Catching a Golf Match
How to Ace your in-person PGA tournament experience
Last month, I attended my first ever professional golf tournament when the top 50 ranked PGA players came to Castle Pines, Colorado for the BMW Championship. I’ll share some tips and observations from the experience that will be valuable for your next in-person golf tournament. You might be thinking “Zach, why would you assume I ever WANT to go to a golf tournament?!”, and that’s a fair question. If you’re a sports fan, then let me convince you into attending at least one professional golf match in-person even if you’re not an avid golfer or huge golf fan. I’ll explain more on what makes attending a golf tournament such a unique sports experience.
First, here are 3 tips and observations:
Pick the players you have to see and schedule your day accordingly. In many ways, attending a golf tournament is more similar to visiting an amusement park and trying to catch the best rides at the right time then going to a typical professional sports game (football, soccer, basketball). In a typical professional sports game, you will see the star players (barring injury) for the majority of the game and won’t miss a highlight moment unless you’re running to a concession stand. At a golf tournament though, your experience watching the top players may be limited to 10-15 minutes if you limit yourself to just one hole. With 50+ players spread out over roughly 4 miles, it’s impossible to catch all the top moments in person. You could also miss some of the tops players altogether if you’re not keeping track of how the players are progressing through the course and map out when to watch them1.
Try to walk the entire course. Many of these PGA golf courses are not open to the public, incredibly expensive, and offer stunning scenery. For example, membership at “The Country Club at Castle Pines” is rumored to have an initiation fee of $50,000 and monthly fees of $1,0002. By the way, membership at this club is by invitation only. With all of this mind, we took advantage of our $80 general admission tickets to explore the entire course and covered almost 10 miles throughout the day.
Hang out near the greens. When you don’t have the ball flight tracker seen on every TV broadcast, I found it very difficult to track a 300-yard drive3. I didn’t really have a good idea where the ball landed and I was left guessing if it was an amazing or terrible shot (maybe my eyesight is just bad!). Sure, it was fun to see some huge drives from the tee box and hear the ball explode off the player’s club, but I could really pay attention and track how the hole was progressing from the greens of a shorter par 3 or par 4 hole. On a couple occasions, we hung out near the greens and watched the players approach and finish the hole near the green. The greens had the most excitement as the fans groaned at a missed putt or cheered the completion of the hole (check out the cheers from video below).
Here are 3 ways golf tournaments are unique from any other professional sporting event I’ve ever attended:
Proximity to the Players. Reflecting on the day, I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to so many professional athletes while competing. We were close enough to hear the golfers talking to their caddies or give them a high-five as they walked between holes. You’re never going to be 15 feet away from Lebron James dunking or just yards away from Patrick Mahomes while he throws a touchdown pass. While at a golf tournament though, you can casually follow the best golfer in the world for hours and not have to pay an outrageous price to see him play up close4. Here’s a video of Scottie Scheffler’s tee shot early in the day with his infamous ankle twisting footwork…
8+ hours of entertainment. While most sporting events don’t exceed 3 hours, your ticket for admission covers access for the entire day. The first tee time of the day was around 7:20 a.m. and the winner was crowned champion after the last putt around 4:00 p.m. I found it refreshing to have a full day and not feel rushed. Being outside on a beautiful course all day also felt completely different from being crowded into a giant concrete sports stadium.
Family Friendly. I really wasn’t sure what to expect bringing my young son to an all-day golf tournament, but I was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating the tournament staff and fans were throughout the day. Several times, fans noticed that my son couldn’t see the golfer behind a wall of people and they kindly offered to let him move to the front of the crowd for a better view. One friendly staffer called my son over and offered him Collin Morikawa’s tee; my son quickly accepted, and we walked away with an unexpected souvenir from one of his favorite players! The family friendly environment extended to the players too. Twice during the day, I actually noticed the professional player’s father was standing directly next to me watching their son with a close eye. While a star NFL player’s parent would certainly be secluded in a box seat away from heckling fans, the PGA tour parents were walking along just like the rest of us.
Towards the end of the day, we settled in near the green at Hole 16 where we watched the leaders pass through in groups of 2. Player after player cleanly hit the ball 200 yards with nearly every shot precisely dropping into a tiny area about the size of a small backyard swimming pool near the hole. Rather than run uphill to the 18th green for the crowded celebration to crown the champion, we opted to quietly watch the leaders play on a giant screen near the 16th green. As Colorado residents, it’s not very often the PGA tour passes through our state. We were glad we made the effort to be a part of the excitement, and we’ll be a little better prepared for the next time the pros come to town.
Thanks for reading and go Catch a Game,
Zach
I actually got the picture of Rory McIlroy hitting his barefoot shot by chance as we just happened to be walking by at the right moment
Golf Shot Trails from TV broadcasts: Shot trails from the top 30 in the FedExCup
Scottie Scheffler’s season has been one for the record books with a Gold Medal at the Olympics and his second win at the prestigious Masters. This ESPN article helps put Scottie Scheffler’s season in perspective- Scottie Scheffler's FedEx Cup win cements one of golf's best seasons