Television Documentary on Golf Clubs

By Golf is an old sport that dates back to 1456, where records indicate the first recorded game took place in Scotland.  The game spread, first to England and then around the whole world, where it is now played in all affluent nations and is starting to spread into the developing world.  Golf has reached a stage of its evolution where it is now a major global phenomena, with the top golfers having celebrity status and making millions of dollars every year.  Some of the very best golfers such as Tiger Woods have become house hold names, and now have a sphere of influence that has extended past just the game of golf and into other fields as well.   With a number of major golf tournaments that get shown on all of the major television networks worldwide, golf has reached a stage where it is extremely accessible to a large portion of the global population.  The influence of television can not be underestimated as one of the biggest factors affecting the game and personalities of golf.

While the majority of professional golfers work at golf clubs in the areas of teaching and course development, a small elite minority manage to become tournament professionals.  These are the names that people think of when they think of pro golfers, the players who manage to tour the world and play in the major international golf tours.  This is the shiny and celebrated world of the game of golf, where some players manage to win millions of dollars paling in tournaments that are shown on TV for a global audience.  There are more than 20 professional golf tours, run either by the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) or other independent tour organisation bodies.  The role of television in these events is absolutely huge as having the right media coverage can make all the difference between a tour sliding into obscurity or being in the global spotlight for a few weeks.

The biggest golf events in the world are known as the four majors;  The Masters, the US Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.  The most famous tour is the PGA Tour, regularly attracting the biggest players outside of the four Majors and the three World Championship golf events.  The four majors are all independent of the PGA tour itself and so can all negotiate their own television rights respectively.  This is very big business and both the golf events and the television networks can profit enormously.  The golf clubs (Golfschläger) who are involved in these events can also benefit greatly as all four tournaments attract a large audience. 

The US Open is shown on the NBC and ESPN television networks under a contract that ends in 2010 in the United States.  The Open Championship is shown on ESPN and TNT in America.  The Masters is under a different one year contract every year and the PGA Championship is shown on CBS and TNT in America.  In the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, the US Open and the PGA Championships are shown on Sky Sports and the BBC is home of the Masters and the Open Championships.  The bidding and competition for these events is a very big deal, and it in turn makes some of the golfers into celebrities and world side stars.  Names like Sandy Lyle and Jack Wagner have become known all over the world due to their success in tournaments like those mentioned and others such as the Ryder cup.

The celebrity status of the best golfers is also influenced by sponsorship deals with golf brands such as Taylor Made.  As the best players become house hold names, some of the best golf brands make an attempt to become known as well by sponsoring particular players.  As the game of golf becomes even bigger and more popular over time, it makes sense that players will rise in stature and golf club and equipment manufacturers will also become more well known.  Through television and sponsorship, brands and players will become linked and good marketing by well known brands could see the equipment itself become just as recognisable as some of the players are.