Golf is Growing in Not Just Engagement, but Participation too
Sign up below to stay up to date on the sports stories changing our industry:
Innovation in Action
Growth In Engagement, Not Just Participation
Earlier in March, we talked about how women are fueling growth in golf - especially from a participation perspective. While this research helps support our recent partnership with the LPGA to grow the women’s game itself, the entire sport is on an incredible upward trajectory.
The 2023 Masters Tournament took place from April 6th - 9th. According to CBS, one of the two main broadcast networks, they averaged over 12 million viewers during the five-hour broadcast window on Sunday afternoon. While this is still shy of the record-setting 1997 tournament with 40+ million viewers, this past one surpassed 2022’s viewership by about 19%. This noticeable increase would indicate to us that engagement is on the way up, following our past research that participation is increasing as well. It's hard to pinpoint what drove viewership, but it's a likely combination of the LIV vs. PGA storyline and the Netflix docuseries Full Swing generating hype (read more about the Masters TV Ratings here).
The participation world had its own massive announcement this week. The two sons of Mike Keiser, the visionary developer behind Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley, will break ground this summer on Rodeo Dunes in - you guessed it - Roggen, Colorado.
It'll only take an hour from downtown Denver for golf geeks to reach their version of heaven: up to 6 state-of-the-art public courses with unique and unconventional design.
Colorado just won the golf lottery, folks!
With recent cultural changes in golf, such as the modernization of golf clothing brands as well as courses and media outlets alike actively targeting more casual fans, this new golf haven in Colorado is following the trend. They have aspirations for it to be very modern. They want the different courses to feel fun and quirky, even going as far as exploring an unorthodox amount of holes per course.
So, how can we accredit this increase in participation? We identified four ways spending habits indicate golf participation: buying gear, playing on a course, social experiences, and spending on the PGA Tour. In the United States, social experiences like TopGolf can be largely credited for giving players their initial foray into the 300-year-old sport.
After exploring the habits of golf enthusiasts since 2016, we noticed that - while TopGolf is a heavy driver and very prevalent around the country - it doesn’t necessarily mean somebody is a converted golf enthusiast.
*Our data comes from a random panel of 20 million credit & debit card holders in the United States from January 1, 2016 - April 20, 2023.
Jon Rahm Celebrates His First Green Jacket
This year’s Masters Tournament was the 87th Masters held from April 6, 2023 to April 9, 2023. It was held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. This year’s winner was Spanish professional golfer Jon Rahm, giving him his second major championship win at Augusta National Golf Club and his first career green jacket. Rahm won the $3,240,000 out of the $18,000,000 pool. With this win, Rahm earned his title as No.1 in the world.
Second place was tied by American professional golfers Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. Rahm entered the final round 2 strokes behind Koepka, yet Koepka failed to secure a birdie until the 13th hole, pushing Rahm to his win.
We'll see if Rahm is able to hold his title at the Mexico Open, which is held on the Vidanta Vallarta course from April 27-30th, 2023.
If you're ready to create breakthrough fan experiences and connect with the Fluid Fan through technology, visit our website sportsilab.com or email info@sportsilab.com! Sign up for our Most Innovative Membership by emailing membersonly@sportsilab.com or visiting mostinnovative.com!