2 major golf pro acquisitions recently gave us a glimpse of the future

Look, I get it.

The changes to professional golf in the LIV era, while common, are about as exciting as gut-wrenching.

I get it because I’ve also felt my eyes glaze over at the title that captures “recent changes.” I get it because I’ve wondered when and how much I should care about small shifts in business governance and marketing budgets. I get it because I’ve also felt a vague irritation at the fact that this news cycle is evolving in a thousand tiny drops instead of a single, consistent piece of information.

As a journalist, it’s my job to care about these things – and I went he felt that way. I can only imagine where that leaves you.

But some golf swings are important not for what they are but for what they represent. That’s the stage two changes filed Tuesday morning are entering into the world of golf: The PGA Tour’s expanded strategic alliance with the DP World Tour and Asian Tour; and the LPGA’s decision to play the event in Hawaii at what is arguably the best golf course in the islands, Nanea.

These changes, or perhaps more accurately, adoptionshow more than just a change in the way we view the golf calendar. They represent two seismic shifts in the way the business of professional golf is conducted. As educated, intelligent, literate golf fans, that makes these changes very important to the way you see the game around you, so let’s discuss each of these changes and what they mean.

1. The ‘coalition’ strategy

The PGA Tour has done a lot right since it was taken over by new CEO Brian Rolapp: the announcement of a new two-tier tour; the formation of a new competitive system; the decision to blow up the release of sponsors from the sun.

But nothing could be considered more strategic than the move announced on Tuesday morning: the tour’s decision to launch a new “strategic partnership” with the DP World Tour and the Asian Tour until 2029.

Keen golf fans will recall that the tour’s decision to partner with the DP World Tour prior to LIV’s launch was at least partly responsible for saving their bacon. With the DPWT on its side in 2021, the PGA Tour can be sure that the DPWT will not partner with LIV, creating an international league that could threaten to divide the power of modern golf forever. Under the deal, the Tour can also move forward in expanding its international footprint and homegrown talent without entering a bidding war for LIV. It’s a win-win-win.

That original agreement expires soon, leaving the Tour to negotiate new terms with the DPWT to ensure their Roosevelt-Churchill relationship continues. But there has been a bit of uneasiness about how it will play out, especially now that the Tour is now safely in the Truman era. (I’m not sure about my decision to cast Jay Monahan in the role of FDR in this metaphor but stick with me.)

Tuesday’s announcement does not extend the duration of the DPWT cooperation, but it creates a new a partnership where both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour are at the same time. The new deal also adds a partnership with the Asian Tour, previously affiliated with LIV, to the fold. While the alliance certainly has its benefits for the Asian Tour (namely money and access to the PGA Tour), it is more beneficial to the PGA Tour, which now wants to dominate the world completely over LIV.

LIV is currently frantically looking for money, and faces serious financial risk if it can’t raise that money quickly. The Asian Tour thought it was at least an important part of those discussions. The Tour’s decision adds what can only be described as an Ali haymaker to their current list of jabs and hooks for their beleaguered competitors.

But the the majority what’s interesting about this step is actually nothing to do with LIV. It’s just that the Tour probably didn’t need to do it. Even before Tuesday’s announcement, LIV was already struggling and facing an uphill battle to resolve long-term issues. The PGA Tour already held all the cards.

But Tuesday’s announcement suggested Rolapp was unhappy with that outcome. He didn’t just hope to win the war; he was hoping to win by a landslide. He didn’t want to see LIV fall; he wanted to make sure he was the one pushing them over.

The Tour will say they are just doing what they like. And they are. It just so happens that their interests are aligned with killing LIV and all its descendants.

[Extreme Kevin Kisner voice] Well, Dan, they don’t call for free tricks!

2. The NEW Hawaiian Swing

Not to be outdone by Rolapp’s antics, LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler also made waves Tuesday morning.

Kessler and his tour announced that the LPGA is headed to Hawaii, bringing the first event to what many consider to be the best course in any of the Hawaiian Islands, Nanea, sometime in the spring of 2027.

There’s a lot we don’t know about the so-called Nanea Cup, but here’s one thing we do: It represents a surprisingly targeted attempt to steal market share from under the PGA Tour.

Golf fans will remember that the PGA Tour has completely abandoned the “Hawaiian Swing” in the new era, opting for tournaments held at major metropolitan areas in the “lower 48.” With the new event, the LPGA is betting (wisely) that they can create something selective and deliberately aimed at the market that the PGA Tour has left behind.

But vision is about more than just high hopes. Charles Schwab, Dell and Salesforce have all signed on as sponsors of the new event, which will feature 95 LPGA stars competing against the top 25 players in the college game. The timing of the new tournament will be on the same weekend (but outside the broadcast window) of the Players Championship, giving the LPGA an opportunity to curate a weekend for more golf viewers. And the tournament host will provide parity alone: ​​Nanea is considered by many to be the best golf course in Hawaii, and has already established itself as a destination for women’s golf, hosting the “Nanea Invitational” for the Stanford women’s team.

It’s too early for any of us to say if the new event will be a success, but you can tip the LPGA brass for a try. The opportunity presented by the Nanea Cup represents a true form of swing that has been largely absent from the tour for years: big, bold ideas to target golf’s densest audiences and attract big-time TV.

Of course, options like this come to an end every now and then. (If you could do it all the time, everyone would have done it already.) But the Nanea Cup gives the LPGA an opportunity to target a new type of audience for its tournament hosts: Low-profile, high-production-value events held in golf’s major markets. elite golf courses. That sounds like a winning strategy to me, and I (selfishly) hope that other open-minded Long Island country clubs keep an open mind.