major at a more famous course…because it does.

(If Chevron doesn’t like that because it’s easier to throw hospitality parties in its corporate hometown, then maybe Chevron isn’t the right partner for you after all.) 

In addition to the stunners I mentioned earlier, potential courses can easily be found in the list of sites that can no longer regularly host mens tournaments: Olympia Fields, Medinah, Cherry Hills, Castle Pines, Firestone (which is about to lose its senior event) and Cog Hill to name a few. 

Three(b): Don’t forget about made-for-TV match play. This opens up an entirely new category of courses. Think Sand Hills, Fishers Island, Friar’s Head or Ohoopee because you won’t need to transport or support thousands of people on the groups for multiple days at a time. Now imagine matches not covered like traditional golf broadcasts, but produced like theatric films. 

Four: Claim Hawaii. The PGA Tour opened the door wide open for you here. Make Kapalua yours and tell Wai’alae that we all know Tiger Woods is never traveling to Hawaii for a seniors event, so there’s no reason to take the PGA Tour’s consolation prize. If it won’t budge, find another great course to schedule after Kapalua. Then market the hell out of being the top tour playing golf in Hawaii. Because you will be.

This can fit neatly into your existing schedule. If you’re willing adjust the timing at Lake Nona (or give it one of your fall events) the LPGA can be the tour that starts its season with primetime Hawaiian golf. That also makes it a lot easier for your players to travel for the first Asian swing. 

Five: Figure out streaming. I know Golf Channel is the only place that carries the LPGA, and that’s fine. But I have no idea when it’s on. Find a way to get your broadcast partners to have a consistent TV window. I won’t pretend this is easy; the economics of your media partners are miserable. But you’ve got to find a way to give current and potential fans a consistent way to easily find your product.

At the risk of 20/20 hindsight, I’ll say that all of this would have been a lot easier four years ago. Previous Tour leadership is at fault for not capitalizing on the mens game tearing itself apart. Be the aggressive advocate and believer those leaders weren’t. 

I truly want you to succeed and for the Tour to succeed. Watching the two Asian swings in primetime on the west coast is a highlight of my sports year. One of these years I will make a point of attending each. 

I wish you the best.