The Business of Golf

5 golf business stories worth knowing this week ⛳ 🐻 Jack Nicklaus buys back his own brand Following a Chapter 11 process, Nicklaus has reclaimed his name, his design business, and his legacy. 🏌️ TGL franchise values hit $100m Two seasons in. Minority stakes selling at $90–100m. Reddit, Inc. co-founder, Alexis Ohanian already in on the women's league for $20m. 💰 More golf courses are profitable than ever and PE is paying attention 85% broke even or turned a profit in 2025, up from 68% in 2018. The money is starting to notice. ⛳ Golf's growth is pulling in operators from outside the industry SFC Sports Venues, managing 100+ facilities, just launched a Golf Division. When football and basketball operators move in, the signal is hard to ignore. ⚖️ LIV Golf sued by Long Island distillery over alleged trademark infringement Long Island Spirits, which has traded as "LIV" vodka since 2007, has sued LIV Golf in a New York federal court claiming the golf league's use of the LIV name on alcoholic beverages and apparel is causing consumer confusion. 🚗 Bonus: Uber Golf is here Four passengers. Golf bags. And a launch that landed the same week as Tiger's arrest, generating more buzz than any campaign could have bought. The real question: is this a genuine product or just Uber XL with a premium badge? 🐯 Tiger's arrest and the commercial stakes Leniency is off the table. But for the PGA Tour's future competition chairman and TGL co-founder, the reputational damage will outlast any courtroom outcome. For more business insights, sign up to our free weekly newsletter newsletter 👇 #golf #golfbusiness #sports

In the newsletter this week 👇 Golf is changing at the top. The R&A's six-year consulting deal with Accenture signals something bigger than a sponsorship. The commercial implication of slow play,  why golf’s post-growth phase is creating selective buying opportunities and why Tiger Woods is both the asset and the risk for TGL’s media rights. Plus, in one thing from history, we look at Sir Walter and his limousine. Read the full breakdown. Link in comments. P.S. Don't forget to subscribe while you're there #golf #business

The "sportscation" is now a mainstream travel category. According to American Express Travel's 2025 Global Travel Trends Report, 60% of travellers plan to book at least one trip around a sporting event or entertainment experience this year. That number is climbing. Golf has always had destination travel. But the traveller has changed. They're not booking a resort and fitting golf in. They're building a trip around an experience, and expecting everything else to match that ambition. Omni PGA Frisco Resort & Spa in Texas is reading this clearly. Their SAVOR festival, four days of food, live music and golf on the PGA of America's 660-acre campus, is a lifestyle event with world-class golf infrastructure underneath it. Morning on the course. Evening with a Michelin-calibre chef. The course is still important. But the traveller choosing between comparable destinations is making their decision based on what happens after the round. Not every operator can build a four-day festival. But the principle scales. Partnerships with local restaurants, distilleries, cultural experiences, or tourist attractions can extend the stay and deepen the reason to choose you. A curated post-round itinerary costs very little to put together. The operators taking this seriously, at any budget level, are the ones positioned to capture a traveller category that is growing fast and spending big. #golf #golftourism #travel #trends

5 golf business stories worth knowing this week ⛳ 🏌♀️ LPGA opens the amateur pathway The LPGA is offering the winners of four major amateur championships a spot in the 2026 Standard Portland Classic, the first time all four amateur champions will compete together in the same LPGA Tour event. 💰 Wasserman rebrands and goes up for sale The sports and entertainment agency formerly known as Wasserman has rebranded as The Team, as formal bidding gets underway this week. Permira, EQT, TA Associates, and Goldman Sachs are among the expected bidders, with the agency anticipated to sell for around $2 billion. 🤝 DeChambeau calls out Tiger for a ‘grudge’ match Bryson DeChambeau has challenged Tiger Woods to a LIV vs. TGL team match, citing built-up rivalries and suggesting Netflix as the ideal platform. He calls it a "big growing-the-game moment." 🌍 LIV lands in Africa and the crowds show up LIV Golf's inaugural tournament in Africa at The Club at Steyn City in South Africa proved to be a massive success, drawing record-setting, "rowdy" crowds to Johannesburg. With attendance estimated to be between 90,000 and 100,000 fans, the event established itself as one of the highest-attended professional golf tournaments in South African history. ⚖️ PXG takes on tariffs in court PXG (PARSONS XTREME GOLF) has filed a complaint in US court over Trump administration tariffs. With clubs sourced internationally, it's a filing the wider golf equipment industry will be watching closely. 🏠 Bonus: Malbon is back at Augusta with its own house Malbon Golf is running a branded Airbnb activation during Masters week, a community hub for players, creators, and fans. Wellness runs, Nespresso rituals, and birdwatching masterclasses included. For more business insights sign up for our free weekly newsletter 👇

In the newsletter this week 👇 The algorithm is running your golf club. Inside the technology shift changing how courses operate, compete, and get valued. Accenture partners with The R&A to scale golf's digital infrastructure, Old Tom Capital's released their investment thesis, and The LPGA's "Live Era" Test where the Founders Cup marks a production milestone. Plus, in one thing from history, we look at The Masters Club and the most expensive dinner you'll ever buy. Read the full breakdown. Link in comments. P.S. Don't forget to subscribe while you're there #golf #business #sportsnews

Reddit r/Golf generated 3 billion+ views to posts in 2025. A platform in significant growth and golf has a serious presence on it. A new report from Reddit, Inc. and Sensor Tower confirms that sports fandom is no longer seasonal. It's always on, and it's driving real commercial behaviour year-round. 88% of sports fans visit community platforms weekly for sports content specifically. They're debating equipment, tracking tour news, and talking about the game constantly. And they're buying. These fans are 45% more likely to be planning a vacation, 83% are actively playing sport themselves, 22% are in-market for a car, 33% shopping for insurance. High-intent consumers, reachable year-round. Reddit is a discovery, listening and engagement tool and most golf brands aren't using it. Right now, golfers are telling you exactly what they think about your equipment, your course, your brand, and your competitors. Unprompted. In public. That's market research most brands are paying agencies for and it's sitting there for free. Discovery: What equipment questions are being asked? What frustrations keep coming up? The insight is already in the community. Listening: Monitor sentiment around your brand and competitors. Reddit doesn't do polished PR, it does honest opinion. That's more valuable. Engagement: Show up where your audience already is. Brands that contribute to the conversation earn a different kind of trust than those who only show up to sell. Golf's audience on Reddit is engaged, vocal, and commercially active. DM us if you'd like us to send you the full report. #golf #sportsmarketing #fandom #business #strategy

108 million people are now playing golf across R&A-affiliated markets. That’s the headline from The R&A 2025 Annual Review, and while that excludes the USA and Mexico, it’s an impressive number. Not just golfers on a course. Simulators. Adventure golf. Driving ranges. Formats that are pulling in people who never would have picked up a club ten years ago. The data shows those formats aren't a distraction from 'real' golf. They're the pipeline into it. A few other things that stood out from the Review: 📍 The Open at Royal Portrush generated £280m in economic benefit. £191m of that from global media exposure alone. A week-long brand activation at global scale. 👧 43.9 million juniors are now playing golf across R&A affiliated markets. 80% of them through non-traditional formats. The next generation is already in the game. ⛳ Women make up 50% of participation in non-traditional formats across the R&A's nine biggest markets. The on-course opportunity that follows is significant. 🏆 The AIG Women's Open prize fund hit $9.75 million in 2025, triple what it was when the AIG partnership began in 2019. Note: all R&A participation figures cover affiliated markets across 148 countries. Link to the review in comments below. #Golf #GolfIndustry #GolfGrowth #Sports

5 golf business stories worth knowing this week ⛳ 📋 The PGA TOUR is rebuilding its product from the ground up: Smaller fields, bigger purses, and match-play playoffs. The most radical overhaul of the Tour's schedule in a generation could arrive as soon as next season. 🤖 AI data centres are putting golf simulators in the middle of nowhere: Developers are building full-amenity worker villages to attract tradespeople to remote construction sites, and golf is making the cut. 🎰 Golf betting is up 35% year-over-year and Tiger at the Masters could blow it wide open: The PGA Tour is leaning hard into sports betting, with new DraftKings Inc. partnerships and surging handle. A Tiger Woods Masters appearance would be the catalyst the market has been waiting for. 📱 The PGA Tour is opening its doors to creators: The Tour has launched a Creator Council, scheduled Creator Classic events, and loosened access rules - a deliberate play for fans who consume golf on social media rather than traditional television. Filming during tournament rounds remains strictly off-limits. ⛳ South Carolina is building a rare thing: a great public golf resort: Candyroot Lodge will offer four 18-hole public courses in the Carolina Sandhills, a deliberate outlier in a state where every other new course is private. For more business insights sign up for our free weekly newsletter 👇 #golf #business #sportsmarketing #sports #sportsnews

In the newsletter this week 👇 The logo on the tour bag used to be enough. In our feature story, we look at why creative direction is becoming one of golf's most valuable commercial assets. Callaway Golf surges 55% in 6 months, PGA TOUR proposes radical two-track restructuring for 2028 and GOLFZON America expands U.S. leadership as simulator market scales. Plus, in one thing from history we look back at the start of Nike Golf. Read the full breakdown. Link in comments. P.S. Don't forget to subscribe while you're there.

Old Tom Capital just laid out their investment thesis for the next era of the golf economy. Five clear areas: conversion, travel, creator economy, indoor OS, fan data. An exciting time to be a founder in this space.