Feature: Future of Golf - thoughts ?

Following the increased interest from the Ryder Cup, Nick B takes an honest look at the 'future of golf':

http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/4734/Editorial_Feature_The_Future_of_Golf.html

One thing that really sticks out for me Nick is the media coverage.

I think Sky do an OK job with European Tour Coverage. Personally I'd like to have more than the 4/5 hours of coverage we get. It�s annoying when I know that top quality golf is being played at 10am and most of the time we don�t get to see any of it until 2pm.

I think the Sky Sports F1 channel sets a good bench mark of what is achievable when they put their minds to it. I�m sure the big F1 fans are happy with the channel but more importantly am sure there are now seldom F1 fans that will tune into Qualifying, Race and the aftermath.

I�m sure if Sky Sports were to launch a Golf channel more and more people would watch and then hit the course with that in mind. Don�t forget it�s a working man�s sport when you compare it to the F1.

A second point that is worth making would be the amount of Major events that are in the UK. I fully understand it�s a European tour as a pose to the PGA tour being in USA. But you only have to take a look at the crowd figures of the BMW and The Open to see that people want to go and watch golf live. Even events like the Challenge tour and good turn outs.

I know you then have to look at things such as sponsorship ECT which can potentially open a whole can of worms so I won�t go there.

Something could be done, something should be done.

The Golf Channel UK, owned by JJB Sports. Bought the rights, then stopped transmitting. Bring it back! You might be able to buy 'The Rights' for �1 at the moment.

I found this statement incredible: ��the Ryder Cup is the third highest viewed sporting event in the world��. I don�t doubt the sources, I just found it very surprising that the Ryder Cup would rank so highly against events such as the Superbowl, Olympic Games, Football World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup, Wimbledon etc�

Ultimately, as with most things, it comes down to finances. If there was a big enough opportunity for the networks and publishers to make money from increased coverage of the tours, they would probably have taken it. But, when you consider the perception that the demographic of the average golf fan is relatively more affluent � it makes you wonder if the networks are indeed missing an opportunity somewhere.

In regards to a designated Golf channel on Sky, surely they could fill some air time with Direct Golf TV, American Golf TV etc, so in the downtime, it's almost QVC like? This would spread the burden of cost, and open up possibilities for multiple shows. We see football get its own discussion shows, we see Cricket get its banterous show during the summer, why not golf? I'm sure the likes of Mark Roe and Denis Pugh would love their own hour a week to give hints and tips? I think it would be perfectly feasible for Sky or ESPN etc, to do this. I like seeing events like the Trilby Tour and challenge tour on TV, and I'm sure some of the other 2m golfers in this country would watch more if it was on.

I believe that the fragmentation of the various tours causes a problem. Golf could take a look at the ATP tennis tour, where the top players play all around the world in The Masters series events. A top 50 player needs a very serious doctors note not to take part. It's far more coherent than what happens in golf. Imagine if every 2 weeks the top 50 golfers had to play in a tournament no matter what continent it was on, sorry Bubba, that may mean France. This would also boost countries like S.Africa and Australia, they both produce major winners yet have no tournaments of any note in the countries. I know all the money is really in America and this will happen over their dead bodies but I think until some World Tour is sorted, golf will just continue to be the 4 majors, the Ryder Cup and a bunch of other tournaments where players can finish in the top 20 and fill up their already bulging bank accounts.

Firstly I think the Ryder Cup highlighted the appeal of matchplay golf. I would be a big fan of the USPGA reverting to a matchplay tournament, especially as it would help to differentiate that event and give it added interest. Yes, it would be lovely to move that major away from the States but the chances of that appear to be incredibly slim.

Also, its very rare I'm able to watch much golf on Thursday's and Friday's because of work and then at the weekends because of time playing golf or out elsewhere. I'd be a big fan of Sky creating a 30 minutes evening highlights package of each round of an event which I could then watch on SkyGo. I think this would make golf a lot more accessible as a lot of people are not happy to sit through 4 or 5 hours of coverage. At the moment I think Sky only produce 2 minutes worth of highlights.