Breaking Down the Creator Classic

🗣️ Hello Friends,

I am thankful for all the support since the first edition of the newsletter was posted last week. I am appreciative of all of you that have interacted with my content from the start. 

For this newsletter, let’s rewind and share some of my thoughts on the Creator Classic, which I was fortunate enough to attend in Atlanta just a few months ago.

Here’s what’s on the agenda for today:

• What was the Creator Classic?

• Observations

• Broadcast Results

• What’s Next?

🎥 What was the Creator Classic?

For those unfamiliar with the Creator Classic, the event took place late in the afternoon on Wednesday of Tour Championship week at the newly renovated East Lake Golf Club, in Atlanta, GA. The Tour Championship is the last leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs over Labor Day weekend.

The event was led by Pro Shop Holdings, the team behind the hit Netflix series Full Swing, which offers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the players on the PGA Tour.

The tournament consisted of 16 content creators, mostly YouTube golfers, in a nine hole stroke play tournament. Some of the participants were Paige Spiranac, Tyler Toney (Dude Perfect), Nick “Fat Perez” Stubbe (BobDoesSports), Garrett Clark (Good Good), Roger Steele, Wesley & George Bryan IV (Bryan Brothers) etc. 

The event only had players partaking on East Lake’s back nine. All players played holes 10 through 17, then the top four golfers out of the 16 player field moved on in a playoff on the course’s signature 18th hole. 

For those wondering, the four finalists that played the 18th to determine the winner were Wesley Bryan, Roger Steele, Luke Kwon, and Sean Walsh. Luke Kwon ended up being the only golfer to birdie the playoff hole, thus winning the inaugural Creator Classic. 

🧐 Observations

While walking the grounds for over three hours, I witnessed a bunch of cool moments that some were missed on the telecast. Here are a couple of observations from the tournament:

⚡️ Buzz On The Grounds

The creators arrived a couple hours before their tee times, while the Tour players were still out scouting the course and on the range. Once the creators stepped foot onto the grounds, there was a shift in energy in the crowds towards the creators. People started following the famed internet stars and YouTube golfers.

Numerous young golf fans were running up to all their favorite creators asking for pictures and autographs like they were their childhood heroes. 

There were nice crowds on the first tee and throughout the event that brought energy and sparks for the participants. 

The fans on the course truly cared about what was going on, and it was evident while I was outside the ropes. 

👊 Competitiveness

I overheard a couple conversations between creators out on the range and before their first tee shot and it made something clear: the creators really wanted to win this event. 

You felt the first tee jitters from the players and sighs of relief after their first swing.

Having this be televised on multiple streaming platforms, in front of millions of people, there was a sense of pride for these creators to play well. There’s always going to be a narrative that YouTube golf isn’t real, but these guys truly care when they are on camera to play the best they can for the viewers. 

They brought that energy at the Creator Classic, along with providing a few entertaining moments for the people at home. 

🤝 Tour Players/Caddies Interacting with Creators

One of the funniest parts of the entire day took place before the first tee shot.

I recorded a video of one of the funniest golf creators on the internet, Fat Perez from BobDoesSports, whose group makes golf videos on YouTube. Some of their videos include challenging themselves to eat or drink a certain amount in nine holes while shooting a certain score, or playing against a professional golfer as a three-man scramble. 

Perez was practicing putts next to world #1 golfer Scottie Scheffler, which I found hilarious. In fact, Scheffler then went on to win the $25 million dollar FedEx Cup first place prize at the Tour Championship. 

Additionally, Scottie and other Tour players caught up with some of the creators that they have either played with growing up on the junior golf circuit, or have collaborated with on their channels.

I also saw Austin Kaiser (Xander Schauffele’s caddie), John Ellis (Wyndham Clark’s caddie), and other caddies poking fun and offering advice to players about how to attack the new course. 

It was amazing to see the unity of two completely different golf worlds coming together.

📺 Broadcast Results

For those who watched at home, the event was broadcasted on Peacock, ESPN+, and the PGA Tour YouTube Channel.

As for the viewership, Josh Carpenter from Sports Business Journal reported the broadcasting numbers below:

The tournament broadcast brought records to the Tour’s YouTube channel. The production mirrored a real tour event with shot tracers, scoreboards, and professional commentators in the booth. 

The event was very successful from a viewership standpoint, and it reached a much needed younger audience, especially for the first time around with this event.

🤨 What’s Next?

The question that all golf fans are pondering, especially the ones that consume and enjoy YouTube golf, is will there be another event like this supported by the PGA Tour?

We have had similar live events with professional golfers and athletes already produced in the past. 

For example, you might be familiar with “The Match” series that is broadcasted on TNT. The series has been running once or twice a year with professional golfers and superstar athletes. 

Similarly, Good Good has partnered with NBC and Peacock to broadcast live golf events on NBC’s streaming platforms and on the Good Good YouTube Channel.

Neither of these events were supported by the PGA Tour, but they have realized what they are missing out on.

The PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan have now understood the magnitude of YouTube Golf. One of the primary reasons for the PGA Tour to partner with golf creators is because of the average age of who consumes what content. 

The average age of people watching Youtube Golf is between 18-32 years old, compared to an average age of 60 years old tuning into the Tour. The Tour knows they have to bring in the younger audience on a consistent basis. 

Since the PGA Tour invested money into Pro Shop Holdings, I believe there will be more iterations of a creator classic type of event in the future. Could we see creators paired up with professional golfers in a scramble or alternate shot format? I hope so! 

It will be interesting to see what both parties have cooking up for next year. 

Talk soon!