PGA Tour Created Content (I)

Going forward, I'll will be posting on potential content ideas for in-house produced content by the PGA Tour. Last week, I proposed a sub-site to PGATour.com where Tour players' social media would be syndicated, blog (diary) entries would be posted, and potential video blogging could be housed.

 As I'll regurgitate in the weeks to follow, technological advances have provided for an ease in producing in-house content. A single camera, with a single, skilled individual is capable of filming and producing revealing, humanizing pieces that can advance the story-telling interests of the PGA Tour. The ability to remove a journalist, mainstream media lens should be desired; the content can be controlled, a more uniform message can be relayed, and, most importantly, the right probing questions and direction can be managed and facilitated by an individual with an expert golf background that isn't looking for commercial success via readership.


Today, I'd like to discuss resurrecting the "In his Words" 1997 Tiger Woods Masters Special.

Following a PGA Tour event, the winner would be invited (depending on support, perhaps mandated) to give a 5-15 minute interview to the PGA Tour.

The interview, ideally, would be filmed with a single camera positioned over the shoulder of the interviewer -- perhaps catching a glimpse of them just as a means to keep direction. The interviewer probably should be shown a few times during the interview, just to provide that context, but the raw focus should be the event winner.

The interviewer would simply walk the player through their winning round (maybe multiple rounds depending on context), while guiding them with specific, probing golf questions. The respective shots would be spliced throughout the filming.

For instance, assume that the eventual winner made a crucial birdie on the 17th hole to take a one-shot (and ultimate victory margin) advantage. Here's a scenario Q&A:

After "player x" hooked it in the left bunker before you hit, what where your thoughts? Did you play a conservative shot? It looked like you tried to curve it left-to-right away from that bunker? Where you thinking about forcing a maybe two-shot swing here?

Response.

Talk about the birdie putt you had here. Slippery downhill left-to-right putt; were you worried about it getting away from you?

Response.

How did you re-focus after the birdie? Adrenaline running?

Response.

This type of interview would provide golf fans with the behind-the-scenes access their looking for, while also giving them golf advice and a better analysis of the game than they would traditionally find elsewhere.

Obviously, different players (personalities) would provide for better interviews, but its also likely that the quiet, soft-spoken, humble Tour player may provide a more candid interview than would be expected from, say, Tiger or Phil Mickelson.

Ultimately, the show is an exercise in creating precise, well-formed soundbites for syndication. Better interviews, more golf specific questions and comments than would be found in a press conference. Also, it is the type of content that, once one begins watching, I don't believe that they're likely to turn off. It is the epitome of a humanizing interview while relaying expert golf commentary and analysis, from the player themselves, that a journalist is unlikely to provide for.

In terms of monetizing, the obvious standard side-bar advertisements, or even the brief 15-second commercial interruption could be used for online viewing and, I'd assume, the same syndication policies for other media agencies would be applied.