Well, golf fans, you got what you wanted.
The PGA Tour will experiment with fewer commercials and more caddie conversations as part of this week’s telecast from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Tour said in a release on Tuesday morning, pointing to feedback delivered by some 50,000 golf fans as part of the Tour’s Fan Forward survey in the fall as inspiring the change.
“Viewers will notice fewer commercials within the [Arnold Palmer Invitational] broadcast, with time repurposed for live golf segments focused on the player-caddie interaction,” the release said .”Storytelling elements and statistics highlighting what a player is facing in the moment will be delivered via graphics as opposed to announcers to maintain the focus on the player and caddie conversations and their point of view from the field of play.”
Tuesday’s changes were expected — last month a series of PGA Tour executives teased the tweaks in a meeting with reporters at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. During that discussion, the PGA Tour’s new chief marketing officer, Andy Weitz, indicated that the Tour was focus-testing various shot sequences and broadcast innovations with fans, and would hope to implement changes from the learnings of those tests in the “near future.” Weitz suggested increased caddie-player conversations were one area of focus, along with fewer tap-in putts and tweaks to the Tour’s slow-play policy.
“When asked about enhancements that would most likely increase fan engagement with PGA Tour broadcasts, ‘showing more conversations between players and caddies’ was one of the top responses from both the casual and core fan segments,” the Tour’s release said. “Fans also noted that, where possible, they wanted to understand the strategy behind a certain shot, especially when there is access to an additive on-course conversation between competitor and caddie.”
The tweaks come as the latest provenance of the “Fan Forward” program, the largest Tour fan initiative ever by its own accounting. The survey program ran throughout the Tour’s 2024 “fall season” and yielded some 50,000 answers on the state of the Tour product, its broadcasts, and its fanbase. Some changes from that program have been on display in Tour broadcasts throughout the 2025 season, including an enhanced focus on the cutline on Friday afternoons that has been largely well-received by the fanbase. Learnings from the survey were also referenced in letters to the membership from a pair of players, Justin Thomas and Charley Hoffman, as part of larger conversations about the state of the sport.
It remains unclear just how much more caddie-player conversation will be showcased in the Arnold Palmer telecast, and just how many commercials will be reduced from NBC’s overall TV burden for the weekend. According to SBJ’s Josh Carpenter, MasterCard has signed onto a commercial agreement that will show sponsored player-caddie segments in lieu of traditional advertisements. NBC traditionally shows about 18 minutes of commercials per hour to fund its current $700 million annual rights agreement, and it is believed that any change to the first number would ultimately require a change to the second (something unlikely to appeal to the Tour’s membership, which is paid handsomely by the current TV agreement). In the past, the Tour has enticed commercial partners to “sponsor” commercial-free and commercial-limited coverage, limiting commercial “interruptions” while allowing for ample on-screen monetization opportunities. Still, such sponsorship opportunities are expensive, and industry sources indicated to GOLF.com that it’s unclear whether the juice is worth the squeeze.
“In addition to wanting more live golf action, fans are telling us they are more entertained when they can see and hear a player’s pre-shot process in the heat of the competition,” Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in the statement. “We are excited to work with Mastercard and NBC/Golf Channel to step back and allow fans to experience those intimate, real-time interactions during the telecast this week.”
While there’s no questioning the Tour’s new amenability to TV change represents a positive shift after years of acrimony, the eyes of the golf world will be watching closely in the coming weeks and months to see which form those changes take. One group that will be watching with a particularly keen eye? Golf TV’s hundreds of employees, many of whom have privately expressed doubts about the downstream effects of the Tour’s tweaks.
“What do you think the reaction [will] be if player/caddie convos are consistently 90 seconds to 2 mins long?” Colt Knost, a CBS Sports on-course reporter (and GOLF.com podcast host), posted on Tuesday morning, repeating a common critique of those who believe that the Tour’s new focus on data could undermine the editorial judgment of golf’s many TV lifers.
Of course, much of the TV world’s reaction to the new changes will come down to the fanbase. So long as those watching at home feel better about their Sunday afternoon entertainment, the new changes will be easier to swallow, even if they run counter to traditional TV wisdom.
Monahan, the release said, will speak with Golf Channel on Wednesday morning to provide more details about the changes.
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