The ratings marked a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience.
The 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal drew a sharply smaller television audience compared to the 2022 edition that was played at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to Nielsen data reported by Sports Business Journal, 1.37 million people tuned in for Sunday’s final day on NBC, marking a 28 percent decline from 2022’s audience of 1.89 million, even though the events were played in the same time zone. Saturday’s all-day coverage, which served as a lead-in to college football on NBC, brought in 1.21 million viewers, down 36 percent from 1.89 million two years ago.
To put Sunday’s 1.37 million viewers into perspective, the NFL matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on CBS attracted 24.1 million viewers. The Thursday night football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, which was only available on Amazon Prime, drew 16.2 million views. The viewership number for Sunday’s Presidents Cup was about the same as Fox’s NFL Kickoff pre-game show on Sunday (1.2 million) and the second game of the WNBA Playoff series between the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury (1.2 million).
The Presidents Cup’s figures fall significantly short of the golf’s marquee events. The final round of the 2024 Masters was down 20 percent year-over-year but was still viewed by 9.58 million people. The final round of the 2024 U.S. Open, which featured a dual between Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, was viewed by a a total audience on NBC and Peacock of 5.9 million viewers.
A Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company that makes air cooling systems claims Sun Day Red’s logo resembles its logo too much.
Sun Day Red, the apparel and lifestyle brand that launched in February by Tiger Woods and TaylorMade, is in a trademark dispute with Tigeraire, a company that makes cooling products for athletes, over its logo.
As reported by CNBC, Tigeraire claims the Sun Day Red logo, which depicts a 15-striped tiger, closely resembles its leaping tiger trademarked logo, and that could create confusion for consumers and violate Tigeraire’s brand identity.
The corporate logos of Tigeraire and Sun Day Red.
A court filing from Tigeraire states, “The actions of SDR, TaylorMade and Tiger Woods blatantly ignore Tigeraire’s long-standing protected mark, brand and identity, violate federal and state intellectual property law, and disregard the consumer confusion their actions create. SDR’s application should be denied.”
Tigeraire registered its logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2020. Among the products the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company sells are wearable air coolers, fans and air conditioning systems for football helmets, including those used by Louisiana State University.
By filing the notice of opposition to block Sun Day Red’s trademark application, Tigeraire could delay the official trademark approval for Sun Day Red. However, according to the CNBC report, production of Sun Day Red’s apparel and accessories is expected to continue.
David Abeles, the CEO of TaylorMade, told CNBC, “We have full confidence in the securitization of our trademarks.”
” … we have been disappointed in our stock performance for some time.”
Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. announced Wednesday that its board of directors intends to pursue the separation of its two primary businesses, Topgolf and Callaway, making them two independent companies.
In March 2021, Callaway Golf Co. acquired the remainder of Topgolf Entertainment Group that it didn’t already own, valuing the driving range chain at approximately $2 billion. The joint company was renamed Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., but starting in March of this year, rumors began to swirl that a breakup could be coming.
In August, Topgolf Callaway reported that its second-quarter revenue was $494 million, while its first six months’ revenue exceeded $917 million. While those numbers represented increases, they came almost exclusively from the creation of new venues because the same-venue sales were down 8 percent. At the time, Topgolf Callaway reported that traffic to existing Topgolf locations slowed.
After that announcement, Topgolf Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said, “We remain convinced Topgolf is a high-quality business with significant future opportunity. At the same time, we have been disappointed in our stock performance for some time, as well as more recent same-venue sales performance.”
The Topgolf venue in Farragut, Tenn. (Brianna Paciorka/Knoxville News-Sentinel)
Topgolf Callaway Brands, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MODG, has seen its value steadily decrease since reaching a high of $36.92 per share in May 2021. On Aug. 30 it finished at a low of $9.94. On Wednesday it closed at $10.76 per share before the announcement was made.
In a release, John Lundgren, chairman of the board of directors of Topgolf Callaway Brands, said, “Today’s announcement is the result of a thorough strategic review conducted by the board of directors and the management team. The creation of two independent companies, each with a distinct focus and proven business model, is intended to drive continued momentum in both businesses and deliver value to all our shareholders.”
Callaway will consist of the golf equipment part of the business, along with Toptracer and lifestyle brands TravisMathew, OGIO and Jack Wolfskin.
Callaway’s Apex Ti Fusion and Apex Ai200 irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Topgolf will concentrate solely on its entertainment business, which includes more than 100 driving range-entertainment centers worldwide. Topgolf plans to reduce its new venue development for 2025 to a number in the mid-single digits, the release stated.
Brewer said on Wednesday, “We believe that separating Topgolf will best position both companies for success. Topgolf and Callaway have different operating models and capital needs, and this split allows each to maximize their potential.”
The company announced that it expects to spin off of the Topgolf business to Topgolf Callaway Brands’ shareholders in a transaction that is intended to be tax-free to both the company and its shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. While the company expects that a spin-off of Topgolf into a stand-alone public company is the most likely separation path, the company will continue to evaluate other options for separation to maximize shareholder value.
The separation of the brands is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025.
Stick another pin in the global map for Cabot, the Canadian-based golf resort operator that in recent years has expanded to properties in Scotland, the Caribbean, the U.S. and soon to western Canada.
This week, Cabot co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar will announce the company’s expansion to France with the purchase of Golf Du Médoc Resort in Bordeaux. The resort, home to two golf courses designed by Bill Coore and Rod Whitman, will be rebranded Cabot Bordeaux.
Those course designers’ names are extremely familiar to Cowan-Dewar, who employed Whitman then the team of Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build the 36 holes at Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. It was there the company got the off the ground with the introduction of Cabot Links in 2012 and Cabot Cliffs in 2015. Both those courses have achieved high acclaim with rankings among the best courses in the world – Cliffs is No. 11 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of courses outside the U.S., and Links ties for No. 43.
The Rod Whitman-designed Vignes Course at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)
Cabot Cape Breton was not the first example of Whitman and Coore design layouts at the same site, however. Before partnering with Crenshaw, Coore opened the Chateaux (Castle) Course in 1989 at Golf Du Médoc Resort. Whitman’s Vignes (Vines) Course followed in 1991.
“Both courses are just really, really wonderful golf,” Cowan-Dewar said. “It’s just a beautiful, idyllic setting. …
“The courses are really quite even, so we’re pretty excited about that. People will debate, as they do in Cape Breton, over which is their favorite course. And that’s a mighty good problem for us. There’s nothing better than people finishing their trip and trying to decide which one they liked better when there is no obvious choice.”
The Bill Coore-designed Chateau Course at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)
The resort sits less than a half hour’s drive northwest of Bordeaux, considered the wine capital of the world and around which live some 1.4 million people. Not far inland from the Bay of Biscay, Bordeaux is some 320 miles south of Paris.
Cowan-Dewar said he had traveled to France several times but never the Bordeaux region until visiting Golf Du Médoc Resort last year. It was the golf that caught his attention.
“It’s entirely site specific,” he said when asked about the move into France. “I’ve long heard about it, and Rod and Bill would talk about it a fair bit. So you think how small a world it is, this is the only place in the world they worked side by side before Cabot. And with 36 holes of Ben and Rod’s work, it just seemed a little like fate, right?”
The hotel at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)
Cowan-Dewar explained that Golf Du Médoc Resort was founded by two French titans of industry, one of whom has passed away. The other turns 90 years old this year and is still friends with Coore and Whitman. The opportunity to take the reins at such a property was too great to pass up, Cowan-Dewar said.
“As you can imagine, with Bill and Rod the golf architecture was terrific, as was the entire destination,” he said. “I think the city, the destination and the region were all amazing.”
Cabot Bordeaux will include a preexisting 79-room hotel, an upscale restaurant showcasing regional cuisine and a world-class spa. Cowan-Dewar said additions to the 400-acre property might include the two- and four-bedroom style of cabins and cottages that have proved popular at other Cabot properties. The hotel was built in 2007 and was recently updated, and Cabot will undertake various projects to ensure the property remains fresh with updated location-specific activities and expanded amenities.
The spa pool at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)
The courses will receive polishing as Cabot takes its cues from Coore and Whitman, with the work most likely focused on the typical updates needed for drainage and playing surfaces at any 35-year-old courses. The resort also has two driving ranges, one of which includes the Bernard Pascassio Training Center. Cowan-Dewar said one of the ranges will be converted to a par-3 course, a move that has become a staple at top resorts in recent years as players look for more golf than 18 holes a day.
“It’s almost impossible to have a property like that now without a par-3 course,” he said. “They’ve become such demand drivers that converting a driving range into a par-3 course seems like a win right off the bat.”
It’s all part of a rapid expansion for Cabot, which has gone from 36 full-size holes of golf to 90 in recent years, with another 54 on the books to open soon.
In 2022 Cabot purchased the Scottish Castle Stuart and its 18-hole links course designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. That property was rebranded as Cabot Highlands with plans to add 18 new holes by Tom Doak next year.
The company then completed Cabot Saint Lucia’s Point Hardy Golf Club to great acclaim in 2023, including several of the most scenic golf holes in the world designed by Coore and Crenshaw on cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean.
Later in 2023 the first 18-hole course, named the Karoo and designed by Kyle Franz, opened at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida, with another 18 slated to open this year. That property is a rethink of the sandy site’s former World Woods Golf Club, and it also includes two short courses.
Also in the works is Cabot Revelstoke in western Canada, with Whitman designing the mountainous 18-hole layout there.
“It’s a little overwhelming to think about, you know, but it’s very exciting,” Cowan-Dewar said of the expansions. “It’s all driven by the golf. We have found that if we focus on great golf, the rest just follows naturally.”
In the span of three years, Cabot will have gone from a famous but regional player to a worldwide force in the golf industry, and more additions to the brand are likely. Cabot Bordeaux will certainly add a French sophistication to the company’s newfound international flavor.
“Anyone playing Cabot Bordeaux is going to enjoy a distinctly French experience,” Coore said in a media release that will be released to announce the news. “Going from Cabot Cape Breton to Cabot Highlands to Cabot Saint Lucia to Cabot Bordeaux offers experiences that are as different and as varied as you could ever imagine.”
“To say we are excited about Tim joining our team would be an understatement.”
Tour Edge has announced that effective August 5, Tim Clarke, the former president of Wilson Golf, will become the brand’s new president, overseeing worldwide golf sales, strategic planning and operational performance for Tour Edge.
Dave Glod is the founder, chief club designer and majority owner of Tour Edge. He is giving up his position as president and taking on the role as chief executive officer.
In a statement, Glod said, “To say we are excited about Tim joining our team would be an understatement. We’re getting one of golf’s most respected and well-liked leaders and putting all his talents and focus into our sales and marketing efforts. This is a total coup for us to get Tim and it should have a huge impact for us moving forward.”
If Clarke’s face looks familiar, you might recognize him from the Golf Channel series, “Driver vs. Driver,” which aired in 2016 and 2018.
Clarke started at Chicago-based Wilson in 1997, and after leaving in February 2023, he became the executive vice president of the golf division of Perry Ellis International. He managed the Original Penguin, Callaway (apparel), PGA TOUR, Nicklaus and Perry Ellis brands in the United States.
Clarke said, “I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the Tour Edge family and getting back to my roots in hard good sales and in the Chicagoland area.”
Tour Edge, which is based in Batavia, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, has positioned itself as a brand that tries to bring technology and value to golfers. It has found success in sponsoring Champions tour players like Bernhard Langer, Scott McCarron and Alex Cejka, and recently its television ads have featured former football and baseball star Bo Jackson.
PGA Tour hires veteran marketing, communications officer from Aon.
The PGA Tour announced Monday it has hired Andy Weitz to serve as chief marketing and communications officer and executive vice president of investor relations.
The investor relations portion of the role will focus on developing messaging and communicating strategy for PGA Tour Enterprises, the new for-profit subsidiary of PGA Tour, Inc. The group was formed this year when Strategic Sports Group made an initial investment of $1.5 billion in the new commercial venture that gives players an investor stake in the business.
Weitz spent the past decade working for Aon plc, most recently as chief marketing officer for the global professional services firm. Aon has built deep relationships in golf in recent years.
Read the full media release announcing Weitz’s hiring below:
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida– The PGA Tour today announced that Andy Weitz has been named Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and Executive Vice President, Investor Relations, for the Tour’s global operations. In the role, Weitz will be responsible for positioning the PGA Tour brand for current and future investment while communicating its global strategy and performance to the Tour’s stakeholders and beyond.
“As our business continues to evolve and grow, Andy will be an invaluable addition to the PGA Tour given his experience as a trusted advisor to many of the world’s largest and most influential companies,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. “With his track record of helping global companies tell their stories and engage their stakeholders, as well as his deep knowledge of the business community, Andy will be instrumental in further elevating the PGA Tour brand and helping our organization grow.”
In addition to overseeing marketing and communications for the PGA Tour, Weitz will take on a newly created investor relations role that is responsible for developing messaging and communicating strategy for PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit subsidiary of PGA Tour, Inc., incorporated earlier this year. In January, the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) made an initial investment of $1.5 billion – with up to $3 billion available – into the new commercial venture, and this funding will allow the PGA Tour to make significant strategic investments to enhance the PGA Tour experience for fans and players, and benefitting tournaments, sponsors and other constituents.
Through the PGA Tour Enterprises structure, the PGA Tour unveiled a Player Equity Program, a first in professional sports. PGA Tour players now have an investor stake in the Tour’s commercial growth, which creates alignment between the organization’s athletes and the strategic investments that will further grow the game and engage the next generation of fans.
“With the launch of PGA Tour Enterprises and the investment made by SSG, the PGA Tour’s business has grown significantly in value, opportunity and complexity,” said Joe Gorder, PGA Tour Enterprises Board Chairman. “This new role is important to the PGA Tour’s ability to successfully execute its strategy and deliver an engaging, satisfying future product for fans.”
“In our search, Andy’s experience and clear ability to use a mix of techniques to reach and engage everyone from Main Street consumers to Wall Street investors stood out,” said Ed Herlihy, PGA Tour Policy Board Chairman. “I am confident Andy will contribute enormously to the organization’s future success.”
Weitz comes to the PGA Tour following a decade at Aon plc, where he most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for the global professional services firm. During his tenure at Aon, Weitz led the integration of the worldwide marketing and communications team and the unification of its global brand strategy, including a rationalization of its sponsorship portfolio, which included properties across Premier League football, Formula One racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and international rugby. While at Aon, Weitz was also responsible for leading the firm’s widely recognized brand building efforts, especially advancements in its use of digital strategies to engage the firm’s colleagues, clients and investors.
In 2019, Aon established an Official Marketing Partnership with the PGA Tour, beginning with the award-winning “Aon Risk Reward Challenge” that launched simultaneously on the LPGA Tour and was the first program to offer equal prize money to winners on the men’s and women’s tours. At that time, Aon also became a worldwide partner of the Ryder Cup and introduced the “Nicklaus/Jacklin Award presented by Aon,” which recognizes the player that best represents the spirit of each Ryder Cup competition. More recently, Aon evolved its PGA Tour relationship to include naming rights to the new eligibility paths for Signature Events, known as the Aon Next 10 and the Aon Swing 5, and transitioned the Aon Risk Reward Challenge into “Aon Better Decision Breakdowns” to emphasize the use of real-time data during in-telecast segments to analyze player decisions. In parallel, the firm has continued it successful Aon Risk Reward Challenge program with the LPGA.
“I’ve seen the power of the PGA Tour brand firsthand, as both a fan and a partner, and am truly excited to play a role in growing its global impact at this transformative moment,” Weitz said. “As the organization evolves, it’s critical that we stay focused on fan priorities, aligned with player interests and accountable to partner and investor expectations. I’m looking forward to listening to and learning from all our stakeholders.”
Prior to joining Aon in 2014, Weitz was U.S. President and Chief Executive Officer of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a leading global strategic communications consultancy in the WPP portfolio. While there, he also served as Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. region and as Vice-Chair of the global Corporate Advisory Practice, which included the financial, internal, corporate communications and public affairs practices of the global firm.
Weitz holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Weitz and his family will relocate to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, this summer, and formally begin his work with the PGA Tour in mid-August.
The PGA Tour thanks its partners at Korn Ferry for the successful completion of this important executive search.
Harvard-trained architect Brandon Johnson hangs out his own shingle with new design firm.
Golf course architect Brandon Johnson has made it official: After 17 years working for Arnold Palmer Design Company, he is hanging out his own shingle with today’s introduction of Brandon Johnson Golf Course Design.
The Harvard-educated Johnson joined Palmer Design in 2006 when that firm moved to Orlando. Johnson and Thad Layton were the design leads in recent years for Palmer, which wound down operations late in 2023. Layton announced the formation of his own firm in September.
Johnson has worked on several dozen courses around the world for Palmer involving everything from renovations to new courses.
“I’m excited, and as I’ve explained it to people, it feels like I’m graduating college again,” said Johnson, who interned for the PGA Tour as a course designer in the mid-1990s before taking a job out of college with The First Tee. “There are a lot of opportunities, and there’s a lot of excitement.”
Palmer Design built more than 300 courses in 37 states and 27 countries, including many listed on Golfweek’s Best ranking of top modern courses in the U.S. and the state-by-state rankings of public and private layouts. The company really took off in the 1980s and has been one of the most recognized brands in course architecture ever since. But business, especially in constructing new courses, slowed for the company following Palmer’s death in 2016. Layton and Johnson had mostly worked on renovations since.
Brandon Johnson led the renovation to Old Tabby Links in Okatie, S.C., which was originally created by Arnold Palmer Design Company. It was one of many jobs Johnson undertook as one of the lead designers for Palmer Design. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
“I’m a very seasoned professional, but you know, I’m still young in the business,” said the 50-year-old Johnson, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina who did his undergrad in design at North Carolina State before attending Harvard for graduate school. “I had a professor in my junior year that said it’s going to take you 25 years to master this profession of landscape architecture. I think that we’re always learning and we’re always growing, so now I have this incredible kind of background in my career that I’m able to apply to my own firm.”
Johnson is busy lining up jobs and plans several announcements of renovations and possibly new courses in the coming months. He intends to spend as much time as possible in the field working with course shapers – generally speaking, shapers are the highly skilled heavy equipment operators who turn an architect’s plans into reality.
“It’s interesting, in my early days at the Tour, Pete Dye had a lot of influence,” Johnson said. “He was almost always on-site, and there was always that mentality that even though we might be in the office some, how we thought about projects was the work being done in the field. Even in my time at Palmer, we certainly transitioned when Thad and I were running the company to be much more involved in the field through every step of the process. I think, for me, that’s the way I will be starting out on my own, and it’s always kind of been my mentality.”
Golf has boomed in recent years as more players took up the game during COVID, and there has been a greater interest in course architecture as well. Johnson said it’s a great time to strike out on his own.
“People are seeking out fun, new and interesting architecture,” he said. “To me, what fun means is golf is going to have a lot of variety, and it’s going to allow you to think and maybe execute a shot in several different ways. It’s drawing you in, and it’s going to make you want to get back on the golf course. I think of the feelings that I had as a kid and I just couldn’t wait to get to the golf course. …
“You hope you have the opportunities to show the golfing world what you can do as an architect, and I’m really excited about that opportunity and look forward to working with some really good clients on some unbelievable pieces of property, working with people who are equally as passionate and in love with this game as I am.”
Arcis Golf expands on its portfolio of nearly 70 clubs around the country.
Champions Retreat in Evans, Georgia – the host club for the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur each year – is being sold to Dallas-based Arcis Golf.
Terms of the deal, slated to close Friday, have not been released. News of the impending sale was emailed to Champions Retreat members, as first reported in the Augusta Press. The impending sale was confirmed independently by Golfweek, although an official statement has not been released to news organizations.
The private Champions Retreat near Augusta consists of three nine-hole courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The ANWA is played each April on Palmer’s The Island nine and Nicklaus’ The Bluffs nine before moving to Augusta National Golf Club for the final round the Saturday before the Masters begins. The club also features oversized and luxurious cabins with a top-notch food and beverage program. The club has opened its gates to guests during Masters weeks in recent years.
Champions Retreat was founded in 2005. Its reputation began to take off in 2014 when it was purchased by Bill Forrest, founder of the Connecticut-based private equity firm Tower Three Partners.
Arcis Golf, founded in 2013, owns or operates nearly 70 private, resort and daily-fee clubs around the United States. Its properties include TPC River’s Bend in Ohio, Cowboys Golf Club in Dallas, Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona and Tijeras Creek Golf Club in California. Atairos, an independent private company focused on supporting growth-oriented businesses, acquired a substantial ownership position in Arcis in 2020. Fortress Investment Group LLC also maintains a significant ownership stake in Arcis.
The funding will allow Arccos to accelerate the release of products and data-driven services for recreational golfers.
Golfers on the PGA Tour have nearly all their shots tracked by ShotLink, which uses a sophisticated system of laser measuring devices, radar and an army of volunteers. You don’t have access to that technology, but Arccos has been enabling recreational golfers to track their shots and collect data on their game since 2012, and on Monday, the company announced that as a part of a $20 million Series C fundraising, it had become the “Official Game Tracker” of the PGA Tour.
Along with the investment by the Tour, other investors include Ping, TaylorMade, Cobra Puma Golf and Topgolf Callaway Brands.
Arccos, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, is a shot-tracking system that uses a series of small screw-in tags to tether a golfer’s clubs to a smartphone app, which then uses GPS to track the location of every shot a player hits, along with information on the club used and the location of the bullet hit (fairway, sand, rough, the green). Using that data, Arccos develops ShotLink-style stat packages that can reveal information about player tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, along with suggestions on what to practice. The Arccos Caddie app can also use that data to provide caddy-style club recommendations too.
Data provided by Arccos
“This investment shows that data is here to stay and that it is going to help everybody,” said Sal Syed, Arccos Golf’s CEO and co-founder in an exclusive interview with Golfweek. “Whether you are a player looking to improve or an instructor looking to teach better, a fitter looking to be smarter or even a manufacturer looking to make better tools for golfers, this data is going to help every aspect of the industry. That’s why you are seeing the industry kind of coalescing behind Arccos. It’s going to help everybody.”
To date, Arccos members have used the system to track more than 750 million shots during over 16 million rounds in 162 countries. That database provides the foundation for the power of the system.
Asked what Arccos plans to do with the capital it has raised, Syed said the infusion of money will allow the company to accelerate its product roadmap.
“We can invest more in data science, make the system more accurate, easier to use and more available to a wider array of golfers.”
Arccos Gen3+ (Arccos)
Players on the Tour now create strategies for how they will play specific holes using data collected by ShotLink, and many modify their schedules to include courses that data shows match their game especially well. In some cases, they skip tournaments where data shows they might struggle. Syed hopes that as Arccos grows, recreational golfers will be able to make data-based decisions like the pros.
“Every decision that is made in golf should be based on your on-course, real performance,” he said. “Eventually, we want to be able to show, using data, which putter is better for you, what shoes you should play with. Today, no one is basing those kinds of decisions on actual performance data. What we have touched is not even the tip of the iceberg.”
Troon, the Arizona-based golf management company that has seen rapid expansion in recent months, has been selected to manage one of the most interesting courses in the U.S.: Tobacco Road in Sanford, North Carolina.
Designed by the late Mike Strantz and established in 1998, Tobacco Road has built an almost cult-like following of players looking for something different. The layout’s sometimes-extreme greens and incredible terrain have kept the tee sheet full for years, and Tobacco Road ranks No. 6 in a stacked North Carolina on Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of top public-access courses. It also ties for No. 79 on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access courses in the U.S.
Those rankings don’t necessarily express the views of diehard fans, many of whom would rank what is in many ways a non-traditional layout among the top handful of modern courses in the U.S.
Such players tend to love that Tobacco Road plays almost like a video game, presenting shots and strategic challenges not seen at many other courses. Think semi-blind shots to frequently crazy greens featuring dramatic contours and run-offs – Strantz wasn’t interested in the status quo of golf design, and he wasn’t afraid to turn up the volume with his designs.
No. 18 at Tobacco Road, with the clubhouse in view (Courtesy of Tobacco Road Golf Club)
With the right frame of mind, it’s all incredibly fun – judged by many to be as much art as a golf course. And after decades of family management, the course 25 miles north of Pinehurst will now be under the management of Troon, the largest golf and golf-hospitality management company in the world.
“After thoroughly evaluating our options for management of Tobacco Road, we are excited to select Troon as the steward of Mike Strantz’s uncompromising design,” Tobacco Road Golf Club founder Mark Stewart said in a media release announcing the news.
Troon has been on a tear lately, acquiring several other management companies. The company now manages the equivalent of 840-plus 18-hole golf courses. Under its care are multiple top-tier daily-fee courses and private clubs.
“Troon is proud and honored to partner with Tobacco Road and founder Mark Stewart,” Troon director of operations Dana Schultz said in the media release. “This Top-100 golf course has been a successful family-run operation for decades. We look forward to carrying on the Stewart family vision and welcoming golfers to Tobacco Road Golf Club.”
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