Media in Golf

With Rory Mcilory on the rise and Tiger on the fall, there are questions that are raised if golf is on the up or the down?  Many would say that golf is declining because of Tiger's fall from beginning the best to be ranked in the mid 50s in the world.  And this would be true, many credit Tiger's dominance for the construction for new golf course and country clubs.  Many of these course are now shutdown or don't make very much money at all because of the decrease in popularity but there has been a spike in recent years as new young players have stood out on tour.  These include Rory Mcilory, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and many others.  Even though they aren't a Tiger Woods, they still are helping the game get more popular.
Media in golf is very important in the growth of the game.  As many players are on social media and this helps grow the game.  29% of German golfers use social media to follow golf.  More people get there information on golf from social media then from TV, newspaper, or internet sources.  Even though some of the Golf Channel shows have increased ratings like, morning drive, the golf fix, and the school of golf, more people still get their information from social media.  The broadcasters for golf are NBC, CBS, and the Golf Channel.  Also ESPN covers the British Open but that is the only tournament they cover.  TV ratings have decreased because of factors like playoffs to win tournaments.  In the past two years there has not been many playoffs and these playoffs help TV ratings.  Even though TV ratings are down, the audience in golf have increased about 7 to 8 percent.  I believe this is because of increase of young players contending for tournaments.  Players that are now 21-25 are at the top of the leaders boards consistently.  Ratings might show a decrease in interest but I believe the game is becoming bigger and more popular in a way.










http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/finchem-tv-ratings-down-total-audience/