TGL is back for season two, and it’s… meh.
It’s got every ingredient it needs to be a roaring success. Crazy holes like Stinger and Cenote, which force pros to reach into their bag of tricks, the biggest stars on the planet all mic’d up, and appearances from Tiger Woods. So why does it feel… flat?
Its momentum from last season has completely stalled. Week one of TGL 2026 saw a nearly 30% decrease in TV viewership from 2025, from 919k on ESPN to 646k on ABC.
TGL was supposed to be a revolutionary new way to enjoy the sport, bringing golf to the next generation of fans. It was set to be flashy, loud, innovative, fast-paced, and fun. These young fans with their short attention spans would be bound to love it, right?
That’s where the league has made its biggest mistake, and it’s an issue it shares with LIV Golf. It fundamentally misunderstands its target demographic.
TGL and LIV Golf do not understand young people
You hear it a lot. “TGL is a brilliant way to bring golf to a younger audience.” But is it? I know we all think that young sports fans can’t focus on a full sporting event. They need loud noises, bright lights, and fast-paced action to enjoy sports. But are we sure about that?
It’s the biggest misconception among decision-makers in sport globally. FIFA has spoken about shortening events, as has Formula One. The consensus seems to be that there’s a need to make sports faster and attention-grabbing, otherwise they risk extinction.
But why are young sports fans different from anyone else? Like most fans, young people just want an entertaining sporting event. It doesn’t matter that golf is played at a slower pace over four days, in a muted environment without the extravagance of other sports.
If you put on an entertaining product, young fans will watch. Just take the MLB as an example. After years of falling out of the national spotlight, baseball is back. It lacks the flashiness of the NBA, but it’s now competing for global attention and is wildly popular among young people.
What changes should TGL make in order for you to watch it?
TGL feels a little 'try-hard' right now…
Does that not tell you all you need to know about young sports fans? They’re not goldfish. Stop treating them like it.
TGL has made plenty of mistakes, but this might be the most glaring. And LIV Golf made the same error of judgment. “Golf but Louder” was their original slogan, as they preached proudly that they were bringing in the next generation of golf fans. But what makes you think young people want golf to be louder?
YouTube golf is immensely popular among young fans, and yes, sometimes it’s loud and obnoxious, but not always. Some of the most successful videos are toned down, low-key, and hours long. Above all else, they’re entertaining, and young fans connect with that.
So let this be a lesson for the next innovative, industry-driving concept, seeking to capture the imagination of today’s youth, in golf or elsewhere. You don’t need to make your content shorter, louder, or flashier. Just make it better.
LIV Golf has allowed the PGA Tour to win golf’s civil war by misunderstanding young fans
2025 saw the PGA Tour take real momentum in its ongoing war against LIV Golf. It surged in popularity, meanwhile it was recently revealed that LIV Golf was losing millions in its attempt to become the premier tour in golf.
As LIV was misinterpreting what young golf fans really want, the PGA Tour stayed true to itself. New CEO Brian Rolapp said he wouldn’t be bound by tradition when he started his new role, but he’s at least maintaining the core principles that make golf, golf.
There are no gimmicks on the PGA Tour. No music blasting, no over-the-top player entrances or podium celebrations. It’s just a modernized version of what it’s always been, and young people are connecting with it as they always have.
What’s the biggest reason you don’t watch LIV Golf?
CBS Sports said they averaged 2.969 million viewers per broadcast this regular PGA Tour season, marking a 17% increase over 2024 and the best numbers since 2018. And that’s with the rival LIV Golf league splitting the viewership.
If you watched The Open Championship or the Irish Open, you’d have seen how invested young people are in golf. They crammed into the galleries to welcome Rory McIlroy home, creating an incredible atmosphere rolling around the course completely organically.
The PGA Tour and the DP World Tour haven’t fallen into the same trap as TGL and LIV Golf. By respecting young people’s intelligence, they have captured the imagination of the next generation of golf fans for years to come, while the tour’s rivals scramble for survival.
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