Golf is a fantastic sport with a long history. Unlike other sports, however, there is less of a communal viewing culture. You don’t typically see groups of friends meeting up to tailgate at the Ryder Cup or sports bars full of golf fans going wild during the final holes of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
Watching golf can be a bit of an isolated activity. It can also feel like there isn’t much else that you can do besides watch the tournaments and read news about what’s going in the various Championships.
Here are our top four suggestions for things you can do to get more involved in golf.
Bet on tournaments
Betting on sports is a great way to get more involved. When you have a little bit of money riding on the outcome of an event it makes it even more exciting. With the PGA, you can bet on the winners of individual Championships. Another popular bet type is futures bets, including on the winner of the FedEx Cup.
Golf isn’t just an American sport, in fact, it was invented in Scotland. The United Kingdom and Ireland both have extensive histories with golf. Betting on golf has been growing in popularity in Ireland in particular, likely due in part to the number of high-profile tournaments the country hosts.
The 112th Irish PGA Championship Pro-Am at the Wild Atlantic Dunes in Belmullet is just one example of the rich golfing culture the country has, and just one example of the tournaments you can bet on.
Make your voice heard about LIV
Sportswashing is a fairly new term, but the problem has been around for quite a while, and it has finally reached the golf world. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, sportswashing is when a corporation or government tries to improve its reputation by investing heavily in a sports team or tournament. It is a form of reputation laundering and incredibly problematic.
In Saudi Arabia’s case, the Public Investment Fund is being used to fund the LIV Golf Invitational Series in the hopes of distracting the public from their ongoing human rights violations. The massive payouts they are using to attract leading golfers are working and LIV is growing.
You can get involved by contacting top golfers, either through their agents or social media – whatever way the golfer has made themself accessible to fans – to either thank them for refusing to participate in LIV if they have already rejected an offer or encouraging them to do so if they are currently being scouted. You can also reach out to major golf sponsors to encourage them to pull any support from LIV.
This is not only an important human rights issue, but also a golf issue. By splitting professional golfers into two tours, both will be weakened. If half the top competitors aren’t in the PGA Tour, it will make wins less impressive. A split viewership will also drop viewing numbers, which can lead to loss of advertising revenue and less golf on TV.
Use a course app
There is an app for everything, and golf is no different. Some are designed to help you with your swing, some give club recommendations or track your progress over time. These are all great for your personal golf game.
There are also some great apps that can increase your engagement with professional golf. The PGA Tour App allows you to follow every shot as it happens and includes 3D shot tracking too. There are apps that also have all the breaking news, highlights and coverage.
Golfshot GPS is another app that adds another interesting element to the Tour — it allows you to navigate through over 40,000 courses worldwide. You can see all the distances between holes, the hazards and the lay of every inch of the course. This year’s BMW Championship is being held at the Wilmington Country Club for the first time in its history, making it a perfect opportunity to explore the course along with the players.
Get out on the course
Playing a sport is possibly the best way to get more involved with it. There is only so much you can learn about a sport by reading about it or atching it on TV, the best way to understand a sport is to play it yourself. You don’t have to go play on world famous courses or use top of the line clubs. Just spending some time at your local course with friends is a great way to turn golf from something you like to something you love.