Scottish football fans can occasionally be heard to bemoan the loss of the Tennents’ Sixes, an event staged between 1984 and 1993 when, as the name suggests, six-a-side was the order of the day. It was quick, competitive, fun, the attendances were good and terrestrial television stepped forward to provide plentiful coverage. This was at a time, moreover, when football in general wasn’t renowned for breathtaking innovation.
This weekend, golf’s latest attempt to retain relevance in an ever-changing landscape where many fear the sport is being left behind will resonate over two days at the Centurion in St Albans. There must be something about the number six; GolfSixes is the concept coined by the European Tour to let 16 teams of two face each other over six-hole stretches for the biggest chunk of a €1m prize pool. Every player in the field is guaranteed €15,000 for turning up.
The cast list is not outstanding – the Players Championship is a matter of days away – but it need not be. Keith Pelley, the Tour’s chief executive, is perfectly open that this is an experiment towards spectators, broadcast partners and sponsors in order to assess whether such a snappy form of golf has marketable value. Pelley deserves credit on two fronts; he is not for a second claiming GolfSixes are a cure for all golf’s ills and he is, unlike so many who have held prominent golf office before him, willing to try and fail. If GolfSixes does not work but provides the basis for something else, Pelley will regard this weekend as valid.
The format is hardly novel. One of golf’s greatest historic strengths was the ability of players to head out for three-, six- or nine-hole loops as suited them on courses designed for such purposes. The concept of 18-hole strokeplay might now dominate but it was never the be all and end all. GolfSixes teams will face each other in greensomes, again hardly revelatory, but gimmicks lie therein; shot clocks, fireworks, music on the tee, mid-hole interviews and the like. All of which, being blunt, is background fluff. Golf needs no more than its marquee players – the most valuable assets – when seeking to be “cool”.
Sky Sports will argue its investment in golf, most recently via the Open and more routinely through coverage of tours on both sides of the Atlantic, sets them apart as a broadcast outlet for this sport. Yet there are problems which are impossible to ignore where GolfSixes and a wider link to Sky are concerned. The channel takes on a role where it is in danger of thinking it is the tournament, for one. This is fascinating at a time when it has been speculated that Sky Sports’ own wider position is more vulnerable than at any point in the recent past. Where does golf, a high-resource area, sit? As a handy time-filler, sceptics may suggest.
The additions of celebrity commentators such as Vernon Kay and Kevin Pietersen is an attempt to attract a wider core audience but it is woefully transparent. In fact, it is naff. If golf cannot utilise the characters within its own domain, it really does have a problem. “I’m famous and I love golf” shouldn’t be an opening to flirt in and out of broadcasting about it. Lee Westwood adores football; he wouldn’t appear alongside Alan Parry when Chelsea host Manchester United.
More importantly, whatever output Sky and GolfSixes provide is partly pointless when so few people can watch. The chronic absence of this sport on terrestrial television is a very real problem meaning those in charge should already be making plans to at least reintroduce regular TV highlights. Golf needs exposure instead of a scenario where The Masters ends and people forget about it until another major championship.
The European Tour has an existing and long-term agreement with the subscription broadcaster which means the offering of a one-off event to free-to-air would not exactly be cricket but an opportunity has been missed. It is difficult to deviate from the notion that golf on Sky on a Saturday and Sunday will be watched by people who routinely watch golf on Sky on a Saturday and Sunday. With the greatest will in the world, Pietersen’s putting tips or Tinie Tempah blaring out from the 4th won’t change that.
At the weekend, the PGA Tour’s own brand of innovation at the Zurich Classic saw blue chip players miss the cut and serious storm delays to the point where many onlookers had lost interest by the time of its conclusion. The PGA Tour can point to ever-blossoming prize funds and shrug its shoulders, in fairness.
Golf’s myriad issues – and they vary in size, depending on the analyst – are neither particularly complicated nor within the domain of the European Tour. Pelley cannot force private clubs to be more open, he cannot ensure equipment companies don’t charge the earth for their latest driver and he cannot single-handedly chop down the ludicrous time supposedly friendly rounds now take. Accessibility, cost and time all cut to the root of where golf needs surgery.
None of which is to say GolfSixes is an invaluable concept. It just won’t save the sport, as Pelley knows fine well.
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