The Connected Golfer

On Saturday, I could play 18 holes and post my score to GHIN. On Monday, I could hit balls on TrackMan. Wednesday, I could play Pebble Beach in a simulator. Thursday night, I could watch TGL. Sunday, I could follow the PGA TOUR.

To me, those are not five different activities. They are all golf.

But each one sees a different part of my relationship with the game. That raises an interesting question: as the ways we play, watch and experience golf continue to multiply, what happens when more of those pieces begin to connect?

Golf's definition of a golfer is getting bigger

For most of golf's history, participation had a fairly obvious meaning. You planned a tee time, went to the course, tee'd it up and got after it for some number of holes.

That definition does not work nearly as well anymore when defining a golfer today.

In 2025, more than 48 million Americans participated in golf, but only 29.1 million of them played on a traditional golf course. Another 19 million participated exclusively off-course through driving ranges, simulators and golf-entertainment venues.

That is not a side business. It is a meaningful part of golf participation.

The change is significant enough that even the way the industry measures participation has evolved. The National Golf Foundation now separates traditional on-course golfers from millions of people who participate away from the course.

That is more than a change in terminology. It is recognition that the boundaries of the game itself are evolving.

Meet the Connected Golfer

The modern golfer increasingly moves through a much broader golf ecosystem. Some interactions are physical, some digital, and some are competitive, social or entertainment-based. Together, they create a much broader picture of how someone engages with the game.

The challenge, or maybe the opportunity, is that those signals generally remain in a silo, with each platform knowing or understanding something different about the participant.

There are good reasons, particularly around privacy and consumer choice, why one organization should not simply possess everything another organization knows about its customers. But it does suggest that the golf consumer is becoming more multidimensional than many of the categories we have traditionally used to describe one.

I'm calling that person the Connected Golfer.

The TOUR is already moving toward a more personalized relationship

It would be a mistake to assume the PGA TOUR has not already thought deeply about this. There is plenty of evidence suggesting the opposite.

The TOUR has expanded its technology relationships around more personalized fan experiences. Its digital products increasingly allow fans to follow favorite players, access more targeted content and engage with the sport in ways that go beyond the traditional broadcast.

Its relationship with TrackMan now extends through 2030, with TrackMan technology integrated into ShotLink. The TOUR has also experimented with creators, virtual experiences and other ways of broadening the traditional definition of professional golf content.

Those do not look like the actions of an organization standing still. They look like pieces of a golf ecosystem that is becoming increasingly connected.

The more interesting question is what all those pieces may ultimately add up to.

What these signals may reveal

The opportunity may not begin with creating new features. It may begin with recognizing that a golfer's relationship with the game is now expressed across more places than ever before.

Individually, those signals may not mean much but, together, they can begin to show how someone actually participates in golf. Not simply whether they watched a tournament or played a round, but how central golf is to their life, how they engage with it and which experiences matter most.

That distinction matters because the traditional line between "golfer" and "golf fan" is becoming less useful. People can now have meaningful relationships with the game that do not fit neatly into either category.

The strategic question may be how the industry recognizes those different forms of participation and creates stronger connections among them.

Give me a reason to tell you more

The opportunity is not simply about how golf organizations can collect more information about me. A better question is: what value can they create that makes me want a deeper relationship?

Consumers are willing to share more when they get something meaningful in return. That could be better content, better access, stronger communities, new forms of competition or simply an easier way to move through the golf ecosystem. That said, the exchange has to work both ways.

In an earlier Golf Business Brief, I argued that golf organizations should not always guess who their fans are. I suggested that they ask me.

The next step may be just as important: give me a reason to tell you more.

The next golfer may already be participating

This is where the idea gets bigger than personalization.

Off-course participation is not simply growing. It is also attracting people who look different from the traditional golf population. Research from the National Golf Foundation has consistently shown that off-course-only participants skew younger and include higher representation among women and a more diverse participant base.

That matters because golf has spent decades trying to broaden access to the game. Programs such as First Tee have played an important role in introducing young people to golf, including many who may not otherwise have had easy access to the sport.

That work remains important, but the number of potential entry points into golf is expanding. A person's first meaningful connection to the game no longer has to happen on a traditional golf course. It may begin somewhere else and eventually lead to traditional participation.

More than 21 million Americans who were not currently playing traditional golf recently indicated that they were very interested in doing so. Even more expressed strong interest in simulator golf and golf-entertainment experiences.

That tells me there is a very large population sitting somewhere between interest in golf and traditional participation in golf, and that may be one of the industry's biggest opportunities.

The Connected Golfer may be just as important for finding the next golfer as it is for understanding the current one.

The path into golf no longer has to begin on the first tee

Historically, the path into the sport has often been fairly linear: get someone onto a golf course, create a golfer and hopefully create a golf fan.

Technology creates another route. Interest can come first. Participation can follow in different forms. Traditional golf may come later. Those paths do not have to compete with one another. They can reinforce each other.

Research into off-course participation suggests that newer formats are not simply substitutes for traditional golf. They can create confidence, familiarity and interest that eventually lead people onto the course.

If someone's first experience with golf happens away from the course, that does not necessarily take anything away from traditional golf. It may help create a golfer.

Virtual golf provides another example. GOLF+, the PGA TOUR's official VR golf partner, has attracted more than a million players who have collectively hit well over a billion virtual golf shots. People can now learn the game, understand strategy, become familiar with famous courses and develop an affinity for golf before ever booking a traditional tee time.

That changes the top of golf's participation funnel.

It also comes at a time when junior golf participation has increased dramatically since 2019. Younger people are entering the game while also having more ways than any previous generation to stay connected to it. That may matter more than simply increasing the number of young golfers. It may create a generation for whom golf is not limited to the hours spent on a course.

If that is true, growing the game may depend partly on how effectively the industry connects those first points of interest with deeper participation over time.

That is where partnerships get interesting

This is where I think the business opportunity becomes especially interesting.

The answer probably does not belong to one company, and it may not be about trying to own the golfer at all. It may be about creating better connective tissue across the golf ecosystem.

Technology companies, simulator operators, gaming platforms, golf courses, youth organizations, equipment manufacturers, creators, travel companies, tournament sponsors and professional golf all control different parts of the relationship.

Each one controls a doorway into the game. The opportunity may be in making it easier for people to move through those doors.

Few organizations occupy a more interesting position in that ecosystem than the PGA TOUR. It has elite players, iconic courses and tournaments, ShotLink data, media reach, technology relationships, sponsors, content and digital experiences.

Perhaps most importantly, it creates many of the moments that make people want to engage with golf in the first place. That does not mean the TOUR needs to build everything or own every part of the relationship. It may mean there is an opportunity to help connect more of it.

One golfer, many golf experiences

Golf used to have two fairly distinct worlds. We played the game and we watched the game, but those boundaries are disappearing or at least becoming less distinct.

The golf ecosystem now extends across physical participation and digital experiences. Millions of people participate without necessarily stepping onto a traditional course. Many are younger and may ultimately become traditional golfers. Some may become golf fans first and traditional golfers second. Others may become golfers without ever developing a strong connection to professional golf.

To the different companies across the industry, the same person may still look like several different customers. To the individual, it may all simply be golf. Maybe that is the larger opportunity.

Not simply knowing today's golfer better but recognizing the growing number of ways people participate in the game and finding better ways to connect those experiences. The next generation of golf participants may not discover the game the same way the last generation did. The entry point matters less than what happens next.

And the organizations that understand that may have an opportunity not only to build deeper relationships with today's golfers, but to help create tomorrow's.