Tour News
The European Tour’s bold bid to attract young golfers
The European Tour is discussing a six-hole format with time limits for shots, music, and alternatives clothing to traditional golf apparel for young golfers, per Chris Cutmore of Mail Online.
European Tour chief Keith Pelley was inspired by Twenty20, which has created a variety of cricket that’s more catered to millennial mindset. While details are limited at this point, the European Tour is discussing the prospect of an international match play competition, which they will “experiment” with in 2017 and potentially introduce in 2018.
“You could see England playing Scotland in a six-hole matchplay,” Pelley told BBC Radio’s Adam Parsons.
Listen to Pelley’s full interview with BBC Radio here.
The National Golf Foundation found earlier this year that participation among golfers who played at least once during the calendar year hovered around 25 million again at 24.1 million golfers. In 2014 that number was 24.7 million. Of course, these figures mark a steep decline from the Tiger Woods-era peak in 2005 of 30 million, but the figures are consistent with the pre-Tiger Woods participation figure: 24.7 million in 1995. (All with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 875,000 golfers).
Encouragingly, the NGF found beginners numbered 2.2 million in 2015, which is close to the all-time high of 2.4 million in 2000. New efforts and creative thinking could bolster future growth and offer alternatives to traditional match and medal-play formats.
What do you think? Is thinking like Pelley’s what the game needs?
- LIKE36
- LEGIT1
- WOW1
- LOL0
- IDHT4
- FLOP6
- OB3
- SHANK82
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Players Championship
On the heels of Scottie Scheffler’s dominant victory at Bay Hill, the PGA Tour heads a little farther north in Florida to TPC Sawgrass this week for The Players Championship. And of course, GolfWRX is on site to get a look at what the players are playing.
We’ve already spotted a new Titleist mini driver this week, and there’s plenty more.
Check out our photos below!
Pullout Albums
- New Titleist 2 wood – 2024 The Players Championship
- Cam Young testing Titleist’s new 2-wood – 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship
- Hole Nos. 17 and 18 – 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship
- Toulon Small Batch Texas putter – 2024 The Players Championship
- Swag Golf custom headcovers – 2024 The Players Championship
- New Ping PLD staff bags – 2024 The Players Championship
- SuperStroke St. Patrick’s Day putter grip – 2024 The Players Championship
- Taylor Montgomery using PuttView X training goggles – 2024 The Players Championship
- LIKE4
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
GolfWRX is on the ground in Orlando ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
We’re assembling our usual collection of WITB photos, general galleries, and of course, gear inspired by the King himself.
We’ll continue to add to the photos below as more flow in from Florida.
General Albums
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Monday #1
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Monday #2
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Monday #3
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Tuesday #2
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Tuesday #1 (thanks, bvmagic!)
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Tuesday #3 (bvmagic)
- 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational – Tuesday #2 (bvmagic)
WITB Albums
- Matt (LFG) Every – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Sahith Theegala – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Scottie Scheffler – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Luke List – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Adam Schenk – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Taylor Moore – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- David Ford – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Pullout Albums
- New Cameron putters (and new “LD” grip) – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- New Bettinardi MB & CB irons – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Custom Bettinardi API putter cover – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Custom Swag API covers – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- New Golf Pride Reverse Taper grips – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- New PXG putters – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Scottie Scheffler putter change – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Sepp Straka – shaft change to new Ventus blue – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Rickie Fowler’s new Cobra Darkspeed X driver and Denali shaft (and Radspeed 3-wood) – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Justin Rose testing Srixon Z Forged II irons – 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
- LIKE23
- LEGIT6
- WOW1
- LOL2
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Cognizant Classic —FKA the Honda Classic.
The first leg of the PGA Tour’s traditional “Florida swing,” the Cognizant Classic continues to be contested at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, host course of the 1983 Ryder Cup and 1987 PGA Championship. The course is known for its famed “Bear Trap,” a three-hole stretch of holes that take their name from Jack “The Golden Bear” Nicklaus, who redesigned the course in 2002.
The Bear Trap includes No. 15 (a par 3), No. 16 (a par 4), and No. 17 (a par 4). All three holes involve water and have led to several big numbers from Tour players over the years.
Check out an assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums below.
We’ll continue to update the galleries as more photos flow in from Florida!
General Albums
- 2024 Cognizant Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Cognizant Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Cognizant Classic – Monday #3
- 2024 Cognizant Classic – Monday #4
- 2024 Cognizant Classic – Tuesday #1
WITB Albums
- Brandt Snedeker – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Max Greyserman – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Eric Cole – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Carl Yuan – WITb – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Russell Henley – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Justin Suh – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Alex Noren – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Shane Lowry – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Taylor Montgomery – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Jake Knapp (KnappTime_ltd) – WITB – – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Sam Ryder – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Maverick McNealy – WITB – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Tua Tagovailoa mini WITB (NFL QB, Miami Dolphins) – 2024 Cognizant Classic
Pullout Albums
- New Super Stoke Pistol Lock 1.0 & 2.0 grips – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- LA Golf new insert putter – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- New Garsen Quad Tour 15 grip – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- New Swag covers – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Jacob Bridgeman’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Bud Cauley’s custom Cameron putters – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Ryo Hisatsune’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Chris Kirk – new black Callaway Apex CB irons and a few Odyssey putters
- Alejandro Tosti’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Cognizant Classic
- Joohyung Tom Kim’s “new” center-shafted Scotty Cameron putter – 2024 Cognizant Classic
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
- LIKE10
- LEGIT1
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK0
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Tour pro calls Anthony Kim a ‘f*****g idiot’ following Instagram comeback post
-
Whats in the Bag3 weeks ago
Anthony Kim WITB 2024 (February)
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks ago
Scottie Scheffler WITB 2024 (March)
-
Tour Photo Galleries2 weeks ago
Photos from the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
The total sum that Sergio Garcia needs to pay in fines if he wants to return to DP World Tour revealed
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Joaquin Niemann names 3 PGA Tour events he’d love to play each year ‘in a perfect world’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
‘Seems suspect’ – PGA Tour pro hits out at decision to hand Adam Scott and Webb Simpson Bay Hill sponsor exemptions
-
Equipment2 weeks ago
Spotted: Bettinardi irons at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
JThunder
Jul 27, 2016 at 4:25 am
Bold bid? Sounds like typical corporate mindset. Want to do something bold? Shift some of the multimillions of dollars that go to corporate sponsors and a few elite players and get that money into jobs and careers. Want to know why Millennials aren’t playing golf? They don’t have time and they don’t have money. Most are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and even then, barely.
The secondary issue is that the tech companies push the whole population – from grade school kids to senior citizens – to spend all their time online; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, sports, news, almost everything possible. This is tearing great holes in the economy – except for the tech companies, ISPs, and hosts – but few “content providers” make any money at all, and much of the marketing is skipped or ignored.
Matt Mitchell
Jul 25, 2016 at 7:40 pm
Does anyone even care about golf in Europe
Seems like to me, they are busy bowing down to Russia
Leon
Jul 25, 2016 at 3:48 pm
Not a big fan of this proposal. I understood he is trying to bring more people, especially young people, to the game. But this is no necessary to make the golf game to a hippie style, just like playing soccer on a golf course, make the hole larger, more music on course, and other BS.
Golf is not a game for everyone, whether young guys like to spend 4 hours on course, or the same amount of time on social media or Pokeman GO, that is their choice. The only thing need to change is the slow play, longer product release cycle, and the media coverage.
CD
Jul 25, 2016 at 6:35 am
It’s not just ‘millenials’ some abstract term that has blurred lines, people in the UK from all ages watch T20. It’s even reinvigorated Test cricket.
ffs
Jul 25, 2016 at 3:40 am
No need for that silliness. What people need to see on TV are the big Amateur Tournaments from around the world in which the young kids and college kids participate, so that the next generations can relate. That’ll be enough to open some eyes and fuel more interest, but the coverage on TV has to be steady and informative, and constantly being talked about in all sports news outlets. And it has to be global, so that the competition gets fierce and strong.
RAT
Jul 24, 2016 at 9:31 pm
I think the coverage is too much of the same old same old guys. I believe there is just as much interest in not as well known players .I change the channel where it’s the same bunch of guys that I’m not interested in that much, one can only handle so much Phil, Rory and etc. I like to hear more about the character type guy like “BEEF” ,that’s what I like about the European tour they show a lot of different players and the stories . PGA is too “stiff neck”.
Billy
Jul 25, 2016 at 4:03 am
I fully agree!
Dirt
Jul 25, 2016 at 9:11 am
You are totally right.
Bladehunter
Jul 24, 2016 at 8:20 pm
And the last nail is being driven into the games coffin .
Adam Cook
Jul 25, 2016 at 8:59 am
Cool, let’s all just watch 72 hole strokeplay events all year….
Good on Keith Pelley for challenging the norm. A short-form, matchplay, T20 style competition would be brilliant
SirBigSpur
Jul 25, 2016 at 12:13 pm
Agreed. And the thing is, stroke play isn’t going anywhere. If you want to watch only that, you’ll be able to do so till your heart’s content. This gives us more format options and that’s a good thing. I mean, how awesome was the college national championship match b/w Oregon and Texas??! I had no idea I liked college golf until watching that and now it’ll be appointment viewing for me going forward.
Chopper
Jul 25, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Yes, Oregon/Texas was great, but it wasn’t even the best college championship that week. The UW/Stanford match was off the hook.