For the past two years, it feels like the ground is moving under the feet of professional golf.
It has yet to find a balanced and safe equilibrium. If you or your business are invested in professional golf tours, it’s an unsettling time, or an exciting time…depending on your perspective.
How have American consumers perspectives of professional golf been affected by the tours’ drama over the last 12 months? Rocket Yard Sports partnered with Gather and their data partner, YouGov Sports, to learn more about professional golf’s buzz.
Note: YouGov Sports. Buzz is a measure of what consumers are hearing about a brand in the last two weeks. The score ranges from +100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting the negative feedback score from the positive feedback score. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
The General Buzz Around Professional Golf Tours
Overall, the buzz around traditional professional golf tours is positive among consumers. Only LIV Golf receives a negative score. LIV Golf is ranked in last place for sports evaluated both now and 12-months ago: 71/71.
Over the past 12-months, the European DP World Tour gained the most buzz points. But it still trails behind the American-based PGA and LPGA Tours.
Things get a little more interesting and nuanced when we look at the buzz around professional golf tours for different demographics of consumers.
Gender: Men
American men report hearing more good things than bad about the PGA and LPGA Tours. But the positive buzz was lower than 12 months earlier—as was the tours’ rankings compared to other professional sports. The buzz around the DP World Tour was also positive. Its 12-month change and overall ranking trended upwards. The buzz for LIV Golf was negative, but less so than the previous year. However, it remained in last place of 71/71 among other sports brands.
Gender: Women
Buzz around the PGA Tour was extremely positive among American women in the last 12 months. It ranked #20 against all other sports. The DP World Tour made most gains in the buzz rankings with women—but despite these gains it ranked below the PGA and LPGA Tours. LIV Golf remained in last place: 71/71.
Age: 18-34 years
LIV Golf gained most positive traction with younger consumers. With this cohort, LIV Golf pulled itself up from the bottom position to #61 for buzz. Another surprise was that the LPGA pulled ahead of both the DP World and the PGA Tours. With all consumers, the PGA Tour ranked #33. But it dropped to #54 with this younger cohort. It seems that the PGA Tour/LIV Golf drama is playing out differently with a younger cohort than any other.
Age: 50+ years
The buzz around professional golf tours among older Americans is predictably traditional. The PGA Tour ranks #11 against all sports which is, by far, the highest ranking relative to all other tours. Compared to 12-months earlier, the PGA Tour remained unchanged in its high ranking with older Americans, and LIV Golf remained last at 71/71.
Professional Golf: What’s The Buzz?: To learn more about Gather and how being a collective can evolve faster, click here.
We believe that Your Next Customer is Probably a Sports Fan, let’s have a chat about how we can help you reach them. Get in touch here.