Which came first, the chicken or the egg? That’s essentially what the proposed Premier Golf League (PGL) needs to figure out if it hopes to make good on its lofty goals.
Plans for the PGL have been in the works for years, but after the World Golf Group recently announced it hopes to launch the league in January 2022, it’s back in the headlines. “Rivaling” the PGA and European Tours, the PGL aims to host 48 of the world’s best players at 18 tournaments over eight months around the globe. The purses would be huge — $10 million per event, according to reports — with no cuts. Along with individual scoring the PGL would integrate a team format as well, ending the season with a team playoff event.
Here’s a quick look at the why, according to the WGG statement:
“If you want the world to watch, you have to showcase your best product, week-in-week-out. Golf doesn’t do that currently. … We believe we’ll succeed because the league is what fans, sponsors and broadcasters want — and the best players deserve. It will revitalise [sic] the sport for this and future generations.”
Fair enough. But now for the bigger question: How?
Recruiting “48 of the world’s best players” is a lot easier to say than it will be to do. A $10 million dollar purse per event isn’t a bad start, but then things get a little more complicated. For the PGL to become truly successful in the long term it also has to court broadcasters and major sponsors. Hard to imagine doing that with a yet-to-be filled roster of players the fans will tune in to see, and it’s hard to imagine filling that roster without broadcast and sponsorship backing. It’s the classic chicken and the egg dilemma from your intro to philosophy class.
Considering the year-round broadcasting schedules we already enjoy thanks to the PGA, LPGA, Euro, Korn Ferry and other tours, air time for an additional 18 3-day events seems scarce to begin with. And who knows how much more broadcasters would be willing to shell out for the rights of a brand new tour when the aforementioned are only growing more popular, and expensive. Sponsors may be easier to come by — may be — but that still hinges on what, or rather who, they’re sponsoring. Don’t expect much buy in if those names don’t include the actual best players in the world.
So it seems it’s all about who’s playing in the PGL, and it’s been a priority for the would-be tour to figure it out.
At the Farmers Insurance Open, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson confirmed talks have been going on for years, though both were far from offering an endorsement.
“I’m still quite a traditionalist, so to have that much of an upheaval in the game I don’t think is the right step forward,” McIlroy said during a press conference at Torrey Pines. “But I think, as I said, it might be a catalyst for some changes on this tour that can help it grow and move forward — you know, reward the top players the way they should be, I guess.”
Mickelson told reporters he doesn’t know enough about the proposed tour to comment publicly, but McIlroy also noted the PGL is “exploiting a couple holes” in top-level golf as we know it, recognizing it’s become just as much about the entertainment as it is the competition. That bodes well for the no-cut and team formats that would give fans more reason to stay tuned in, again if we’re actually the best golfers in the world.
The PGL will have no help from its predecessors in courting top players to its ranks, either, try as it might. The PGA and European Tours won’t even acknowledge its existence let alone allow their players to double dip. That leads to the question of what top-50 ranked player would want to join the un-tested PGL at the sake of losing their other tour status.
The PGA is one looking forward to its largest broadcasting windfall yet, and golf as a whole is in the midst of an upswing in popularity thanks to, you guessed it, extremely talented and young players. Credit where it’s due, they’ve done a lot to reach this point and shouldn’t feel obligated to share it with the new kid on the block. What’s more, like McIlroy said, established tours could simply implement PGL-like changes themselves, thus making a new tour totally irrelevant from the get go (I added that last part).
So what comes first, the league or the players? The WGG told everyone to mark their calendars and the countdown to 2022 is on. We’ll have to wait a see who’s first on the tee, if there even is one.
*This post is written in soft whispers. Read accordingly.
I’ve always considered ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) to be some kind of weird fetish — like who’s out there getting turned on by the sound of folding towels? But now I totally get it, thanks to this video of Tiger’s practice session surfaced.
Amateur video of Woods warming up on the range before a junior event in Florida was posted on Saturday and instantly went viral. From a less-than-ideal angle you can see young Woods’ absolutely roping a shot down range — thanks to a swing motion many can only dream of — with his daddy/caddy, Tiger Woods, looking on dutifully.
Doing what social media does best, unsolicited swing analysis, major predictions and comparisons to his father flooded the comment threads, mostly heralding the kid’s talent — rightfully so.
But of course, again doing what social media does best, there were plenty of those pointing out everything wrong with the video. Not what was wrong with Charlie’s swing — it’s hard to find anything wrong with that — but how wrong it was that the video was made public in the first place.
I acknowledge by even commenting on this I am both sharing Charlie Woods content while trying to seem above it, but my god, he’s 10. Saying “proof he’s the next Tiger!” is a great way to begin us down the path where he ends up hating the game and us all before he even plays AJGA. https://t.co/9sUh3vOYc7
Depending on which comments rabbit hole you went down, the naysaying ranged from merely disappointed to downright accusatory, including claims that putting Woods in the spotlight will put undue pressure on him and even accusations that whomever shot the video was akin to something of a predator.
Really? I wasn’t going to take a side when I started this post — simply because it’s a stupid argument to be having. But now I’m leaning more towards the side telling the naysayers to pump the brakes.
The video wasn’t shot by some child golf pornographer ‘hiding in the bushes,’ it was shared from the venue at which Woods was competing. Claiming it’s not meant for public eyes is all but total bullshit too, considering the juniors’ score are all posted online for anyone to see (Woods finished ninth in the event, by the way). Saying ‘he’s just a kid’ or ‘undue pressure’ and blah, blah, blah doesn’t really fly, either — he’s an extension of his dad’s celebrity status, he was born into the limelight, none of us are putting him anywhere. And if Charlie ends up not paying golf professionally, whether because he hates it or not, it’s no one’s business but his own.
Charlie’s swing video wasn’t posted for any reason other than he’s the son of the greatest golfer to ever play the game, and he has a badass golf swing, just like his dad. Hell, we’ve been watching Tiger since before his preteens, and it’s nothing but speculation to say his career-derailing antics in the past stemmed from living under constant public scrutiny (though it very well may have). All in all, Tiger turned out pretty alright in the grand scheme of things, and I expect Charlie will end up the same playing golf or not.
We’re already talking about Michelle Wei’s unborn baby and Serena Williams’ before hers. We’ve been watching Lebron James’, Kobe Bryant’s, Steph Curry’s and others’ kids on fucking SportsCenter for years. And careers have been made by following celebrities and their families ever since being famous was a thing — all because the public actually does want to see and talk about it, period. It’s how we lowly fans can “relate” to the people living lives we will never experience — no matter how asinine that sounds.
At a time when we all know someone(s) who’s created social media accounts for their babies, their pets, their hobbies — and anything thing else they can think of — I really didn’t expect to see such ire over a video of a 10 year-old’s golf swing.
It’s the start of a new decade: out with old USGA handicap system, in with the new, supposedly simplified, World Handicap System.
Effective in the US January 2020, the WHS puts an end to the half dozen systems used around the globe in favor of one standard calculation. In an effort to make it easier for anyone to get an official index, the new system only requires 56 holes to be recorded (down from 90), and only the top eight of 20 rounds count (down from 10) — meaning a couple blow up rounds won’t hurt as much. The WHS is updated daily, too, which is certainly a nightmare for tournament committees but convenient for players keeping a close eye on their index.
Among the other changes, the old Equitable Stroke System is no more, replaced with the “net double bogey” standard (Double Bogey + any handicap strokes received on a hole). And the WHS even takes weather into account with the “playing conditions calculation.” The PCC determines the impact of your score based on the average of all scores posted at that course on that day (emphasizing the importance of daily updates and other player data). Lastly, soft and hard caps are now in place to safeguard your index should the wheels start to come off — as they so often do. Explained by Golf.com and Steve Edmondson, the USGA’s managing director of handicapping and course rating, if your index worsens by three points in a year, further decreases will only be calculated at 50%. That’s the soft cap. The hard cap comes into play when your index worsens by five in a year.
By all accounts, American golfers won’t see a dramatic change to their existing indexes under the new WHS — one or two stokes if anything, according to the USGA — but the new system could change how many strokes you’re getting or giving out on the tee box by a lot.
Here’s the old USGA formula to determine strokes: Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating/113)
And here’s the new WHS formula: Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating/113) + (Course Rating – par)
The biggest change to the formula is, obviously, the addition of course rating and par. This change is an ode to regions predominately playing Stableford, where points are counted as opposed to strokes. According to Dean Knuth, the USGA’s former Director of Handicapping — who has the badass nickname “The Pope of Slope” — the new formula creates a problem for American players, mostly because par is hardly indicative of how difficult, or easy, a course plays.
From his op-ed in Golf Digest:
“Where this issue becomes noticeable is how the new formula changes course handicap values from tee to tee … For example, where once a course handicap was a 12 from the back and middle tees, and an 11 from the front, under the new WHS calculations there will be much larger variations — as many as 18 shots in some instances — between tees. Part of the reason for this is that during the calculation, an approximation is being approximated again by adding Course Rating minus Par, creating an imperfect “over-spreading” of the course handicaps. Golfers moving to longer tees will think this is a logical change (they’ll be getting more strokes). Golfers playing shorter tees won’t be so happy.”
Knuth’s column, The flaw in the new World Handicap System, is definitely worth a read whether you’re excited about the changes or not. He touches on several issues he sees with the new system and offers and incredibly informed perspective on the new system as a whole. If you’re looking for a crash course, read GD’s rundown of the the new system, and the USGA’s WHS FAQ, too.
Finally ready to make the jump and get an official handicap? Check with your home club or the Allied Golf Association in your state to get started.
It all started when one fan asked Max Homa to “critique my swing like Gordon Ramsey critiques shitty food,” during Presidents Cup week. Homa did not disappoint, and it’s now become an early contender for the best golf social media trend of 2020. It doesn’t matter whose swing it is, from everyday hackers to celebrities and even Tour players, Homa isn’t holding back — and the results are hilarious.
Some of the best come courtesy of the average folk with no disillusions concerning their game.
Idk man usually I start by telling people to match their shirt to their shoes but u already did that so I’m out of ideas https://t.co/lvrXzqpWFW
With ur rugged good looks and great sense of style I totally get how u got a girlfriend, but with that lack of rhythm and hip action I’m not quite sure how u got her to stick around https://t.co/jQeE3Hvpue
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? That’s essentially what the proposed Premier Golf League (PGL) needs to figure out if it hopes to make good on its lofty goals.
