Could stadium golf be the way to introduce a new audience to the sport?

Traditionally, golf courses have been built on rather sizable plots of land – they have to be, with most championship-grade layouts measuring around 7,000 yards or so.

But could the future of golf – and certainly attracting a new audience to the sport – be in setting up courses within the confines of stadiums and arenas?

Big time golf

For now, Rory McIlroy will be concentrating on the two majors – the U.S. Open and the Open Championship – still to be played in 2023. He is considered a 10/1 chance in the U.S. Open golf odds behind Rahm (8/1) and favourite Scottie Scheffler (15/2) to add a fifth big title to his collection.

Others, like Xander Schauffele (16/1), Max Homa (25/1) and Fitzpatrick (28/1), are considered plausible U.S. Open champions too in the golf betting odds, which confirms that Rory and his business partner Tiger Woods are onto a good thing when it comes to TGL, their arena-based golf franchise set for launch in 2024.

⚡️ @TigerWoods + @McIlroyRory + @TMRWSports = TGL, a new tech-infused, team golf league in partnership with the @PGATOUR. Kicking off January 2024.

Learn more: https://t.co/wXLlcLsvdG pic.twitter.com/JJBe7FWylU

— TGL (@TGL) August 24, 2022

The unique selling point of TGL looks set to be its courses, with the first new build – housed at Palm Beach State College in Florida – boasting a ‘virtual’ simulation (for driving and approach play) and a live short game zone, where the players will complete their holes. The arena-style construction will ensure that fans attending TGL events will be within touching distance of the action.

“To try to deliver golf to the younger demographic, I think, is really important,” McIlroy has said. He’s banking on stadium golf being central to the growth of the sport in the years ahead.

London calling

Meanwhile, in England, golfers of all ages will get their chance to experience the sport in a stadium setting.

England Golf, the governing body for the amateur game, has joined forces with the innovative Stadium Golf Tour to deliver on their key aim: to inspire a ‘new generation’ of golfers.

So, they’ve set up nine-hole courses at a number of iconic sporting venues on English soil – Twickenham, London Stadium and Milton Keynes’ Stadium MK – with tee boxes in rather unique locations… including hitting off the concourse in the second tier of the stand.

ICYMI 👇️

Twickenham will be the flagship venue for a new golf tour arriving in the UK this summer ⛳️

Read more: https://t.co/lPPDM15UG1
Subscribe to be the first to access tickets: https://t.co/aAWNjdyuNH pic.twitter.com/MKbwUufQ73

— Twickenham Stadium (@Twickenhamstad) March 21, 2023

In a similar way that cage football has ignited the passion of players in urban areas who don’t have a local team to join, the hope is that stadium golf will attract a new audience – possibly football fans or possibly those that have been put off golf by the thought of paying sizable green fees – and enhance the numbers of people playing the sport at the grassroots level.
Accessibility is a term that gets bandied around in sport a lot, although it’s not a word that can always be used to describe golf. Hopefully, TGL and stadium golf can go a long way towards breaking down some of the barriers that prevent people from picking up a set of clubs.