PGA Tour Creator Council Can be ‘Big Piece’ of Tour’s New Era

Comprised of 10 leading golf content creators including Paige Spiranac, No Laying Up, Roger Steele, and Tisha Alyn, the council is the Tour’s proactive attempt to bridge the gap between its existing aging audiences and the next generation of potential viewers and consumers.

With Gen Z’s spending power estimated to grow to $12 trillion by 2030, it’s no surprise everyone from advertisers and marketers to politicians and sports organizations, including the Tour, are prioritizing social media to try to grab—and retain—the attention of this digitally native and dependent demographic.

But doing so is easier said than done, especially in the nonstop and constantly evolving social media landscape where memes, trends and viral videos change faster than Clark Kent turning into Superman.

Acknowledging that’s part of the challenge, the Tour also sees it as an opportunity to trial various creator-led content, integrations and programming as it undergoes its own evolution by easing player social media policy and shaking up its schedule and competitive structure.  

“As a league right now, we are certainly looking to evolve and innovate, and I think this group can very much be a big piece of that, as well as how we look to the group as a whole,” said Alex Dorsch, PGA Tour Vice President of Demand Marketing. “It’s something that is very, very top of mind as far as how we can continue the success of the group as well as expand the reach to creators as a whole.”

The value and benefit of working with some of the most influential voices in the industry is logical, justified and honestly expected in today’s social-first media landscape and culture as the Tour or any brand is looking for success, growth and, ultimately, survival. 

Spiranac’s four million Instagram followers are more than the combined totals of Scottie Scheffler (two million) and Nelly Korda (1.2 million), the No. 1 men’s and women’s pro golfers in the world. The PGA Tour has 6.1 million followers on the platform.

The issue isn’t the why, but the how that the Tour and Creator Council are still trying to figure out nearly two years after its debut.

Despite council members not being paid for their participation and involvement in the group per se, they are compensated in other ways. Not only does the Tour provide unmatched access, footage and opportunities like pro-am participation, it also gives its creator council members stipends to cover expenses like travel and accommodation for tournament attendance. The Tour also supports production costs associated with content/series like Fit Check, a fashion-based social series hosted by Alyn; the pilot episode was shot at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open.

The entire Creator Council has met in person a handful of times since its inception with The Players’ Championship and Tour Championship as key meeting opportunities on the calendar. It convened in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this past March and hoped to do so again next month in Atlanta, but conflicting schedules makes it seem unlikely. The next target date for an in-person meeting is at the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club in late September.

Regardless of how many times the full council convenes in person, the Tour’s goal is keeping its members apprised of updates, news and opportunities. One of the early pain points on the council members’ side was regarding footage rights and usage restrictions.

While creators like Alyn and Spiranac might not need to use inside-the-ropes footage in their content, integrating tournament highlights into No Laying Up or Fore Play is beneficial for all parties involved.

“The one I always go to is the Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick win at the Zurich in New Orleans,” said Ed Jones, PGA Tour Senior Director of Marketing. “That was clipped up and integrated into No Laying Up’s podcast. They weren’t able to do that before and now they can do that. 

“But we’re still learning in terms of that process and we need to assess the data and the results of that to go, ‘Is that something we’re going to continue to do? Has it worked as we wanted?’ But it’s a really good example of us being able to trial certain things in response to some of their feedback.”

While not a Creator Council-led initiative, the Creator Classic was another attempt by the Tour and its partners to leverage creators and influencers to appeal to new and young audiences.

The inaugural Creator Classic featured 16 YouTube creators competing in a nine-hole stroke-play competition at East Lake Golf Club the day before the 2024 Tour Championship. Garnering more than 118,000 concurrent live viewers on YouTube and more than 2.6 million views across YouTube, ESPN+, Peacock and PGA Tour FAST channels, its success led the Tour and Pro Shop Studios to announce a season-long competition for the following year.

But after a trio of events in 2025 played at TPC Sawgrass, Philadelphia Cricket Club and East Lake, the Creator Classic was suspended indefinitely. Another victim of the constant social media trend-based cycle.

“Social media and YouTube evolve so quickly,” said Kiley Homan, Pro Shop Studios Development Lead. “What audiences are paying attention to and what the trends are change so rapidly all the time so creators are constantly trying to keep up with that and to evolve their own content in that way. 

“In the nature of the space, everyone is kind of replicating what everyone else is doing, so I think that in 2025 the space just got very saturated with every single creator in golf wanting to do their own event program.”

While the Creator Classic is on indefinite hiatus, that doesn’t mean it won’t see a potential return and/or refresh, most likely matching the next significant industry trend.

As the game and industry evolve, so will the Tour. It has to. That’s why the PGA Tour appointed former NFL executive Brian Rolapp as CEO in June 2025 and why he’ll add “commissioner” to his resume starting in January 2027.

The NFL is the ultimate sports entertainment marketing machine. The Super Bowl averages 120+ million viewers annually. The NFL generated more than $23 billion in total revenue last fiscal year with $14.5 billion coming from gross national revenue.

The NFL leverages creators to create its next generation of fans. So does the NBA. So does FIFA, Airbnb and T-Mobile. Leveraging creators to speak to the next generation gives the PGA Tour unlimited future potential. Being able to maximize that opportunity is its current dilemma.

“There are a lot of changes going on with the Tour, so how does the council continue alongside those changes?” said Jess McAlister, a golf marketing consultant and founder of Catalyst9 who reps Alyn. “I feel good about it. … Some key C-suite executives like Brian Rolapp came from the NFL and you have to understand what the NFL previously built on the digital and creator front—they really understood the assignment.

“I do think that the new leadership understands and they are invested and they want to see this thrive.”