Professional Golf

[The Squirrel]

I don't think anyone sees a low score and thinks better players. Do they not think easy course? That's my thinking if I see a score that low.

I think it’s almost the reverse.

When a player wins a tough-setup USOpen at +3 or whatever, likely with the commentators going on for the previous 4 days solid about the difficulty, then people generally look at them and think “proper player”.

 

[Mel Smooth]

It stands to reason because you’d have to be clueless about golf to find watching LIV worthwhile

Many many years ago I was in the local boozer with some mates. We were talking about football and one of the lads, a Leeds fan, made a comment about one of the Leeds players and how good he was. I'd heard from a few people that this player was a bit rubbish, so I laughed in the face of my mate and said "shows what you know about football...". The other lad who was with him, who I knew was a well studied Leeds fan said "actually, he's a solid player".
At that point I backed down, because I realised I'd made a decision about something without actually drawing my own conclusions by studying the subject myself. In short, I'd made a bit of a tit of myself by listening to people who were biased.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Whatever, I think anybody who follows LIV recognises that they are picking up viewers and attendees that aren't traditional golf fans. They're also pulling in significant crowds in locations that have been starved of top level golf - a good thing for the game, I'm sure we can all agree on that.

Not convinced by your first sentence as that literally cannot be proven unless you speak to everyone. I’ve also never met a single non golfer that has any interest or knows what LIV is, I would also say the viewers on TV come from normal golf fans that simply don’t have a bias or prejudice of something different.

Your second point though is spot on they’re drawing in excellent crowds, for those of us with an open mind it’s good entertainment and something different to watch.

My only concern for the style of golf LIV offers is it doesn’t really lend itself to variety of courses due to the way it’s set up. It’s very much a stadium course format so it’s generally speaking always going to be really low scores and fairly wide open courses. Which does limit its shelf appeal to the more traditional fan that likes to see variety etc.

That being said it’s doing pretty well, I enjoy it as something different and it’s time everyone accepted its here and stopped trying to belittle each other whether they’re for or against it.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Whatever, I think anybody who follows LIV recognises that they are picking up viewers and attendees that aren't traditional golf fans. They're also pulling in significant crowds in locations that have been starved of top level golf - a good thing for the game, I'm sure we can all agree on that.

What’s a traditional golf fan

What’s good for the game is subjective , imo I think the Waste Management etc is the worst thing possible for the game , same with discos and music etc

All these locations have had events for decades - for some reason the likes of Rahm , BDC and Co didn’t want to go to South Africa etc previously

Overall the “eyes on” when it comes to tour golf has decreased overall , figures for the majors has improved slightly


This certainly isn’t good for the sport

495K views · 2K reactions | Exciting day at LIV South Africa (Via nathisibiya8/x) | Zire Golf

Exciting day at LIV South Africa (Via nathisibiya8/x)

www.facebook.com

 

[Backache]

Was just reading about BdC's win in the latest LIV competition and what stood out was the winning score - 26 under par. I then had a quick look at the scores over the past few weeks in both the LIV and the PGA to compare. The winning score in LIV is usually well under the -20 score whilst to win on the PGA you only need to score in the mid teens. Not wanting to start any sort of conspiracy theory, but are LIV setting up courses to be easier to show their players are better than those on the PGA Tour?

They're just better golfers on LIV.

 

[IanM]

They're just better golfers on LIV.

Well, 3 or 4 might be! (better than the average)

 

[Mel Smooth]

Not convinced by your first sentence as that literally cannot be proven unless you speak to everyone. I’ve also never met a single non golfer that has any interest or knows what LIV is, I would also say the viewers on TV come from normal golf fans that simply don’t have a bias or prejudice of something different.

Your second point though is spot on they’re drawing in excellent crowds, for those of us with an open mind it’s good entertainment and something different to watch.

My only concern for the style of golf LIV offers is it doesn’t really lend itself to variety of courses due to the way it’s set up. It’s very much a stadium course format so it’s generally speaking always going to be really low scores and fairly wide open courses. Which does limit its shelf appeal to the more traditional fan that likes to see variety etc.

That being said it’s doing pretty well, I enjoy it as something different and it’s time everyone accepted its here and stopped trying to belittle each other whether they’re for or against it.

All I can say with regard to the new to golf audience - what I've seen when I'm at events, and what I see from social media would support the claims that LIV are making.

With regard to the courses, I'm sure the players would love to be challenged to the maximum - Valderrama offers that especially if the course is firm and the wind is up - I guess it's just not that easy to get a tournament standard course to commit to hosting an event. If Turnberry was totally ruled out of any future Open slots I'd imagine they could have a crack at getting an event there. The course is deserving of being showcased imho.

 

[SteveW86]

The time golf is on tv is a big factor for me currently. Both my kids decide to get up mega early, so the LiV events that have been on early have been pretty handy. Don’t think I’ve watched any PGA tour yet this year