‘Downgrade’: LIV Golf’s Major Rebrand Sparks Confusion & Hatred Among Netizens

Off-season is the time for a revamp. You know when you rework your swing, fix your mistakes, and all that. That’s true for LIV Golf teams as well, it turns out. Take Cleeks GC, for example. The all-European team is likely to play under a different logo. One that fans think has been designed and approved by a team of rookie marketing grads without any second thought.

Now, it’s not official yet. Tee Times, a weekly golf newsletter, dropped the new logo on their X handle. But Richard Bland’s team did have a plan to revamp their brand. Back in September, two-time senior major winner told Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter that Cleeks will undergo a design revamp this off-season. “A bit of rebrand and a new logo,” said the 51-year-old.

The current logo consists of the letter ‘C’ with a club going through the aperture (the open area) of the letter. The new logo features a tee (or the letter ‘T,’ however you want to look at it), and over it, there is the letter ‘C.’

The word ‘cleek’ is of Scottish origin. It denotes a lower-lofted, metal-headed golf club. You can think of it as the precursor of the two-iron. The previous logo quite fits the quaint name, which fans believe won’t be the case this time around.

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LIV Golf has had a contentious history with team logos. Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC has faced a lawsuit from Argentine apparel maker, Cool Brands. They dubbed it as a ‘reckless’ infringement of copyrights. Eventually, the concerned parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement, and Lefty changed his team logo.

Similarly, the University of Alabama also filed a notice of opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office arguing that Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces logo uses an almost identical letter font as the Crimson Tide. While Cleeks GC hasn’t faced any such complaints, its logo is not without controversy.

Fans are baffled that the team decided to move away from its classic logo. One user lamented, “Unfortunately, this would be a downgrade.” Another user voiced similar frustration. “This is so much worse than the logo they had.” Tron Carter of the No Laying Up podcast sarcastically remarked, “Two things can be true: 1) an absolute travesty, and I hate it, esp [especially] if we don’t have the green and gold anymore 2) something I’ll absolutely be using as a personal “TC” logo in the future.”

Notably, Adidas also opposed the usage of the four-stripped LIV logo earlier. The apparel giant claimed LIV’s one was ‘confusingly similar’ to its brand logo. Because of all the controversy and backlash, some are already questioning Greg Norman’s decisions. “Does LIV not believe in hiring marketing and design professionals?” one of them wondered.

Previously, Greg Norman claimed that his new league would draw the younger generation to the game. Hence, ‘Golf But Loud.’ In a more recent post, Shark claimed that “Golf has now opened up new untapped global markets; we have lowered the oldest age demographic in our sport from 67-1/2 to below 45.” But the new logo of Cleeks GC got people thinking otherwise. “It looks like the logo for a new 55+ golf community in a Dallas suburb,” commented one fan.

LIV Golf will kickstart its fourth season next February in Riyadh. Before that, it will become clear how the new logo of the Cleeks GC looks. Bland’s team has onboarded Danish star Frederik Kjettrup recently, who will replace Kalle Samooja. Some fans would rather have them onboard a new designer.