A New Golf Tour Is Trying Something Nobody Else Has

Call it dramatic, but the Your Golf Tour won’t just change YouTube golf—it’s change competitive golf forever.

The competition-based YouTube golf league, which debuted last week, has already captured the attention of millions of fans. For the uninitiated, the league was started by Grant Horvat and the Bryan Bros. to create a talent-based tour for YouTube golfers. Millions of dollars are on the line.

Some of those fans who are watching used to grow up wanting to be Tiger Woods, but now they want to be Grant Horvat. They used to grow up wanting to be professional athletes, now they want to be influencers.

With tours like the YGT, they can be both.

How does this change competitive golf?

The YGT will keep good, young golfers from aspiring to make it to the PGA Tour. It will offer a pathway for great golfers to keep competing even if they choose a more creator-centric route. 

Yes, the best of the best golfers will find their way to the PGA Tour. I’m just saying this presents a great option for those who are not the best of the best but are still great and have no problem spending time on camera. 

It makes the creator route far more attractive for maybe the impressive college golfer who might not be the next Scottie Scheffer. 

Listen, if I’m a top 100 college golfer but I know I won’t be an elite player on the PGA Tour, and I don’t really care to grind it out on mini tours or even the Korn Ferry, tours like the YGT become really enticing. 

I think what we’ll start to see is a shortened runway for professional golfers—if they spend three years or so grinding to maintain tour cards with little-to-no profit, they will pivot sooner than they used to.

People used to stay stuck in one place because they didn’t know what else they could do with their lives other than golf. They said, I have to keep grinding to keep the dream alive. 

Now they can create content alongside their training to build additional income until that additional income is sustainable and they can live a much more comfortable life than the average Korn Ferry guy. 

I’m simplifying it, of course, but you see what I’m saying. 

And yes, it takes a certain type of person to be able to make it as a creator, but you want to know what really helps? Being really good at golf. You don’t have to be this ultra-creative content genius if you go out and consistently shoot par. You’re fun to watch if you hit the ball well more often than not. 

Do you have to have some kind of differentiator? Of course. Figure out what that is, then go for it. Start filming and monetize your workouts, your day-to-day, your habits, and keep playing golf for a living. Keep pursuing pro golf, or ditch it all for content creation if it’s not working. 

And because of things like the YGT, creators now have meaningful ways to compete for legitimate money and awareness that will result in brand deals and business opportunities that you miss out on if you’re not a high level pro. 

How does this change YouTube Golf?

YouTube golfers have something to aspire to. 

There’s not a scratch-ish YouTube golfer out there who isn’t dying to be a part of this tour. Not only does it give you a chance to win 50K three or four times in a year and a shot at $1 million for the final tournament—but the exposure is unreal. 

Each team will have to give one guy the boot for the following season. That means four guys will be out, while 12 remain.

Honestly, it’s a really big advantage to the first group of YGT players (particularly the good ones), as they have the best chances to lock themselves into the tour for a long time. 

But each year, more and more golfers will strive to be one of the next four up. Even if your team loses every single event, you’re adding $20K+ to your year’s earnings which is meaningful to a lot of creators—all for like 10 total days of playing really fun golf with really fun people. 

Something to chase, money to earn, credibility. That’s what the YGT brings to YouTube Golfers. 

How Has YGT Performed?

The Your Golf Tour has amassed 10 million views over three videos. 

Round 1, hosted on Grant’s channel stands at nearly 5 million views, while Round 2 hosted by Bryan Bros stands at 3 million, and the finale (hosted on the new YGT Channel) stands around 2 million views. 

For context, the John Deere Classic amassed 2.7 million total viewers on Sunday, the tournament’s highest viewership ever. TGL, the indoor golf league, averaged 498,000 viewers per broadcast with an ESPN deal and a much higher budget.

There is clearly an appetite for the Your Golf Tour.

The verdict

The Your Golf Tour is outperforming its other alternative golf counterparts.

YGT is going to be around for a long time, and it will continue to give YouTube golfers something to strive for. It will continue to be a reason great golfers choose the creator route versus the professional grind in the future. 

I’m excited to see how it unfolds.

Top Photo Caption: All the YGT competitors. (Courtesy Trevor Masterson and Jacob Ettawil)