NEW YORK — Golf has long been a sport associated with middle-aged men in Polo shirts at country clubs. The PGA Tour is hoping to quash that stereotype by weaving new technology and cultural experiences into its events.
In a meeting with SportTechie at the PGA Tour headquarters in Manhattan last month, Julie Tyson, the senior vice president of Championship Management, said the Tour is attempting to create “do or die drama on a world stage” as it prepares for a spate of events culminating the season.
That might not be the kind of phrasing typical of a slow-paced golf meet. But it’s this mindset that’s powering the development of the Northern Trust, the New York leg of the FedEx tour scheduled for the week of Aug. 22 at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Westbury, N.Y.
The event, which organizers say is on par with the US Open and The Polo Classic in terms of popularity, will introduce cultural exhibits and experiences that include fashion, art and technology, in hopes of better appealing to A-List celebrities and a new wave of young metropolitan golf fans.
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An app that will be able to communicate with an RFID chip in attendees’ PGA Tour badges will help them navigate the course with up-to-date event information and scores depending on where they are at the venue. It’ll also enable them to pay for concessions and in-app experiences using their smartphones.
The TOUR plans to implement more ShotLink data as well, which provides analytical data about scores, player performance and statistics. That effort will include adding tracking systems around the green to populate broadcasts, leaderboards and apps in real-time, so that attendees can get the most relevant information about their favorite athletes as they watch the event live or from home.
This isn’t the first time the Tour has tried to attract a new kind of audience with tech and culture. In May at THE PLAYERS Championship, the Tour experimented with a 360-degree virtual-reality experience of the iconic 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in Florida. The video, developed in conjunction with Intel, was available through the PGA TOUR VR Live app in the Oculus store and streamed in 360-degree video on Twitter and Periscope. There was also an augmented reality experience of the 12th hole.
Experience the trophy ceremony in 360
pic.twitter.com/fMwhuoSdwQ
— THE PLAYERS (@THEPLAYERSChamp) May 14, 2017
Laura Neal, vice president of communications at PGA Tour, wouldn’t say what the organization has up its sleeve in terms of creating more augmented and virtual reality experiences at the Northern Trust Tournament and future events this season, but said there is “more to come.”
THE PLAYERS Championship also experimented with cultural experiences, commissioning artists to draw scenes from the event using Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro. Dubbed PGA Studio 18, it was a gateway to get non-traditional audiences, such as tech enthusiasts and tech blogs, interested in golf, according to Neal.
“We’re bringing a new audience to a sport in a way they’ve never experienced it before,” she said.
Fan engagement campaigns both at the event and online through the PGA TOUR LIVE app and social media sites such as Twitter, Periscope, YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat, have helped the Tour reach more casual fans and expand to new demographics.
During the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season, engagements on PGA Tour social media channels increased 159 percent year-over-year. The organization increased its total social media audience by 36 percent over that time to more than 4.4 million followers.