What We Know About ‘Your Golf Tour’
Waves were made in the world of YouTube Golf last week with the announcement of Your Golf Tour, a creator-led tour headed by Grant Horvat and the Bryan Bros. Met simultaneously with both excitement and disdain across the various depths of the internet, the tour’s founders have remained tight-lipped about many elements of the tour – none more so than George on the MrShort Game Golf Podcast – but dribs and drabs about how it will work have been revealed. Here is what we know about Your Golf Tour so far.
The Competitors
16 of the ‘top players in the digital golf space’ will compete in the inaugural edition of the tour, but outside of Horvat as well as Wesley and George Bryan, we do not know who those players will be. In recent podcasts, both George and Wesley refused to give away all that much about the identity of the competitors, but what we do know is that they will be very good golfers – no room for the likes of the Duke at these events.
In those aforementioned pods, the brothers both stated that the tour would be very high level and that no strokes would be given, no handicaps assigned – meaning that the players need to be able to go toe-to-toe with the founders, who are pretty damn good at golf. Wesley also stated that the competitors need to be able to bring something from a personality perspective, but it sounds as though ability is the primary factor in selection.
One small hint offered by the brothers: while George was Johnny Tight Lips regarding any details of the tour, Wes did let slip that there would be ‘New Zealand representation’ in the event. There are a few Kiwis that could be, with Taco of Taco Golf, Sam Heung Min and Tooms having all played very high-level professional golf, while Nick Voke is the best of the lot – it’d be no great surprise if more than one of those made the cut.
The Format
Year One of Your Golf Tour will include four events, culminating in a final tournament at Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. Outside of that, however, details are notably scarce – almost as though they’re trying to generate some discussion about it!
But we do know a little. As mentioned, there won’t be handicaps, but George did say that it won’t be as straightforward as just 18 holes of stroke play. There will also be some sort of team element, with the 16 competitors separated into four teams captained by George, Wesley, Grant and one other, though how exactly that will fit into what is presumably primarily an individual event is unclear.
George also confirmed that the tour will be published in the form of edited videos. This is an important distinction to make - live coverage would probably fly a little too close to actual professional golf but with less good golfers, so this confirmation ensures the tour will still retain what it is that makes YouTube Golf unique.
The Money
A million bucks is what they’ll all be playing for – a paltry 50% of what was on offer at the Internet Invitational! Of course, that included various skins throughout the course of the event and the remainder was split between the three winners. How the $1 million will be divided up hasn’t yet been revealed – MrShort brazenly asked George on his podcast but was flatly refused an answer, so a $1 million pool is all we know for the minute.
Where Is It?
All we know for certain is that the final event will be at Wynn Resort; the others have apparently been locked in, but where they are is anyone’s guess. The only snippet of info we’ve received is from Wes, who stated that the first event would be played at ‘a place that’s played a really integral part in YouTube Golf’. There’s been plenty of discussion about Pursell Farms, which has been a regular feature of YTG, but that’s not yet been confirmed.
When Is It?
Unconfirmed, but it sounds as though filming is set to start reasonably soon, and Wesley has said they’ll probably start ‘rolling them out’ around June.
The Future of Your Golf Tour
Given the inaugural edition is still months away from even running, talking the future is perhaps a little premature, but the Bryan Bros have had no qualms discussing their grand plans. Already they have ideas in place for the second incarnation of the tour, with talks of a potential Q-School/qualifying event of some kind to get in, a growing number of tournaments, and even designated ‘major’ events.
Just how big they want it to get is anyone’s guess, though Wes did say that he ‘doesn’t envision this is going to be a 45-week calendar where everyone devotes 100% of their time to this’. Still, if they’re hoping to have four ‘majors’ as distinct from the other events, they’re obviously intending to have a fair few more than the four events they’ll have this year.
When the Hell Will We Know More!?
May 1st.
Many elements of both the tour and information regarding it appear to be malleable, but May 1st is the date that the full schedule is planned to be released.
So that’s what we know for now – 16 (very good) golfers, four events, $1 million, and a few other bits and pieces. With the Internet Invitational taking YouTube Golf in general to a whole new realm in terms of both entertainment and stakes, YGT is set to take it up a notch again and extend that out to multiple tournaments, albeit with a greater focus on the quality of the golf than what we saw at the Internet Invitational. And thus continues the progression of YTG – from short reels to long-form videos, to a 48-person tournament, to now a full-blown tour. We’re here for it.
