The PGA Tour Creator Classic came as a surprise to many. But mostly a welcome one. The Tour invited 16 golf influencers on the Wednesday of the Tour Championship for a 9-hole match. Fans clapped and cheered; the livestream numbers were high as well. But what did the ‘creators’ think about it? 

Recently, Good Good Golf’s Garrett Clark, Colin Ross, and Max Putnam sat for a chat with Samir and Colin, who run an eponymous YouTube podcast. Samir himself, found it a tad bit boring. The broadcast style didn’t match his expectations. He would’ve preferred more interaction and engagement in the livestream. 

Garrett Clark agreed. “They missed what made us special.” A loaded one-liner. What did he mean? It’s not that Creator Classic failed. It didn’t. At one point, around 118K viewers were watching it live on YouTube. On top of that, ESPN+ was streaming the event as well. But it could’ve been better.

The players could’ve been mic’d up like they are on their regular videos. That’s their USP to viewers. On top of it, there is banter too. All that was missing on the one-day event. Nevertheless, it’s good to remember that the overlap of YouTube golf with Pro Golf is still at a nascent stage. 

“The struggle is that blend. We talk about how do (sic!) you bring more personality to it. And that’s something we are gonna keep working on,” Putnam, who mostly stays behind the camera, chimed in.  

The Creator Classic also showed one more thing. That YouTube golf (and golfers) is not a fluke. The ‘content creators’ were smoking 300-yard tee shots. They certainly played better than many expected them to. Now the broader question remains: how can the PGA Tour make the product better?

To live stream or pre-record? That’s the current dilemma for golf influencers

There is a case to be made that YouTubers need to be somewhat involved in the planning stage as well. Viewers like Samir who are used to watching YouTube Golf could easily sense the difference between the Creator Classic and, say, Good Good’s Pro Major. Samir suggested pre-recording the tournament, but there is a counterargument to that as well. 

There are indeed benefits to pre-recording. You can trim the boring parts. Moreover, you can get more creative with recording the shots. But then you miss out on the live interaction. 

Sure, post-match comments are interesting. But Putman said in the podcast, “The engagement you could have in the live stream, like the [a fan in the] chat is talking, you [are] responding. There is a part there that could be really cool. We’ve been doing some live stuff. We are trying to figure that out.”

Hopefully, the next time the PGA Tour invites the top content creators, the product will be more polished. Nevertheless, the Creator Classic showed there is a huge demand for this kind of tournament. It remains to be seen if Jay Monahan & Co. wants to add it again before the Tour Championship. Or, even earlier.