A major survey on what the British public thinks about televised golf events suggests the industry desperately needs to support alternative versions to the traditional model.
The YouGov poll of 17 sports found that golf was far and away deemed to be the most boring to watch.
Seven in ten respondents said it was either quite boring or very boring, and just 11 per cent said golf is exciting to watch.
More women than men said they found golf boring, far more people under 50 said the same than over 50 and more northerners than southerners also find the sport dull to watch.
Even other sports that the public deem to be boring to watch, such as cricket, darts, snooker and Formula 1 motor racing, had nothing like the negative perceptions that golf has, with between 49 and 58 per cent of respondents saying they were boring, and 18 and 32 per cent saying they were exciting.
Rugby Union, football, gymnastics, tennis and athletics were the only sports considered to be more exciting than boring.
“The adage that golf is a way of ruining a good walk has been misattributed to both Mark Twain and Winston Churchill over the years,” said a YouGov spokesman.
“However, the sentiment remains strong with the British public, and YouGov can crown golf as Britain’s most boring sport. Overall, 70 per cent of Brits who have ever watched the sport say that it is boring, including 52 per cent who say it is very boring.
“Golf holds a long lead over the next most boring sports.”
The results suggest that events like GolfSixes, a two-day European Tour tournament, which took place at the Centurion Club, Hertfordshire, last May, and involved nations competing against each other over six-hole golf amid amphitheatre-style stands, a fan zone featuring Q&As with players, ‘caddie cams’, on-course player interviews, music and fireworks are increasingly necessary to address the image problem the game has.
Nathan Homer, chief commercial and marketing officer of the European Tour, said: “Combining team golf, pitching nation against nation, with the intensity of a shorter format, we are delighted with the success of last year’s event. Innovation is at the heart of what we do, and we plan on bringing more fan engagement and new concepts to this year’s GolfSixes.
“Nearly 20 per cent of all attendees in 2017 had never been to a European Tour event before, and we hope that GolfSixes will go some way in attracting new fans of all ages to the sport. Taking place over six holes, in such close proximity to our fan zone, ensures there will be entertainment throughout the weekend.”
On Saturday May 5, the teams will be split into four groups of four teams, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the knockout stages. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd/4th place play-off match and the final will all be contested on Sunday May 6.
Three points will be given for winning a match, with one point given for a draw. The matches themselves will be played in a greensomes match play format.
Both days’ play will be shown live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, around the globe on the Tour’s world feed network and on Facebook Live.
Leave a Reply