Tom Green: LIV - Golf But Louder... or is it?
Phil Mickelson of HyFlyers GC in action during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational - Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club on April 30, 2023 in Singapore.
Let’s wind the clock back just over 12 months. LIV is an emerging golf superpower / atomic bomb, depending on how you look at it, they have just stolen Phil Mickelson from the PGA tour and wild sums are changing hands as the ‘new golf super league’ hunts down the sports biggest and brightest names in an attempt to legitimise itself.
It was a crazy time. Golf had become the wild west. Nobody knew who to trust or who would be the next one to take the long walk to freedom / long walk to moral bankruptcy. Again, depending on where you stand on the matter.
$800m for Tiger Woods is a figure which was banded about a lot during this time. Golf was front page news, but not just front page of Golf Monthly, front page of the actual BBC News website! Had golf become sexy? Maybe not, but it had done that thing which slightly more niche sports achieve every now and again, it had crossed the frontiers of public intrigue and into the lives of everyday people. It was Jonny Wilkinson during the Rugby World Cup 2003, it was Emma Raducanu winning the U.S. Open. You get the idea
“New people were trying golf, things were changing, and then some Saudis came along and bought the sport.”
What I am trying got say is, golf was in the public’s lexicon. It was a big moment. Especially when you frame this moment with a backdrop of a post covid-19 world that had drawn many people to the sport because of it’s wide open fairways that, just like myself, covid-19 particles failed to stick to. It’s a golf joke, leave it out, it worked well enough.
New people were trying golf, things were changing, and then some Saudis came along and bought the sport. It felt a bit weird and not right. I will be honest, I was not sure how I felt about it. Even writing this now I am not sure how I feel about it. However, how can we forget, about 5 weeks ago a deal was signed between the big bosses of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and The Saudi Public Investment Fund and because of that deal everyone is now friends again and we have to forget about all the horrible things we Tweeted about each other.
Everything is fine. Everything is totally fine.
Anyway, with all this in mind, you find me driving over to the Centurion Club on a Friday lunchtime in July. It is 28 degrees outside and I am off to spend the day at LIV Golf - London. Who would have thought it? It is time to find out what all the fuss is about and to see if it is golf but louder.
Mexico's Abraham Ancer drives off the 4th tee on the final day of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at The Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London.
The first thing that struck me as I drove over to the event is how weird it was that in St.Albans, a small city just outside of the M25, there was a lot of my favourite golfers battling it out for a first prize of $4m. A prize pot of that size could only have been dreamt about by PGA golfers pre LIV.
Household names a mere 20 minutes from my front door in London. If this was a big PGA Tour event or a Major there would have been weeks of buildup on my golf group chats, hours spent discussing the ‘ins and outs’ of the course, days spent pontificating over whose game had been trending in the right direction. But LIV Golf does not quite have the prestige of that yet, so it feels like it has just appeared out of nowhere, spawned from nothing, and now Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Byrson DeChambeau were a stones throw from where I have breakfast every morning. It is a weird concept.
Anyway, after battling some slightly poor signage I located carpark C and made my way onto the course. Instantly the rumours I had heard last year about the event being deserted were proven untrue. It was busy. Not overwhelmingly busy, but busy enough to be 3/4 deep around each tee box. The event had a buzz to it, people darting across fairways holding beers and having a bit of a laugh. So far, so good! I don’t mind it!
This was my first big thought about LIV Golf - the atmosphere was chilled. It was fun and young, clearly aimed at golf fans, but it was the opposite of stuffy. Do not get me wrong, the people you walked past were exactly the same people you would see at the BMW in Wentworth or the British Masters, it was full of traditional golf fans, but the event did not come with all the baggage you might expect of normal golf day out to have. The anxiety of your phone being on loud or accidentally saying the wrong thing were not there.
I can imagine a word spoken at an incorrect decibel at The Masters would have you marched off the property and sent packing. That was definitely not the case at The Centurion that day.
Let me put it like this - they were playing music around the whole golf course. I can hear you gasp from here.
Try and unclench your fists. It is going to be okay.
Spectators drink lager and film the action on the second day of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at The Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London.
But yes, you did hear me right - they were playing music around the golf course. I want to caveat that point by saying it was not overwhelming. It is the sort of volume you might find at a bar in the evening during sunset, the sort of volume you would have around a pool on a holiday. A sort of background feeling that never interrupted anything but gave the day a nice vibe. Again, so far so good. Different, but good!
“I think European sensitivities are a lot more shocked by this than our American friends, a country where strapping a small speaker to the side of a buggy is quite common place. ”
The music, or more specifically The Clash’s - Rock The Casbah, was most evident as players tee’d off. Everyone would be silent bar a slight reverberation in the background serenading a backswing. It was beautiful... In a way!
I can only imagine how traditional golf fans feel about this. But I have to say - I did not hate it. I thought I would hate it. I was fully ready to call it, ’ridiculous’ and ’over the top’. I was so ready to dismiss it, but it sort of worked. It helped nurture that relaxed atmosphere and made the day feel fun and more than just a golf event. I would love to know what the professional golfers think about it. Surely it can only help reduce nerves and make the day feel a bit more enjoyable while you are playing. But it really is a stark contrast from what they are used to.
I think European sensitivities are a lot more shocked by this than our American friends, a country where strapping a small speaker to the side of a buggy is quite common place.
I love the traditions of golf, I love oak panelled club houses and history. I love courses seeped in legend and ancient tales. But I also love change and I think as individuals we can hold this duality inside us. You are allowed to love what golf was and still be ready for it to change and grow.
Compounding the music playing around the course all day was the fact that later that evening DJ Snake was playing. Previous to going to a LIV event I thought all these artist bookings were a bit of a gimmick. Something to really hammer home the ‘we are different to those other golf events’ image. However, again, when you are there it does make sense. People are actively looking forward to when the golf finishes, they have had a few drinks, and can go and watch some music. It makes the event feel more like a big day out with mates.
“These LIV golf events are really catering for the people who come along and spectate.”
Oh god - am I becoming a LIV convert.
I wouldn’t go that far, however I would argue though that all these things help to create a special live environment, but do little for the viewer at home. The shotgun start means you can catch a bit of everyone’s golf on the day without having to stand around from 6am - 7pm like you might at The Open. That is good if you are there in person, but doesn’t help build that Sunday Buzz coming down 18th like you might get elsewhere when watching on Sky Sports.
These LIV golf events are really catering for the people who come along and spectate. This is compounded by the vast array of different bars and VIP platforms which are festooned around the course, all requiring you to ‘be a friend of a friend’ or have paid a sum of money to give you the privilege of access. These bars are often wrapped around green complexes or stuck on the side of hills overlooking tee boxes. Again, it was different and the people in there appeared to be having a great time. It was a bit of vibe.
I am not an individual who believes events shouldn’t have different levels of access and I didn’t begrudge the people in the bars. They had paid their money, they were having the experience they wanted and if it wasn’t for a 7 hour drive up to Newcastle’s Slaley Hall for a boys golf weekend, I would have loved to have been there with them.
But the wildest thing was yet to come. Now, I couldn’t quite believe this but people were wearing merch.
I really want to underline that point. People were wearing merchandise. People were wearing merchandise for teams of golfers which just over 12 months ago did not exist. Teams that had been created in some boardroom somewhere by a load of overpaid PR consultants drinking flat whites and referencing ‘focus groups’ and ‘data driven analysis’. HyFlyer GCs Bags, Majesticks GC bucket hats. I could see them left, right and centre and I couldn’t quite believe it.
Cameron Smith of Australia tees off from the 6th hole during day one of LIV Golf - London at The Centurion Club on July 07, 2023 in St Albans, England.
People were buying into all this.
Although I can not yet see myself making the leap and getting a 4Aces Tattoo on the left bicep, the fact that people were leaning into the brands which have been built around these golfers did help to give the event a level of pedigree. This feeling of attachment to a team is only made deeper when they’re centred around a country of origin e.g Australia and Cam Smith’s Rippers GCs. I could see myself buying into it. Let’s put it is this way, if Rory McIlroy had a team which included Tyrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood, I would be all about that.
Anyway, with the dusk drawing in and the day coming to a close I made my farewells and headed for the exit. I had to make a quick dart before the final shot was taken so I could have a clear run up north to captain the Preston Boys Inaugural Golf Trip. So unfortunately I missed DJ Snake taking the stage, however from what I saw online it looked great. Not quite Fisher in Australia but a decent turnout.
So, what did I make of LIV Golf - London. I will be honest, I enjoyed it. I was really gutted I had to leave before it was all over and I wish I could have made a full day out of it. I would have loved to have spent the weekend watching the tournament, the weather on the Friday was brilliant and it made a great spectator sport. It is without a doubt not the finished product, but my only hope is now that golf is back to being, to a degree, one harmonious unit, we might see more of this ‘team golf’ format. I would love to get behind a team and tie my flag to a group of golfers I really believe in.
Rumours from both side of the argument continue to circulate. From one group you hear that LIV is over and from the other you hear that Tiger and Rory are considering taking teams. It will be what it will be, but from what I saw last Friday, LIV has got something together and if you get the chance to give it a watch in person, I would recommend making that trip.