PGA TOUR Expands Content Through NBC, CBS, ESPN+

PGA Tour connects with ViacomCBS, Comcast/NBC Sports Group, The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN+ - TOUR will significantly expand its content offerings. LPGA will also receive expanded exposure.

In my experience, golf beginners are so absorbed with all aspects of the game that they tend to flip to every event they can find, whether it be on television, or on the web. As you become more of a player, experience tends to lend itself more towards playing the game and watching the higher-level tournaments.

Whatever your desire, if you are itching to watch more golf on TV, the PGA Tour is now going to make it easier than ever to find content. The below press release describes the current portfolio-building efforts of the PGA Tour.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, March 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marking the culmination of a long-term strategic planning process designed to best serve fans through traditional broadcast, Over-the-Top streaming (OTT) and emerging technologies, the PGA TOUR today announced its new nine-year domestic media rights portfolio for 2022-2030.

“Following a comprehensive process of studying the market, talking to all interested parties and analyzing our various options, we’re excited to announce that we have entered into new agreements with our existing partners ViacomCBS and Comcast/NBC Sports Group, while establishing a new long-term relationship with Disney and ESPN+,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan.

“We were extremely pleased with the interest we received from the market – both with incumbents and other media companies – and are excited that our current partners shared our vision for the future, and we are equally excited to be back in business with Disney and ESPN+.  These new deals will be a major win for our fans, bringing an elevated commitment from all three partners to help us expand and innovate our content and its delivery.”

Financial details will not be disclosed, but Monahan continued, “The nine-year deals will put us in a position to significantly increase player earnings, deliver more value to our tournaments and sponsors, and ultimately allow us to continue to grow our charitable footprint. Additionally, we are now able to reinvest in our sport in a way never before possible, including production, personnel and technology, and are well positioned to best serve and grow our fanbase in the years to come.”

Broadcast & Cable Television
CBS and NBC will maintain weekend coverage of most FedExCup tournaments, with CBS averaging 19 events and NBC eight events each season through the life of the agreements. Under the new schedule, one network will televise all three FedExCup Playoffs events each year, starting with NBC in 2022 and generally alternating with CBS, creating powerful, three-week coverage of the conclusion of the race for the FedExCup.

NBC Sports Group also will continue as the TOUR’s cable partner, with GOLF Channel providing all early-round coverage and early weekend coverage of every FedExCup event each season, along with PGA TOUR Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour. Further strengthening the ties, the TOUR and NBC Sports will expand their collaborative content and programming relationships.

Another central component of the new agreements will see the PGA TOUR assume responsibility of the onsite production area and technical infrastructure each week, enabling the TOUR to more efficiently aggregate, distribute and develop content for its various platforms worldwide. CBS and NBC will still use their own production and announce teams, led by their producers, directors and production personnel.

Additionally, the TOUR and its media partners will collaborate on creating more sponsorship and marketing opportunities, inside and outside PGA TOUR golf coverage, including access to the vast resources of ViacomCBS, Comcast/NBC Sports Group and Disney and ESPN+.

“We’re excited to extend NBC Sports’ historic partnership with the PGA TOUR as its foundational media partner.  We will continue to utilize our extensive platforms to showcase golf with unparalleled live tournament coverage, comprehensive news and high-quality content. Golf is a part of NBCUniversal’s DNA across our broadcast, cable, streaming and digital properties – nowhere more so than GOLF Channel,” said Pete Bevacqua, President, NBC Sports Group. “With more live golf coverage than all other U.S. media companies combined, our relationship with the PGA TOUR also includes THE PLAYERS and Presidents Cup, as well as elevating the PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry TOUR and LPGA Tour via our world-class coverage.”

“Extending our successful long-standing relationship with the PGA TOUR was a top priority and we are thrilled to add nine more years to this terrific partnership” said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. “As the PGA TOUR’s primary broadcast network, we are excited to showcase over two-thirds of all broadcast network coverage of the PGA TOUR, expand our schedule with all three FedExCup Playoffs events in alternate years, and to increase our use of PGA TOUR content across all CBS Sports platforms, with even more expansive content exclusivity.  For over 60 years the PGA TOUR, its tournaments and sponsors have been outstanding partners. We look forward to many more years of growth and success together.”

PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+
For the first time, the TOUR’s digital rights were negotiated concurrently with its linear offering and will have a new, exciting, direct-to-consumer home: ESPN+.  As a result of the new agreement, PGA TOUR LIVE – the TOUR’s subscription video service that was launched in 2015 – will live exclusively on ESPN+ beginning in 2022 and will be dramatically expanded to include multiple live content channels nearly every week of the FedExCup season.

Jimmy Pitaro, President, ESPN and co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks said, “We are looking forward to working with the PGA TOUR to bring current and future golf fans the next generation of TOUR coverage. ESPN+ will offer golf fans unprecedented access and storytelling at an incredible value on the industry’s leading sports streaming platform.”

Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer, PGA TOUR added, “The relationship with Disney and ESPN+ gives the TOUR the opportunity to expand and diversify audiences and the TOUR and ESPN will work together to bring new and unique content to our fans.”

ESPN+, the leading sports streaming service from Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN, has grown quickly to reach 7.6 million subscribers (as of February 3, 2020) and the new relationship will provide a significant growth opportunity for PGA TOUR content via ESPN+’s digital reach, innovative platform and young and diverse audience. 

PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ will bring fans more access to the 30,000-plus golf shots hit each week on the PGA TOUR by delivering more than 4,000 hours of live streaming coverage annually.  PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ will include live coverage from 36 tournaments – from the TOUR’s Hawaii events in January all the way through the year – with at least 28 events having four full days of coverage, with four simultaneous live feeds each day. PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ will also feature on-demand replays of PGA TOUR events, original golf programs, edited speed round recaps and more.

All of this will be available to ESPN+ subscribers as part of the base subscription, alongside more than 12,000 other live sporting events, an unmatched lineup of studio programs, original series and documentaries, along with a library of other, on-demand programming. 

ESPN+ is available through the ESPN App, (on mobile and connected devices), ESPN.com or ESPNplus.com.  It is also available as part of a bundle offer that gives subscribers access to Disney+, Hulu (ad-supported), and ESPN+ at a discounted price.

LPGA
As part of its Strategic Alliance with the LPGA, the PGA TOUR also successfully negotiated rights agreements that will see the LPGA Tour continue as anchor programming on GOLF Channel, along with expanded exposure for LPGA Tour events on NBC and CBS each year, beyond the U.S. Women’s Open, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and AIG Women’s British Open, which are already on network.

Specifically, the TOUR secured the long-term extension of the LPGA/GOLF Channel partnership (2022-2030) with ancillary programming, including a season preview, season review and Road to the CME Group Tour Championship.  In addition, GOLF Channel will provide dedicated programming for the Symetra Tour each year, as well as enhanced marketing and promotional assets and expanded benefits for LPGA sponsors.

As part of the agreement, the LPGA maintains control of all of its media rights outside the United States and receives expanded digital content rights.

“This agreement is an important milestone in the strategic partnership between the LPGA and the PGA TOUR and a great example of the collaboration happening among golf’s biggest stakeholders,” said LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan. “Thanks to the enhanced agreement with GOLF Channel and increased network coverage on NBC and CBS, more viewers in the U.S. and around the globe will experience the quality and diversity of the LPGA Tour. This gives us a domestic broadcast partner to help deliver another decade of unprecedented growth and provides a foundation that will springboard the women’s game into the future.”

“The LPGA is a very important industry partner, and we are proud that our strategic alliance has enabled these results,” said Monahan.  “I’m so impressed with Mike Whan’s leadership and the world-class talent of the LPGA’s athletes, and it’s exciting to know that when fans want to watch professional golf at the highest level, they are going to see both Tours on the same platforms – with the same partners – for the foreseeable future.”

Evolution Media Capital, a division of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), served as the media advisor to PGA TOUR.

About PGA TOUR
By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires and positively impacts our fans, partners and communities worldwide.

The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions more than 130 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories (93 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 226 countries and territories in 23 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving. In 2019, tournaments across all Tours generated a record $204.3 million for local and national charitable organizations, bringing the all-time total to more than $3 billion.

Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, on the PGA TOUR app and on social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram (in English, Spanish and Korean), LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, Toutiao and Douyin.

About the LPGA
The LPGA is the world’s leading professional golf organization for women. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., the association celebrates a diverse and storied membership with more than 2,300 Members representing more than 30 countries. With a vision to inspire, empower, educate and entertain by showcasing the very best of women’s golf, LPGA Tour Professionals compete across the globe, while the Symetra Tour, the official development and qualifying tour of the LPGA consistently produces a pipeline of talent ready for the world stage. Additionally, LPGA Professionals directly impact the game through teaching, coaching and management.

The LPGA demonstrates its dedication to the development of the game through The LPGA Foundation. Since 1991, this charitable organization has been committed to empowering and supporting girls and women through developmental, humanitarian and golf community initiatives, including LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, the LPGA Women’s Network and the LPGA Amateur Golf Association.

Follow the LPGA on its television home, GOLF Channel, and on the web via www.LPGA.com. Join the social conversation at www.facebook.com/lpga, www.twitter.com/lpga and www.youtube.com/lpgavideo, and on Instagram at @lpga_tour.

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Tiger Woods Creating a Happy Meal, Masters Style for Champions Dinner

By now, most fans interested in Tiger Woods Masters menu already know what the Cablinasian is serving...does it make you hungry?

FYI...As defined by Wiktionary.org, "Cablinasian (plural Cablinasians) (rare, of Tiger Woods) A person who is Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian."

The Champions dinner is a mix of sushi and sashimi, fajitas with possible milkshakes for dessert - that's fish, meat, and vegetables with a slider of milk at the end of the meal to coat the stomach lining.

To be fair, Augusta National will prepare this meal to its highest level but is this what you would serve your guests at one of the most sought-after tables of the year?

I guess that the winners will be happy to appear at the Champions dinner table no matter what is served no matter what the possible side effects will be on Wednesday morning! Guys, some advice...keep Pepto-Bismol on hand.

That being said, here is the menu, in the words of Tiger Woods,

"Being born and raised in SoCal, having fajitas and sushi was a part of my entire childhood, and I’m going back to what I had in 2006,” explained Woods, a five-time winner at Augusta National. “So we’ll have steak and chicken fajitas, and we’ll have sushi and sashimi out on the deck, and I hope the guys will enjoy it."

The Tiger Woods Masters menu from 1998, back when the champion was just a teenager included cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, french fries, milkshakes. In 2002, Woods decided porterhouse steak, chicken with a sushi appetizer.

If given the opportunity, what dishes would you serve at the Masters Champions Dinner?

5 Frequently Asked Golf Questions from Quora.com

Quora.com is a question and answer site that receives between 3,000 to 5,000 questions every day, so Golf for Beginners gathered a few of the frequently asked golf questions for our readers. Whether you are a beginner or have been playing golf your entire life, you will be interested in the responses.

You may think these are all basic questions but how many of you actually know all the answers?

5  Frequently Asked Golf Questions from Quora.com  (click the links to read answers in their entirety)

1. How and when did golf originate?

Richard Fellner, Editor of Inside Golf (www.insidegolf.com.au). "It is widely accepted that the MODERN game of golf originated in Scotland in the 1400s (or even a bit earlier). The first written record of golf was when James II banned the game as it was distracting to the soldiers who were supposed to be learning archery."

2. What is behind the historic low scoring on the PGA Tour?

Clay Nicolsen, Rules of Golf Tournament Official states, "Because of high-speed analysis of golf swings, plus the sum of all the study of past decades more is understood about the physics of the golf swing than ever before."

READ: The most frequently asked golf questions from Ask.com

3. What's the best driver to buy to maximize your chance of hitting fairways?

Matthew Alexander, "I don't think there's a definitive answer here.  If there were a clear best (longest or most accurate or whatever) driver, you'd see everyone playing that driver..."

I'd suggest going to a demo day in your area.  Try out all the popular brands...

4. What's the biggest difference between a scratch player and a tour player?

Jenni Jenq, former Symetra Tour Professional Golfer at LPGA (2012-2017), "...to call yourself a professional tour player who successfully makes money playing golf, you need to possess a golf game that can produce scores of par or better. For men, they need to shoot 70 or better on medium difficulty golf courses. To be a successful tour player, you need to be a 60s shooter. Shooting par would be on an off day."

5. If you had to hit the green from 125 yards, what golf club would you use? Click the link to read the entire answer.

Lewis Greer, "One of the great things about golf is that the circumstances surrounding any shot can change from day to day and even hole to hole. Understanding, imagination and adaptability are very important."

Interesting questions! For example, what golf club would you use for a 125-yard distance?

Learn more about golf and your game! Subscribe to the Golf for Beginners blog (on the top of this page) and follow us on Twitter @Golf4Beginners!

Do You Agree with Patrick Reed attacks?

Golf for Beginners enjoys being objective about all news and wonders about the validity of some claims, so today we briefly review the infractions and conversations over Patrick Reed - is he really a villain? Did he break the rules in the 11th bunker at the Hero World Challenge?

Michael Bamberger, on Golf.com, stated yesterday that, until "Reed owns his rules blunder, he will remain hard to root for..."

Here is the video which alleges the rules violation that Patrick Reed has, indeed, "improved his lie":


Are YOU finding it difficult to root for Patrick Reed?

Well, I don't think he cares, as Patrick Reed says, "he doesn't listen," and that all the rantings, "didn't bother me at all. “I'm on the golf course. I'm focusing on what I need to do."

Your comments are welcome at the bottom of this golf blog!

How to Organize a Successful Golf Tournament Fundraiser

When it comes to raising money for an effort or an organization, there are all sorts of ideas out there for people to generate giving or loyalty through a golf tournament fundraiser.

Some fundraisers are spread over days, if not weeks. Others don’t sound like very much fun at all. Some fundraisers can be localized to just one day, can be a lot of fun and have the potential to generate some really amazing fundraising results. One that’s a favorite of ours, of course, is a golf fundraising event.

There are a lot of positive things to consider hosting a golf fundraising tournament. For starters, lots of people love to play golf, whether they are experts or simply just want to get out on the greens for a day of sun and fun.

And then there’s the money-raising potential.

Not only can you make remunerations by people who are donating to play, but there is a huge potential to generate donations from sponsorships by corporations who want to be associated with your efforts. Here are some pointers to use.

Thanks to givingassistant.org for this graphic.

The origination of this article can be found at GivingAssistant.org where you will find tips on how to plan a successful golf fundraiser in seven steps.

Thanks to Laura Newcomer for writing the introduction to this article.

Looking to Start a Fantasy Golf League? White Label Fantasy Sports Software 

3 Great Ways For Beginners To Experience Golf in Las Vegas

Golf for Beginners brings to you this Guest Post by Brian Peña @ Red Birdie Golf

Golf In Las Vegas - an Overview

Over the years Las Vegas has made a name for itself by constantly rebranding.  Whether it was catering to families in the late ’90s or transitioning itself to the adult playground where “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, Las Vegas is always going through changes.

Most recently, Las Vegas has positioned itself as a complete tourist destination by attracting visitors with incredible nightclub venues, daytime pool parties, and some of the top celebrity chefs in the world.

While understandably most people always associate Las Vegas with gambling, it has begun to position itself as an outstanding golf destination as well.  Currently, there are over seventy courses within a 30-mile radius of the Las Vegas strip, including a couple located right on the Las Vegas strip; Bali HaiGolf Club and The Wynn Golf Club.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at three of the best ways for beginners to experience golf in Las Vegas.  So if you’re ready to pack up your clubs and experience golf in Vegas, let’s get started!

Top Golf at MGM Grand

Located right behind the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas strip, Top Golf is a great way for beginners or even those haven’t even started playing, to experience golf.

Although Top Golf isn’t your traditional golfing experience, it’s still a fun way to experience the game.  For those that haven’t been to a Top Golf venue, the best way to think of it is as a driving range on steroids.

You can play competitive games, enjoy some drinks, and experience golf in a non-stuffy way it’s so commonly associated with.

This approach to introducing beginners to golf seems to be working as the numbers have shown an increase in millennials starting to show an interest in the game.

Cloud 9 at Angel Park

Located about 12 miles west of the Strip is a twelve hole Par-3 golf course called Cloud 9 at Angel Park Golf.

Some of the holes on this course are inspired by some of the most famous par-3 holes in the world and one of the cool things about this course is that it can even be played at night.

When playing this course you definitely won’t need your driver or fairway woods but it can still be very challenging setup, especially hole #10 which is a tribute to hole #17 at TPC Sawgrass!

Royal Links Golf Club

Finally, we come to a full-length 18-hole golf course located about eight miles east of the Strip called RoyalLinks. 

As the name implies, this isn’t your typical desert golf course setup, it’s a links-style course in the middle of the Mojave desert!

This course features holes inspired by eleven different courses in The Open Championship rotation.  In fact, hole #10 at Royal Links is inspired by the 17th hole at St Andrews or the “Road Hole”.

At this course, you have the option to use fore caddies to simulate a complete golf experience, just make sure to stay out of those pot bunkers!

Vegas Baby!

There you have it, next time you make a trip out to Sin City don’t forget your clubs and make it a complete vacation experience.  Whether you’re in Las Vegas to have a traditional golfing experience or just hitting some balls in a party-type venue like Top Golf, this city has a variety of options for the beginner golfer to enjoy the greatest game made.

More about Red Birdie Golf: Our vision is to help beginner and intermediate golfers better understand the game and inform them about the best products on the market so that they can play their best and enjoy the game to the fullest.