Could 'Team Golf' actually catch on?

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

Sort of went down a rabbit hole after reading an article on Rory's more recent backtracking comments regarding LIV. ... then to a response from Mickelson ... then one about Rory meeting with PIF and mentioning the team aspect of LIV. 

The world loves club soccer and golf is a global game. For the most part, Americans only care about the world cup.... barely. But we love golf and golf fans love the Ryder Cup, and to a lesser degree the Presidents cup. 

So do you think a league could ever gain traction largely because of that team golf concept that LIV has tried to adopt? In it's current form, I think it's just a slightly silly secondary or even tertiary aspect. But I do think there are some interesting things that could be done to make it much more appealing.

1. Come up with better club names. Crushers? Fireballs? Smash? . HyFlyers spelled Hy  and the Iron Heads and Range Goats sound like single A baseball teams. 

2. Less teams but larger teams. 12 teams with 4 golfers each and fluid rosters doesn't seem conducive to generating a following.  4 teams with 12, like 12 man Ryder Cup rosters might be more interesting. Even with annual turnover/trades you'd probably have a decent amount of team retention to start to build a fan base.  Even a 6/8 split would be better. 

3. What about non playing team captains? Has to be some older guys who would be interested in coming on board as club captains. And when the Mickelson's, Garcias, Stensons etc are done playing completely... they could stick around as club captains.  Think about it, the 4 team captains riding around in carts talking to their players like we see during the Cups. 

4. A season ending RC style event.  Pretend it was 4 larger teams. Use the season standings to determine seeding.  One week is #1 vs #4  and #2 vs #3 in a traditional Ryder Cup format. The next event pits the two previous winners against each other for the LIV Cup. 

 

interested if any of the golf fans have any thoughts, even the super anti LIV ones. 

[thegeneral 3,208]

I don’t think so, catching on widely that is. Niche sport with a small audience. Fighting over a small group of viewers. 

I’d def watch a LIV versus PGA Tour thing that occurred infrequently. 

[BiffTannen 953]

Ryder/Presidents Cup and college is enough team golf for me. I like both of these, but do not want the Tour to go in that direction. 

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

40 minutes ago, BiffTannen said:

Ryder/Presidents Cup and college is enough team golf for me. I like both of these, but do not want the Tour to go in that direction. 

I wouldn't want to see the Tour go in that direction, i'd be interested if LIV went in that direction since they already are. I just think it needs some tweaks. 

I also wouldn't suggest Ryder Cup format for anything more than a season ending event.  The rest of the time would be events like they already have just with a greater emphasis on making their teams have more of that club soccer appeal. 

[edjr 6,580]

@KSB2424  thoughts?

[BunnysBastatrds 2,438]

They have a fun variation of this here at the PGA tournament .Two man team format . The players seem to like it as they rated the TPC of Louisiana the worst tour stop because of the course layout. I’ve played it five times enjoyed the layout other than the par threes. Three of the four are very long. Other than that, it’s a good course. I think it’s a good concept a couple times a year.

[edjr 6,580]

I would like to see celebrity team golf in prime time

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

2 hours ago, BunnysBastatrds said:

They have a fun variation of this here at the PGA tournament .Two man team format . The players seem to like it as they rated the TPC of Louisiana the worst tour stop because of the course layout. I’ve played it five times enjoyed the layout other than the par threes. Three of the four are very long. Other than that, it’s a good course. I think it’s a good concept a couple times a year.

I'm talking more about the team concept as part of the entire golf league, more so than singular events where guys play as teams. 

It's what LIV is already doing, i'm just wondering if a few tweaks could lead to it actually gaining traction. 

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

I think the vision LIV has, in terms of team golf, is that these teams would at some point have ownership groups like any team sport franchise. Imagine Mark Cuban owning the 4Aces. 

As presently constructed I don't think it would take off but I do think if they had fewer teams, comprised of more golfers, with better team names/logos....maybe. Their regular events would still be individual stroke play with a separate team element like it is now... but if they really want to push that angle, they should conclude each season with a RC style event among their teams.