Golf experienced a topsy turvy 2024. Golf at the local level has never been stronger, but the professional game has suffered an enormous popularity shift away from watching on their big screens. Grass roots golf has grown exponentially, since COVID reared its ugly head in 2020. Tee sheets are nearly full every day, golf resorts are continuously booked at record levels and the money spent on expansion and renovations to existing courses is at record levels. Bottom line: Golf, on the whole, is at a very good place, but professional golf is not. 2024: The Year that Was I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but I am seeing a trend over the past two years that doesn’t appear to be a good thing, for golf, going forward. Declining Viewership For years the PGA Tour has had its way with very little competition and enjoyed the spoils of hundreds of hours of tournament coverage on network television, plus the huge profits generated by its schedule of professional golf tournaments. Golf fans watched with rapt attention and were fascinated by the skills and shot-making abilities of toplevel professional golfers. Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods elevated the game to new heights and television ratings continued to grow, especially when Woods became the dominant golfer in the world. Television networks were eager to throw millions of dollars at the tour for the broadcast rights. Palmer even helped create a new network, The Golf Channel, to deliver even more golf content to avid golfers 24/7/365. Now that entity is owned by Comcast Indiana Golf Journal
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