What's Up With Golf?

By Kirk R. Gross

When I first began working in direct response production, golf was the elite category of the genre. These shows featured products from some of the most prestigious golf companies in the world, including Adams, TaylorMade, Titleist and more. While the rest of the DR world was searching for hosts who could yell and sell, golf already was teaming up sports broadcasters with big-name golfers, some retired and some still on the tour. The Golf Channel was relatively inexpensive at the time and the only real outlet for watching golf, with the exception of weekend network programming.

Golf was considered king because of the large amounts of revenue it generated. Golf has never been cheap; you have to have some money to play this game. That means the only people who play it, are the ones who love it--and can afford it!

Golf was perfect for direct response, because if golfers thought there was a product or device that actually could improve their game, they were all over it.

IS DR OFF ITS GAME?
After several years of successful shows that promoted balls that flew record distances, clubs that had names from interplanetary galaxies and training devices that guaranteed results even though nobody knew anyone who used them, the market dropped out.

Perhaps the audience was catching on, or was tiring of C-list celebrity golfers as pitchmen. But even the big shows with brand-name products weren't turning a profit. This all seemed very weird, because this was the time that golf was exploding with a new infusion of excitement and interest due to a new generation of charismatic and talented players, led, of course by Tiger Woods. Tiger single-handedly created a global interest in the game, and for the first time in the history of golf, weekly tournaments were packed with racially diverse families and kids. And somehow, most golf infomercials still continued to decline.

I have had the privilege of producing over a dozen golf infomercials and many commercial spots over the past 10 years with some of the greatest golfers of all time, and yet very few of these shows ever broke even. In 2007, The Golf Channel retained the rights to show all the season's PGA Tour events, and subsequently doubled their airtime rates, making it even more difficult for clients to produce a successful show. So some people tried airing shows on other networks and channels, and still, they couldn't make them work.

The game of golf is bigger than it ever was even in the days of Nicklaus and Palmer, yet very few clients are attempting to create new golf infomercials. In fact, the only clients producing new shows these days are golf fanatics who frankly just have too much money and don't know what to do with it.

So what happened? There are many theories, and marketing experts are scratching their heads in an attempt to revive this once-thriving category. But here's my theory: While everyone else is desperately trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it, I say we focus on finding the next evolving sport that will knock the DR world on its butt.
Lacrosse! You heard it here first.

Kirk R. Gross is executive creative producer of Reel Kreative Images Inc. in Orange County, Calif. He can be reached at (949) 587-9610, or via e-mail at kirk@rkitv.com.