Team Golf Needs A Bigger Place In The Game

It seems so obvious that team golf should be a major fixture in golf’s landscape.

And yet, it’s been difficult to execute.

While events like the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and NCAA Championships have flourished into must-watch matches for golf lovers, other attempts at team golf have fallen flat.

The Presidents Cup is one-sided and contrived. The Zurich Classic has some positive elements—but it struggles to attract a good field and is played on one of the PGA Tour’s worst venues.

LIV Golf (and, coming next year, TGL) lack meaning and connection to fans. There is no compelling reason those specific teams are together, so it’s hard to say any of the competition matters.

A few made-for-TV matches generated interest before and during the pandemic but have otherwise not added much in terms of entertainment.

So what should team golf look like in the game? It’s a daunting question.

The Case For More—But Different—Team Golf

As we see golf TV ratings struggle in 2024, it’s a reminder that the game needs to innovate on multiple fronts to maintain (and hopefully grow) its audience.

Golf will likely always be an inherently individual sport for the majors and biggest tournaments, but I am a believer that team golf should have a larger place in the game.

There is an added layer of intrigue when players are on teams. It lends itself to trades, heightened praise/criticism, promotion/relegation and an added element of emotion.

What we’ve seen so far from LIV has only gotten a small portion of this right, which is part of the reason not many people are watching.

Nobody can recreate the Ryder Cup and all the history baked into that event, but what is stopping golf from following more of a Formula 1 team model that is included throughout the season? Or as I’ve suggested in the past, the team element can at least start as a specific series of events before expanding.

I would love to see this implemented in a new, reimagined version of pro golf, although it’s a tricky situation to work through.

LIV Golf’s team system hasn’t resonated with fans because the teams are arbitrary and there are no consequences for good or bad performance other than money, which fans don’t care about. The players stay on the teams no matter how poorly they are playing.

At the same time, golf doesn’t have the luxury other sports have where fans are connected to a location. Golf can’t give us a team from Boston, New York or Denver and have it mean anything—because there is no reason for fans to care about that. The players aren’t from there, nor will they be playing in those cities.

It’s the biggest knock against TGL, a simulator league coming in 2025. I’m still bullish that it will be entertaining and additive to the larger golf landscape, but it’s not PGA Tour golf on an actual course.

So where does team golf go from here?

“Formula 1” Season-Long Team Golf

I have a lot of wishes for what will hopefully be a new era in professional golf (whether we ever get to that point is another conversation entirely).

All of the best players together on a more global tour that incorporates golf-starved regions. Individual promotion/relegation between a top tier of superstars (70 or so players) and lower tier of secondary PGA Tour golf. A sleeker TV product that includes more creative advertising. More entertainment sources beyond the competition.

Included on that list is for team golf to get a more prominent position in the game.

Here is how I would do it.

I would divide the top tier of the game’s best into six teams of five players, each representing an OEM that sponsors the team. There would be another 40 players competing as individuals.

Each OEM signs up to 12 players to team contracts. Any of those 12 players can compete on the team any given week, while the others compete as individuals.

So let’s say Titleist has five of their staff members on the team competing in an event: Wyndham Clark, Max Homa, Ludvig Aberg, Brian Harman and Jordan Spieth. And then Callaway has Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Min Woo Lee and Si Woo Kim. And then TaylorMade has Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson.

You can mix and match the numbers and players, but you get the point.

The six teams compete every tournament—except the majors, which stay separated as individual-only competitions—with four of the five scores counting each round. Standard college golf rules.

The lineups can be filled out however each team captain wants, including the ability to send a guy down to the 40 wildcard competitors in favor of someone else who is playing well. Lineups can change between each event.

Teams get ranked according to how they finish each tournament, leading to playoffs. The top two teams get byes into the second round, the bottom two teams don’t qualify and the other four teams play against each other to get into the semifinals.

Within these events, there will be a couple tournaments that have unique formats like we saw at the Zurich last week—and those would only be for the guys competing on their respective teams. But mostly it will still be stroke play, satisfying TV executives and creating drama with individual champions still able to emerge.

On top of that, 10 players from the upper tier of pro golf would get relegated while fresh talent from the lower tier is promoted to fill those spots.

While not everyone has an attachment to a brand, the entertainment of whether a player deserves a spot on a team is enough to provide a reason to care.

Similar to Formula 1, there could be competition amongst the top brands to sign certain players. There could be team contracts, free agency, a salary cap or other elements that make sports entertaining.

If you aren’t playing well, you won’t play on the team. If you start to play better as an individual competitor, you’ll be back on the team. Course fits or current form can factor into decision making. It’s something to keep track of every event.

How do you motivate players and fans? Competition-related consequences.

No terrible team names or clip art logos. Everyone is familiar with the brands—they already play those same brands themselves.

Why Have Team Golf At All?

There is a case to say this is all too convoluted to work. Why have team golf at all?

To that I would say, what is the drawback of doing something like this?

You are still having individual stroke play tournaments among the best players. The legacy and tradition can still be a part of the PGA Tour—but everyone recognizes that it’s time to innovate with a new model.

Team golf provides storylines and drama, both on and off the course.

Imagine coming down the last few holes of the Players Championship with two teams tied. It’s a like a playoff with several guys involved. It’s interesting.

Imagine one of the game’s stars getting benched or relegated—or a new star taking his place. It’s interesting.

Imagine someone getting snubbed for a starting spot on their team and then they win the tournament. It’s interesting.

Maybe this exact idea isn’t the one, but it’s time for a new approach.

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