Michael LoRe | mlore@bigswingmedia.news

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In August 1948, Allen Funt’s signature ABC Radio program “The Candid Microphone” evolved into a TV show called “Candid Camera” and thus, reality TV was born.

But it wasn’t until the post-Y2K era when reality TV went mainstream. Costing a fraction of scripted dramas and sitcoms to make and giving audiences relatable heroes and villains—and plenty of juicy drama—typically in competitive situations, shows like “Survivor,” “Fear Factor,” “American Idol” and “The Bachelor” dominated airwaves in the early 2000s.

Looking to engage enthralled audiences through the golf lens, Golf Channel debuted its flagship reality show “The Big Break” on October 6, 2003. The competition program pitting aspiring pros against each other in a series of skills challenges and elimination matches lasted 23 seasons before being canceled in 2015.

But like digital cameras and cargo shorts, reality TV is having a cyclical Renaissance led by social media’s popularity and reliance, programming investment from streaming giants including Netflix and Peacock, and, of course, the insatiable thirst for drama. Again seeking to captivate audiences with relatable reality content that’s skyrocketed across the golf industry on YouTube, Golf Channel has resurrected “The Big Break” with the help of some friends.

“Big Break x Good Good” presented by Golf Galaxy debuts Aug. 25 with a one-hour “Meet the Players” episode at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a 90-minute series premiere at 9 p.m. ET. Hour-long episodes air each Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET through Oct. 20 with a 90-minute season finale on Oct. 27.

“It would be disingenuous to say that we weren’t looking for the right opportunity to bring it back for the last couple of years,” said Tom Knapp, Golf Channel Executive Vice President & General Manager. “We were wondering if there would be viewer interest, if people still remembered it, and if people were as interested in it coming back as I thought they were.

“The relationship with Good Good is one of the things that gave us confidence to bring it back.”

‍A good (good) partnership

Golf Channel’s relationship with Good Good isn’t by coincidence, it’s good (good) business.

Featuring seven official YouTube channels under its umbrella and boasting nearly 820 million views as of July, Good Good helps Golf Channel bridge the generational gap between its traditionally older audience tuning into live golf events and Good Good’s predominately Millennial and Gen Z following.

The pair kicked off their partnership in 2024 with two events: the Good Good Desert Open at Grass Clippings Rolling Hills in Arizona and the Good Good Midwest Open at French Lick Resort in Indiana. The partnership expanded the following year with the Good Good GolfNow Desert Knockout under the lights at Grass Clippings Rolling Hills that garnered an average audience of 64,000 airing in primetime on Golf Channel on Feb. 5.

Boasting 11 partnerships including Golf Channel, Callaway, Dude Perfect, GMC and Yeti, Good Good’s involvement in the revival of “The Big Break” not only gives the brand more industry validation, but also exposure to a potentially untapped audience.

“I think this gives us a great opportunity to expand our reach into a place where people watch golf on Golf Channel and might not make their way to YouTube,” said Good Good co-founder and CEO Matt Kendrick. “For us, it’s a win to get our brand and our product out there in front of them as well.

“... Any chance we get to put our brand in great places like the Golf Channel and anywhere else that golf fans watch is a huge achievement for us.”

‍Reality revival

The original iteration of “The Big Break” lasted for over a decade. It was unable to have the longevity of shows like “Survivor” and “The Bachelor” still going strong today because Golf Channel needed to pivot its programming as audience viewership and engagement habits shifted over the ensuing decade causing its scripted shows to lose out to live events.

Already the broadcast home for the LPGA since the channel launched in 1995 and PGA Tour since 2007, Golf Channel added to its live event portfolio by airing collegiate golf competitions starting with the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s golf national championships in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

A later shift to streaming caused broadcasters to pivot from linear TV to over-the-top (OTT) services and video on demand (VOD), especially if they wanted to continue to engage younger demographics spearheading consumption habit changes.

Former and aspiring pro golfers as well as instructors saw an opportunity to directly engage these younger audiences through their own owned- and operated-channels, particularly across social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Soon, Rick Shiels, Grant Horvat, Bob Does Sports and Good Good Golf became industry household names alongside Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda and Rory McIlroy.

“It dawned on a lot of us that while ‘The Big Break’ was golf’s original reality series, YouTube golf became today’s version of reality golf,” Knapp said. “There was enough interest in it—and we had been working with Good Good for about three years already—that there was crossover interest from their fans and our fans that if we put the two together, we actually have a really strong marketing platform as a unit to have the confidence that the viewership will be there in both the combination of former Golf Channel ‘Big Break’ fans as well as contemporary Good Good fans.

“By putting them together we really thought we had a bit of a magic formula here. Right now we’re feeling very good about the early awareness of the series and we’re very optimistic about viewership.”

The revival of “The Big Break” can also be attributed to Golf Channel’s new owners: Versant, a recent spinoff from Comcast and NBC. Harking back to Golf Channel’s scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit from its early existence in the early 2000s, Knapp said the Versant version is also able to be more flexible and nimble as it relates to greenlighting projects.

“The old, entrepreneurial Golf Channel is entrepreneurial once again,” he said.

‍Old school meets new school

“Big Break x Good Good” features 12 golfers, including Good Good duo Sean Walsh and Matt Meneghetti as well as long drive pro Josh Jackson and Jason Day’s former caddie Asaeli “Bat” Batibasaga, divided into two teams led by non-playing captains Brad Dalke and Good Good’s Bubbie Borders.

Competing in classic challenges like “Glass Break” and “Flop Wall” along with elimination competitions, the last golfer standing will earn his big break: an invitation to the PGA Tour’s Good Good Championship from Nov. 12-15 at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Texas, along with more than $180,000 in cash and prizes.

Former two-time “Big Break” contestant and LPGA pro Blair O’Neal and former “The Bachelorette” contestant and current “Vanity Index” podcast co-host Wells Adams will serve as the show’s hosts.

How “Big Break” fans of yesteryear feel about the show’s modern revival as well as the potential appeal to today’s YouTube golf aficionados is still to be seen.

Despite that uncertainty, Knapp and Co. remain confident in the show’s second act, confirming “Big Break x Good Good” won’t be a one-and-done.

“The plan today is that we will continue to do ‘Big Break’ as long as it’s successful,” he said. “We’re already having conversations and building plans for the 2027 version of the show. Our intention is to come back, and when that goes well, our intention is to come back again.”

Knapp defined success by how the show resonates in golf culture and “we make the impact that we think we’re going to make” coupled with obvious linear and digital consumption metrics.

Already profitable for this version of the show, Knapp said, he believes the primetime viewership windows will “significantly out-deliver the programming it had replaced.”

“As long as it does that,” he said, “that’s success.”

Success for Good Good isn’t solely measured in awareness and subscribers. It’s also measured in perception and acceptance.

“Everyone has opinions about YouTube golf and I think hopefully through this process and what people see, we’re trying to help every part of the game,” Kendrick said. “We’re trying to be accretive to everything that’s going on in the golf space. We’re not trying to distract from the greatest players in the world and we’re not trying to push any agenda.

“We’re just trying to make golf fun and we’re trying to make it accessible to everybody.”