Will The Back9 Network Bring It?

If you haven’t heard, golf recently got a new game.  And its name is the Back9 Network.

While the rumors and buzz have been circulating around the golf world for the past 20 months or so, the true “coming out party” took place at this winter’s PGA Merchandise show as the new network undauntedly pitched their booth right next to incumbent competitor, the Golf Channel.

Anna Rawson looks to attract some new eyeballs

Unlike the Golf Channel, however, Back9 is positioned as a lifestyle and entertainment network, looking well beyond tournament golf.  With Clint Eastwood as creative board chairman, the network plans to deliver original content that ranges from a magazine show hosted by model and LPGA player, Anna Rawson, to Extreme Golf with celebrities and  a Bachelor-style dating series.

At the core of the network’s strategy is a commitment to grow the game of golf by showing the less intimidating, diverse, and more accessible sides of the game and its accompanying lifestyle.  For example, comedian Jackie Flynn will host a show where he brings a public course spirit to some of the most exclusive courses in the world.

Despite golf’s global growth – particularly in Asia – and its new faces like Rickie Fowler, the game still struggles with its exclusive image and the fierce competition for attention in the sports and entertainment category.  Additionally, the baby boomer population, on which so much of the industry depends, isn’t going to be around forever.  Industry players, particularly the equipment manufacturers, hope that Back9 can address these issues to maintain a long-term customer base.

But launching a cable network isn’t easy and the risks are many. Just ask Oprah.  Cable industry consolidation has made it harder for newcomers to compete and even someone with Oprah’s loyal consumer base failed to accurately understand the fickle, consumer side of the equation. 

The challenge for Back9 will be to provide engaging content for a non-niche, mass audience that is strapped for time and has multiple viewing options on multiple platforms.  Sure, the golf industry likes the idea, as does any advocate of growing the game (like me).  It’s easy for us to drink the Kool-aid. But what about everyone else?  Does the research show sufficient demand for Back9’s content?  Can they be the agent of change that the industry desperately needs and pave the way for growth?  We will surely see.

Posting from Geoff Shackelford.com

This post is a follow up to a thread from Geoff Shakelford's blog discussing Steve Elling's Up and Down piece. You can see the full thread here.

I think both Steve E and BenSeattle touched on some the silver-lining surrounding this TW fiasco that many in the golfworld overlook: the groupthink tendencies of the game's hierarchy are prohibiting the game's organic growth that it so desperately needs. With all the eyes on the golf world, it's a huge opportunity to grow the game and capture a new audience. Filtering the media might ensure some degree of decency and integrity (which is fine), but the extent to which and how they have controlled the media and one's access to the game will undoubtedly keep potential golf consumers outside the ropes. It leaves a bad taste in people's mouths when the 'prince' doesn't have to answer the tough questions....Maybe I'm reading into it far too much, but I think it reminds people of all the reasons why they haven't picked up a golf club or watched on Sundays: it's a country-club sport where the game, the venues and its players are protected from the outside world. Does the game lose integrity when Tiger answers these questions? I'd argue it promotes integrity, if anything.
They might be protecting a product that's responsible for the game's growth the past ten years, but they're making a long-term mistake by turning fans away and clinging to their self-prescribed etiquettes and integrities. How do they plan to capture a progressive generation? These are their future consumers. Adapt a little. I wonder how - and to what extent - they would filter the media if we were in Phoenix this week. Some of this needs to change or we'll have all these new courses with no one to play them. Hey, at least it won't be backed up!

Why The Disappointment?

Tiger first took the world by storm when he won the '97 Masters by a record-setting 12-stroke margin. He stood on the tee with a physical and mental dominance we had never seen in the game and perhaps all of sports. He was black. He would represent the modernization and growth of golf by burying the game's socio-economic barriers and outdated 'traditions' in the bunkers and lockerooms of its past. Then, stroke after stroke, win after win, he lived up to that hype, shattered our expectations and became an elite superstar. He was larger than life with corporate endorsement dollars spilling out of his golf bag. He garnered an IMG entourage of 'handlers' and a celebrity status that admittedly made him feel entitled. Too entitled. Sigh. We were disappointed, but so what? This is nothing new. We've seen this happen in other sports and after the initial shock of a scandal outside the lines (Kobe), he'll dust off his demons and step back into the sanctuary of his craft. A public apology and an exclusive interview and then he's welcomed back by the galleries. He's the next comeback story, right? Perhaps that will happen. Still, golf fans are inexplicably disappointed with the situation. Are we just naive, lacking a mature perspective and blinded by his celebrity grandeur? Possibly. But most of us would agree that Tiger doesn't owe us anything, least of all an explanation for what he does off the course. Yet we're still shaking our collective heads. Why is this? The reason is simple: In golf, it's harder to separate the athlete from the man than in any other sport.

Unlike other sports fans, golf fans have a unique "link" to the game and its professionals. Few baseball fans will ever have the opportunity to hit a Major League fastball out of Wrigley or hit a 3-pointer in Madison Square Garden, but as long as we have a couple hundred bucks to poney up, we can - just days after Phil and Tiger - make birdies at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines. Granted, we aren’t breaking 70 and competing against the world’s best every week. The first professional golf tournament I ever attended was at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. As I stepped onto the course, I looked on in awe as I saw Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els hit their second shots up to the elevated 10th green - a green I had approached myself on a number of occasions. I had been there before. Literally with golf club in hand, debating my shot up towards the clubhouse. (Note: I had also once used this green's slope for sled-riding on cafeteria lunch trays when I skipped morning assemblies at my neighboring high-school.) The point is, we can play on the same courses as the pros and we get far closer to pro golfers than any other professional athlete we might pay to see. We can walk 18 holes with Tiger and stand just feet from him, standing in the fairways he hits or huddled around his ball in the rough as he and Stevie debate the next shot. This access draws us in and establishes a personal connection to the professionals struggling with a game - and sometimes a course - that we struggle with on the weekend. Sure, this connection is probably one-sided and a bit nostalgic, but its still there and plays a major role in why and how we consume the sport of golf. While it doesn't justify our disappointment, it helps explain it. It's the 300-yard driving force behind the sport's marketing and explains why one man can mean so much to corporate sponsors. Unfortunately, it also explains why one man can mean so much to his fans.

Weekend Links

Every Friday we'll post our sponge-worthy golf links/articles we happen to stumble upon during the week. Content will range from highly academic exposés to scandalous TMZ sexting rumours. Regardless, we hope to have you covered from tee to green. (right, Trevor Immelman does the P90X Warrior Pose during his round at the Tavistock)


"The Tiger Bubble," by Jonathan Miller, to appear in this weekend's NY Times Magazine.


Ryan Ballengee at Waggleroom reacts to and expands on the NY Times magazine article.


Cash over at Bushwood Country Club get's honest about Tim Finchem's antics:


Has Rachel Ichitel Moved On to Ian Poulter? (via waggleroom) BTW, If you haven't paroused Ian James' online store AND his website, it's a must. Vanity, anyone? Pink Capitalism and a British accent.


Rory McIlroy Swing Sequence

Greetings, gophers!

Greetings, gophers!

This is the first of many entries where we will aggregate "premium" content that both the casual golfer and golfing fanatic care to learn when it comes to this gloriously frustrating game. We love to watch it, we love to play it and we love to talk about it. Thus, we've decided share it all as a public service to you.

We will present all things golf in a way that will distract you from work, help you look forward to your weekend tee time and keep you informed on the game we all love and hate. Whether its setting your fantasy lineup, checking in on Natalie's gulbis (left), or figuring out how to get on at Bethpage, we will be scouring the depths of the Internet to consolidate all that is awesome in the game of golf.

Our contributors are scattered across the country from New York to Chicago to Minnesota to Los Angeles, attending tournaments whenever we can to trail Tiger in his conquests - on and off the course - and to talk during Sabbatini's backswing. While we maintain extraordinary respect for the game and follow every move on tour, we appreciate a dangerous case of "the shanks," rigging your golf cart to go faster, and hitting golf balls into the ocean. Beginning this week at Bay Hill, we will provide our fantasy analysis/picks that we'd put up against anyone of the 'experts' at Yahoo! or CBSsportsline.

Golf fans may say that few things are better in life than Tiger's Chip on 16 at The Masters (2005). We would argue that either flatulence during your buddy's backswing or Bill Murray's improv scenes in Caddyshack are close seconds. We hope to bring you a royal and ancient dosage of all of the above here at TheFlopShot.Net.

Tiger, we're gonna miss you at Bay Hill this year.

-TheFlopShot.Net
P.S. Given that we have day jobs, we appreciate your patience while we get this clunky site up to par.