Golf Marketing

Do you still associate golf with being long and tedious or a senior’s game? Organizations in all facets of the game have been engaging in exciting and innovative marketing tactics in the last few years to dispel these stereotypes and grow the game amidst golf’s popularity surge with many demographics. National data has indicated significant growth in the player base since the COVID-19 pandemic, with hundreds of thousands of Canadians taking up golf as one of the few activities available at the time. In fact, in 2023, approximately 6 million people played golf in Canada, an all-time high. Roughly 3 million (i.e., about half) of those players identified as new golfers. With increased attention to the game, brands are finding new and innovative ways to connect with golf lovers worldwide.

Of course, many golfers in Canada and around the world are also fans of the game and keep tabs on professional tournaments on the PGA Tour. The world of professional golf has been shaken in the last few years as the long-standing institution of professional golf faced its first significant competitive threat by way of LIV Golf: a new, controversial, Saudi-backed professional golf league featuring shorter tournaments with both individual and team competitions. Through a series of highly lucrative contract offers (in the hundreds of millions of dollars), LIV was able to lure away some of the PGA’s greatest golfers of the past and present, including John Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith. Tiger Woods was reportedly offered $700-$800 million to join the LIV Golf league, though he has remained committed to the PGA Tour and been vocal in his opposition to LIV. 

In addition to big money, LIV golf was structured to grow the game amongst younger, more modern golf fans. In an attempt to combat old professional golf stereotypes, LIV developed new game formats that meant shorter tournaments, a condensed viewing experience, and a faster pace of play. The tournaments also leverage technology and unique events like concerts, after-tournament parties, and more relaxed rules to attract a younger, more tech-savvy audience. LIV Golf was also initially broadcast on YouTube, making it more accessible to a younger audience who might not have cable TV. 

The emergence of LIV Golf, and particularly the big-name talent joining them, meant that the PGA Tour had to adjust its messaging and even some of its operations considerably. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the recent and emerging marketing strategies in the midst of the ongoing feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Modern Marketing in Professional Golf

Sponsorships and Partnerships: The PGA Tour maintains a roster of 52 official brand partners, many of whom have lasted for many years. Luxury brands like Rolex and NetJets and large white-collar corporations like Morgan Stanley and Grant Thornton benefit from global brand exposure and recognition with a feeling of elegance and integrity. These types of brands are a great fit for the PGA Tour’s affluent audience, as the Tour reports that 87% of its audience has a household income of $150K+, and 47% are likely to be business decision-makers. Sponsorships come in many shapes and sizes and could include signage on the course during events, exposure on TV broadcasts and social media, or even tournament naming rights.

Many brands also choose to sponsor specific players, with most golfers sporting their sponsors’ logos on their shirts and hats. Most players are also sponsored by specific club manufacturers, meaning they need to play with those clubs. For example, Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland is sponsored by the clothing brand J Lindberg, and he exclusively wears their clothing while competing. J Lindberg will even share his scripting for the tournament on their social platforms, highlighting Viktor’s outfits while making them available for purchase.

Digital Presence: The PGA Tour has significantly increased its digital presence in recent years. They are active across all social media platforms, creating multiple daily posts and stories on Meta, TikTok, X, and more. While content is wide-ranging and often focuses on footage from the tournaments themselves, the Tour also highlights their involvement in trending topics. For example, the PGA recently posted in collaboration with Netflix for the new trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, highlighting the players that will be featured in the film. The Tour has even launched initiatives to support players in creating their own social media content, resulting in a 157% increase in social media video views across all PGA Tour golfers. The Tour now tracks engagement rates and social media growth as key performance indicators, further highlighting its push to grow with a digital, tech-savvy audience.  

Influencer marketing and partnerships: The PGA Tour has significantly leaned into influencer marketing, partnering with creators and influencers in the golf space to grow Gen Z viewership and combat LIV’s “YouTube Golf” audience. The PGA Tour even created a new tournament format, The Creator Classic, which takes place during the week of select tournaments throughout the year and allows various internet personalities to compete on the course where the tournament will take place. Among the creators are personalities from companies like Barstool Sports, a popular sports and culture media outlet in the United States with which the PGA Tour has an official agreement. The agreement includes co-branded merchandise for specific tournaments and media involvement from popular Barstool personalities and other influencers in and around the tournaments. Among others, the Barstool Golf group makes up the PGA Tour’s ‘creator council,’ which contributes to the Tour’s content strategy and ensures they are up to speed with the latest trends. 
The PGA Tour also leverages several influencers from other industries, such as musicians and other professional athletes, who are interested in golf to help attract new fans to the game. Some recent examples include Justin Timberlake, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, and rapper Schoolboy Q. Many of these personalities participate in the PGA’s pro-am events and, in doing so, participate in the creation of content for organic and paid marketing channels.

Merchandise: Many of golf’s iconic tournaments, players, and brands command a level of exclusivity that golfers highly value. At any local golf course in Calgary, it’s not uncommon to see players sporting merchandise from some of the world’s most famous courses and tournaments, such as Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, St. Andrews, or the Masters Tournament. While not officially run by the PGA Tour, the famous Masters Tournament has launched ‘Taste of the Masters‘ to also play off of the iconic and historic status of the tournament. Taste of the Masters offers at-home kits for purchase, including items from host Augusta National’s iconic food menu. The kits include Azaelea cocktail mix, pimento cheese and pork BBQ sandwiches, plain potato chips, and Masters branded commemorative cups, packaging, labels, and coasters.

Opportunities for player-led growth: The PGA Tour has recognized that many fans are keen on certain players rather than fans of the Tour itself. Of course, this posed a threat as more top-quality players began accepting LIV deals. To combat this, the Tour introduced the Player Impact Program (PIP), a program meant to reward the 10 most ‘impactful’ golfers on the PGA Tour. Each player’s impact was calculated based on factors including Google search ranking, the amount of time a player was on the TV broadcast, social media engagement, and survey results focused on fan awareness of players. Of course, this message to the Tour’s most prominent names was that they could stick around, do their job, and get paid accordingly. Ultimately, the PIP was evaluated as somewhat of a failure as many of the top names left for LIV anyway, including five of the initial top ten PIP winners. Of course, despite playing in a fraction of the tournaments compared to the other big names, Tiger Woods came in first place three times out of 4, the last of which he came second to Rory McIlroy. The PIP was cancelled for the 2025 season after a four-year run. 

Competitive Messaging: LIV Golf and the PGA Tour have recently launched new brand campaigns in light of heightened competition. In early 2025, the PGA Tour launched the Only Happens Here campaign, which highlighted generational talent (such as Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, and Scottie Scheffler), instantly recognizable locations and golf courses, and iconic moments from different eras of the game. This is a nod to the fact that, while now not the only place you can see some of the world’s best golfers, the greatest talent, iconic golf locations, and unforgettable moments can only be found on the PGA Tour. 

Not long after, LIV Golf launched a new brand campaign titled Long LIV Golf, celebrating what they call the ‘Future of Golf’ as the 2025 seasons got underway. Their campaign focused on the forward-thinking nature of LIV and its opportunity to redefine how golf is experienced and enjoyed through innovations, team competition, and an ‘electrifying event atmosphere’ that welcomes fans from all backgrounds. The campaign’s creative focus was on ideas that captured LIV’s vision: bringing more excitement, more energy, and more golf to more people. Of course, this is a not-so-subtle nod to LIV’s perspective that the PGA Tour will provide you with the same old, bland golf offering. 
Though LIV Golf has put together impressive campaign messaging with an enticing perspective on the game, the results suggest that it has not been enough to draw significant attention away from the PGA Tour in favour of LIV. For example, in February 2025, the PGA’s WM Phoenix Open’s final round drew 50x more viewers (2.9 million) than the LIV Golf event on the same day. Similarly, the PGA’s 2025 Player’s Championship final round drew in 100 times the amount of viewers (3.6 million) compared to the LIV Golf Singapore event on the same day. Of course, the LIV events both took place overseas, meaning they didn’t benefit from the North American primetime viewership of the PGA events, but the difference is striking.

Emerging Trends for Marketing in Golf

As the future of professional golf continues to unfold, there are several emerging and continuing trends to keep an eye on:

Data Analytics: Professional Golf tours increasingly leverage advanced analytics (shot tracking technology, swing analysis, and player-specific analytics), allowing advertisers to create more personalized and engaging campaigns based on users’ interest in the game. 

Continued Brand Integration in Content: We’ve hardly touched on traditional static advertisements throughout the course of this article, and that trend is expected to continue. Expect to see more branded challenges, player sponsorships, and other types of product placements in golf media experiences. 

Virtual Reality and Digital Experiences: Golf simulators and VR experiences are already on the rise for the average player, and new technology could give fans the opportunity to ‘attend’ tournaments without physically being there. In addition, the PGA recently launched The Golf League (TGL), a tech-infused, indoor, team-based competition that uses many simulated elements. The new league is a direct response to LIV’s shorter and more digestible game format.  

E-Sports and Gaming: Popular video game titles like PGA Tour 2K are already popular among younger audiences and have recently made new efforts to include influencers and additional branded content. For example, the most recent PGA Tour Game allows you to play as some of the PGA’s featured influencers, such as the Barstool Sports personalities and other content creators. 
In short, the future of marketing in professional golf will continue to focus on emerging technologies, engagement with fans, and diversification of experiential offerings. With a potential merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf seemingly on the table, we should be in for no shortage of new and exciting opportunities.