PGA Tour Enterprises Explained-Fairways of Life w Matt Adams-Tues Feb 6

Matt Adams breaks down the new PGA Tour Enterprises, it’s partnership with the Strategic Sports Group, who they are, what they are and what this deal will mean for sport and golf. Compass Point Research & Trading Equity Analyst Casey Alexander joins us to help dissect the complexity of all of this. From the 1.5 billion in equity to the continued possibility of a deal with the Saudi PIF.

Welcome to the most listened to golf in the world the fairways of Life show on air online and around the world with the most candid interviews Unforgettable stories taking you beyond on the ropes here’s your host New York Times bestselling author Matt Adams welcome in Fairways life show folks pleasure to

Have your company from wherever you are joining us today we are going to be taking a look at what might be a vision of the future not only in professional golf but perhaps in professional sports first we’re going to dive into the recent agreement between the PGA Tour and the

Strategic sport group what does it mean for the PGA Tour what does it mean for professional golf what does it mean for the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and piff we’ll have an expert joining us to explain that in more but first headlines this week Scotty Sheffer

Comes into the Waste Management Phoenix Open attempting to achieve a three repeat the first to do it on the PGA tour since Steve Stricker did it the John Deere classic from 2009 into until 2011 the last one to do it in Phoenix was over 60 years ago Arnold Palmer from 1961 to

1963 other news from Phoenix this week uh world number four Victor havin and world number five Xander Schley have both withdrawn from the WM Phoenix Open now as to what we were talking about with the agreement between the PGA Tour and SSG I just want to take you back it

Was the week of Pebble Beach PGA Tour sent out the following release which I’m going to read to you and we’re going to put some graphics up on the screen to follow along the PJ tour in partnership with strategic Sports Group SSG announced Wednesday the launch of PGA Tour Enterprises a new commercial

Venture under the PGA tour’s control and in a first of its kind program nearly 200 PGA Tour members will have the opportunity to become Equity holders in this new company PGA Tour Enterprises is also considering participation by Future PGA Tour players that would allow them to benefit from the business’s

Commercial growth under this program players would collectively assess over 1.5 billion in equity in PGA Tour Enterprises these grants which vest over time will be based on Career accomplishments recent achievements future participation in services and the PGA Tour membership status inclusive and grants are only available to qualified PGA Tour players the transaction

Announced allows for a co-investment from the public investment fund piff in the future subject to all necessary regulatory approvals quoting today marks an important moment for the PGA Tour and fans of golf across the world say Jay Monahan commissioner of the PGA Tour and CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises continuing

By making PGA Tour members owners of their league we strength strengthen the collective investment in our players in the success of the PGA Tour fans win when we all work to deliver the best in sports entertainment and return the focus to the incredible and unmatched competitive atmosphere created by our

Players tournaments and partners and partnering with SSG a group with extensive experience in investment across Sports media and entertainment will enhance our organization’s ability to make the sport more rewarding for players tournaments fans and partners another quotee close quote on that one another one here we’re proud to vote in

Unanimous support support for this historic partnership between PGA Tour Enterprises and SSG said PGA Tour player directors Patrick Klay Peter malady Adam Scott web Simpson Jordan SP and Tiger Woods in a joint statement continuing it was incredibly important for us to create opportunities for players of

Today and in the future to be more in invested in their organization both financially and strategically they write this article continues outline outlining who SSG is including saying SSG includes individuals with over 200 years of combined sports team stewardship across several major Global sports leagues including the NFL NBA MLB NHL in the

English Premier League Fenway Sports Group which has led ssgs in investment with support from the leadership of Cohen private Ventures including Stephen A Cohen and Andrew B Cohen and Arthur M blank owner and chairman of am sports and entertainment FSG will serve as a commercial advisor to this new

Enterprise in addition the PGA Tour confirmed progress is ongoing in their negotiations with piff on a potential future investment and both parties are working towards an ultimate agreement SSG has consented to an investment by by piff subject to any necessary regulatory review and approvals in addition the PGA

Tour strategic alliance with the DP World Tour remains a focus as close Partners the DP World Tour has included uh in the original framework discussions and agreement announced last year and the tour is in active discussions how best to work together for a continued benefit for all okay so that was a press

Release from the PGA tour in terms of what they are doing with the IC Sports Group and this massive investment that’s been made from this private entity into the new entity that the PGA Tour has created of course players were asked to comment on that the first one I’m going

To go to here is from Rory mroy where he talks about the fact that wait a minute I’m no longer on the board so I’m no longer the on the inside part of the actual decision process however he reacted accordingly I definitely would have voted for it I think the the grip

That um has been assembled to to invest into well PJ tour Enterprises I guess not the PJ tour but PJ tour Enterprises it’s a it’s a wonderful group of people that have got tons of experience in um you know Sports ownership over the past you know 30 years um I’ve gotten to know

Those guys pretty well um especially the Fenway Consortium you know we worked with them to sell the majority share of my tgl team to them so we’ve we’ve worked pretty closely for the last year or so and um they’re a great group of people and have the best intentions for

The game of golf which is great um so yeah I thought I thought it was good news now stand by with additional comments from Rory M relative to all of this but first I want you to hear the reaction to and comments from Jordan spe who as you just heard from that press

Release voted as part of the unanimous vote to approve the SSG investment in this new entity here’s Jordan well I think the the coolest the your question being specific specifically about their funding I think the coolest thing about it is the players are now owners um so

Not only you know do they do they benefit with the tour they now they now are Equity owners so they want to push it themselves they want to make the product better themselves not that they didn’t before but you directly benefit from owning a piece and um so I think

That part is maybe the coolest part of the funding obviously having you know some big guns behind us uh some backup um and the strategery that this group offers was actually something that was very important um when we were looking at it so to have I think it’s like 200

Years of sports owning experience um the idea they can help navigate you know our future um how content will be consumed when our our next media deals are up stuff like that to have these Partners in perpetuity is uh I don’t think that can be overlooked you know you talk about

The funding but really the the strategies that they can have and and navigating that space I think will be very important I don’t think that it’s needed I think the positive would be a unification but I think that like I mentioned before I I just think it’s

Something that is almost not even worth talking about right this second given how timely everything would be to try to get it um figured out um but the idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right

Now without anything else with the option of other investors whether them or somebody else that’ll just be a decision um with them obviously being uh you know the the active talks um but I think the the short answer is we don’t have to um and I think the long answer is the

Positive there is a is a unification but um like I’ve mentioned earlier we have members that feel strongly on both sides and so until that would be able to be solved and that would be number 10 on the list of 10 things despite um any government interference on on what

They’ve talked about being a lengthy process um you know it it would be a a situation that should be we should try to have um but I’m not sure you know if or how or or when it would get done all right so when Jordan SP said I don’t think it’s

Needed he was answering a question from the media that asked him about the necessity of the investment from the public investment fund so that caused a series of reactions remember I said standby with Rory maroy Rory maroy apparently said to Alex melli from the Associated Press that he had removed

Himself from a group text of top players as it was described uh and that was noticed by Jordan spe so Jordan said what what’s this all about and they had a phone call and Rory mroy spoke to why he had the discussion what his feelings were about the negative impact of those

Comments and amongst the comments that Rory mroy said are the following I’m quoting I think they’re different than a year ago because you know we’re potentially to do a deal with piff who owned the large majority of live and hopefully seeing things come back together here at some point yeah I wish

The nature of the conversation was probably different than it would have been a year ago absolutely I just want to remove myself from The Fray a little bit I talked to him about his comments and we had a pretty Frank discussion my thing was if I’m the original potential

Investor that thought they were going to get this deal done back in July and I’m hearing a board member say that you know we don’t really need them now how are they going to think about that what are they going to feel about that they’re still sitting out there with hundreds of

Billions of dollars if not trillions that they’re going to pour into Sport and I know what Jordan was saying and I absolutely know what he was saying and what he was trying to say but if I were piff and I were hearing that coming from here the

Day after doing this SSG deal it wouldn’t make me too happy I guess having piff as your partner as opposed to not having them as your partner I don’t think is an option for the game of golf I think they’re committed to investing in golf and in The Wider World

Of Sport and if you can get them to invest their money in the right way to unify the game of golf close quote from Rory maoy so when I look at this entire picture it’s interesting because Jordan said there were players with a variety of different opinions on all of this Rory

Has clearly modified his opinion over the last few months perhaps more to come to where he is the first thing is from from my perspective this investment from the Strategic Sports Group is incredibly positive for the game of golf it’s obviously incredibly positive for the PG

A tour I think it is a pathway to stability that the SSG the people of of this stature and these resources are willing to invest in the game of golf at its highest competitive level I also think it’s extremely positive that the prospects of the PGA Tour and the public

Investment fund coming together will unify the game at its top tier because ultimately first of all I do think it benefited the majors that the top player were able to compete against each other again however they have to figure out a way that all of the top players can

Compete in those respective events but if we Face the prospect the possibility of having professional golf where all of those top players come together in some way shape or form moving down the road if it’s not every week which obviously it won’t be every week it isn’t every

Week right now with the Signature Events spread out throughout the the season in and live for example having 14 events but in whatever way it ends up coming together whether the team golf is the element that brings them together or whether it’s independent events that

Combine both I do not know I don’t know if anybody knows right now inside or outside of those rooms with those negotiations going on my feeling is that this step with SSG is nothing but good for the game of golf and I think it’s an indication of better things to come in

Terms of where the game is going I’ve always felt the same way about the game of golf the game of golf will do what it’s always done the game of golf will figure out a way that it not only survives but it will thrive in whatever

The new environment is and I applaud the fact that that has begun however what this all means what it really means and again I say this not only to the World of Sport but I mean it to to a golf specifically but also teams moving forward what does SSG mean

To what could happen down the road for your sports team for your favorite golfer for your favorite Golf League we’ll have that as we continue on the fairways of Life show which is presented by the PGA TOUR Superstore the number one golf retailer in all the land

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Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just log on to Bo Golf.com as we welcome you back to the fairways of Life show our guest is Casey Alexander managing director he’s an equity Analyst at compass point research and trading he has almost 30 years of experience as an equity analyst he’s the longest tenured golf analyst in fact on

Wall Street obviously it makes him an expert in the industry and he’s also a very highly competitive uh amateur golfer as well of renown so Casey first of all welcome to the program my question where I’d love to start today is the deal between the PGA Tour and the

Strategic Sports Group how would you explain it how would you describe what it is and what does it mean well I think it it shows you how the nature of compensation for golfers which are almost inarguably Global Sports Superstars is changing you know you think about the nature of

Compensation in other sports football baseball basketball soccer 90% of that compensation is contractual compensation and only 10% of that compensation is performance-based compensation a lot of it is based upon performance that has already taken place but it’s contractual compensation at its heart and golf has traditionally been almost 100% performance-based compensation

Outside of perhap Club endorsement contracts and when you think about it that’s not the way that Global Sports Superstars are paid and not in this day and age and so the idea that a global Sports Superstar um can come to your event provide his name image and likeness uh

Participate in your program spend two days promoting your event have a bad Friday afternoon and walk away with zero compensation that’s not the way that a Rory mroy or a John ROM is going to be compensated in a day and age where they are Global Sports Superstars so the deal with

SSG is designed to provide an element of contractual compensation to PGA Tour players and to Global Superstars because that’s what Liv and the piff have done with Liv is they’ve provided a higher element of contractual compensation uh while still maintaining an element of performance-based compensation at each tournaments event

Um and which the PGA Tour will do as well but let’s just not forget here that we are transitioning to a period where there will be more contractual compensation for golf Global Sports Superstars and frankly that’s the way Global Sports Superstars are paid these days the the fact that you’ve used the

Phrase Global Golf Superstars multiple times Casey I’m curious if that’s an indication of the fact of whether whether we in the golf industry are not fully realizing just how Global these players are how big they are in terms of superstars on a global basis I know for

Example uh the the last research study I saw was that I believe golf was eighth globally eighth largest sport globally which put it in front of just as an example the NL yeah I think it it’s a fair statement Matt um I I would bet you Donuts to

Dollars that if you went to Korea um you know Royal maoy and John Ram are better known than Tom Brady and pton Manning in Korea uh frankly this is a global game even more so played in over 100 countries around the world and and the other thing is is that this game feeds

To a demographic that is highly attractive for advertisers and sponsors and and and that’s why it may seem like it’s an outsized level of compensation relative to the number of eyeballs that it draws but the fact of the matter is the demographics of the eyeballs that it

Draws are highly attractive to um you know advertisers and spons that want to head towards upper income uh uh you know demographics all right so let me ask you a question from a little bit of a different perspective then you’ve explained to us how and why this

Is likely going to evolve in some way shape or form to the benefit of players from a compensation level or otherwise but from the the position of those with the Strategic Sports Group they are investing potentially billions of dollars what do they hope to get from that what is the

ROI well that’s a great question normally and I’ve heard this characterized as a private Equity investment I think that only has to do with structure in this particular instance all right the folks that are behind SSG I I mean come on we’re talking about owner of the Mets owner of

The Red Sox you know owner of major sports teams the typical private Equity time Horizon is 3 to five maybe seven years looking for a payback on your investment not these folks these are not the typical private Equity investors these are folks that intend to hold on

To this for a long time and and hopefully create generational wealth out of this investment in the PGA Tour that is similar to the point of view of piff I have found it interesting that it’s been characterized several times that that piff is spending money with no intent

For any economic return that’s just a misunderstanding of time Horizons here okay the the the piff invests in terms of decades and generations not a 3 to five year time Horizon similar to private equity and Investments for decades and generations can take a very long View and in this case a fund of

This size can burn a billion or two here looking towards a return where 10 years 15 years 25 years from now it’s generating one to two to three billion per year in additional income for them as a part of their potential investment in the game and I would also point out

That it’s extremely likely that there’s still going to be an investment from the PFF fund because the level of compensation is still not even between the two parties involved here here and until piff is involved in the PGA Tour which would provide them the motivation to level out the these these Avenues of

Income that have been created um that’s when you’re going to eventually be able to create a fully integrated Global Golf Tour and the great thing about it is it’ll have black hats it’ll have white hats it’ll have Hatfields and McCoys and what golf has always asked for year in

And year out is great rivalries and the way that this is working out it is likely to create really interesting rivalries and television and the media will eventually grasp onto that because that’s what television and the media does it it it writes great stories and

It and it knows how to do that all right so let’s talk about if you will at least the television half of television and media and and this idea of time Horizons in whatever time frame you please Casey I’m curious where this massive return is going to come from that’s going to give

Back the profit to the people that have made this investment and again in whatever time frame that takes is it anticipated in actually the global growth of the game so is it television revenue is it because the game when it gets bigger and unified it’s going to attract more corporate investment where

Where are the dollars coming in from well where are they coming in from today Matt we’re seeing the NFL move to streaming platforms such as Thursday night Prime we saw a playoff game that that earned incredible rights fees just by going to Peacock okay how long is it

Going to be before you’re going to watch the British Open on peacock okay that sort of ability to push to every platform available is raising the revenue streams for virtually every sport globally the idea that golf isn’t eventually going to evolve in that direction and participate from it and

Those additional SE um streams of income are going to draw more sponsors I I think we could bet that at some point in time we’re going to see Wells Fargo back in the fold of the global Golf Scene uh because it’s a global financial institution so Casey when you see a

Consortium like the Strategic Sports Group come together uh as investors but in essence now as own ERS of a major sports League what does that tell you about sport at large is this something that you expect to see in just name some of the sports that that that these same entities are owners

Of the NBA the NHL the NFL Major League Baseball English Premier League maybe Formula 1 etc etc etc well I think I think to a certain extent in many of these other Sports were already there uh the NFL is trying to push more globally Arthur Blank is a

Part of the sports Str strategic group baseball is starting to really become more of a global game we’ve seen the incredible signing of Shai Otani um and the other thing is is that these are folks who already work in their own businesses on a global scale and in many

Cases have worked many times with Sovereign wealth funds and so I think they’re going to find a path to work with piff perhaps easier than the PGA Tour without their involvement would have been able to and and I think you know you’ve seen that from statements

From Rory that you know there’s a way that this goes forward and where does it eventually end up is where it should have ended up in the first place which is a fully integrated go Global Golf Tour that that intermixes all of these Global Sports Superstars which I I know

No no other way to describe them because they are known known virtually globally Casey Alexander is the managing director the equity Analyst at compass point research in trading clearly obviously he is an expert at what he does we’re going to continue our conversation after this break and when

We come back I want to pick up on where he just left off I want to talk specifically about the PGA Tour and their as they phrase it ongoing negotiations with the public investment fund is this infusion of massive sums of money from the Strategic Sports Group going to further those discuss

Discussions does it benefit all the parties or does it drive them further apart that as the fairways of Life show continues after this relax easy now find your happy place it’s all in the hips just tap it in yes find the latest clubs in a perel at golf’s happy place the PGA TOUR

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Excited for the consumer to try these they’re going to love them pxg nobody makes golf clubs the way we do period baseball nah football done it I think I’m going to go after the PGA Tour Bo you’re going to need the right equipment company I think I got that you know

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On right now to say somehow the investment from the Strategic Sports Group is wall building or fence building if you please uh in between the PGA Tour and the public investment fund what is it in reality does this investment by the Strategic Sports Group help further the negotiations with pif Where Do We

Stand oh I think very much so I think it does help it in the long term uh simply because these are folks again that in their own businesses in many ways have dealt with Sovereign wealth funds um and you know they all do have some experience with private equity in their

Backgrounds and every one of them you know has learned that other people’s money is another way to make money um also uh as I mentioned before having the the piff fund involved in the PGA Tour structure gives the pit fund motivation to level out the compensation levels of

Live versus the PGA Tour which will then allow for crosscurrents the way that it sits right now if you think about it Matt just think about the fact that there’s a higher level of compensation available on the live tour what does that do that encourages guys who have

Just won a major to then take a higher level of contractual compensation on the live tour knowing that they’re grandfathered into the majors for the next 5 years um and be able to generate lifetime wealth in a five-year period of time uh through membership of the live

Tour until you even out the levels of compensation between the two tours and start to allow some crossover there’s always going to be some motivation for unfortunately the best players to step across to a a a a tour that gives them a higher level of contractual compensation compensation as opposed to to

Performance-based compensation fascinating stuff now Casey you you’ve basically answered this in way shape or form already today but I want to ask you straight up your job is to analyze businesses your job is to analyze Industries if you were looking at golf at its top tier of competition which is

Inclusive of Liv it’s inclusive of the PGA Tour it’s inclusive of the DP World Tour how would you grade that industry right now look I think it’s gone through a a period uh somewhat of upheaval I think if you’re a player no matter which tour you on you

Have to thank the involvement of the piff tour because it certainly raised your standard of compensation I understand why fans right now are saying I kind of have lost interest in watching PGA Tour events I’m not super interested in watching live tour events but but I think we’re going through this period of

Transition that will end up in a fully integrated Global Golf Tour and when it does like I said you’re going to have great storylines driven around the Hatfields and the McCoy The Spectator spectating golf public has been dying for rivalries for years and you’ve just built in a full generation of rivalries

Uh for spectators that can make for some of the most compelling TV ever and that will drive revenues through broadcast streaming alternative channels of distribution that will make both tours and all tours more more popular in the end all right so Casey I would like you to hear the following comments from

Patrick cantlay who is a member of the board and these were made immediately after the announcement was made so I can get your reaction here’s Patrick cantlay yeah I think um you know hopefully this strengthens up the people TJ tour that’s the that’s the idea and I

Think it will uh the investors that we have coming alongside are very experienced and very sophisticated and um hopefully it’s a a a real positive step in the right direction I think it will be yeah I think anytime someone makes a sizable investment like that they’re going to be watching over the

Investment um and I think because of their Sports Experience we’ll really lean on their expertise to try to grow the sport and make it as good as it possibly can be well I think you’ve already seen some some changes by the tour over the last couple years sizable

Changes and so uh getting the top guys together more often which I think is good um you know this event uh you see has the strongest field that it’s had in a number of years and I think that’s fantastic I think that’s what the fans

Want to see and so I really hope that um you know this this deal brings about change that really makes it better for the fans because I think they’ve suffered a lot over the last couple years and and I hope that it’ll the product will be better for them going

Forward you know everyone’s divided like I’ve said over the last couple years I’ve been pretty pretty the the same I mean people are welcome to make the choice that they’d like to make it’s a personal choice it has been and um you know as far as coming back we’ll see

It’s up to a group of us I know players feel all over the board on that issue um and so my job as a player director is to represent the entire membership and so if something like that were to come down the road I’m sure we would have to have

A robust conversation around that topic I think the PJ tour is definitely uh Stronger after having this deal uh go through um as far as piff I haven’t been having any you know real conversations myself about that so I think you know that’s a question for down the road uh

For the board and for also the the newco board to decide all right so Casey it sounds like Patrick Klay is echoing the same enthusiasm for the future that you are telling us that we can look forward to with his investment is there anything else in what he said that struck

You uh well I didn’t hear anything that he said that was in conflict with anything that I’ve laid out today um other than you know the road back to getting the two parties to the point where they can play together on a fully integrated Global Golf Tour because he’s

Right the people GGA tour is trying to create a format with their elevated events where the best players can can be together to play against each other but let’s not kid ourselves it’s not all the best players and and and certainly there there’s a group of players on the live

Tour that that clearly and adequately belong in that category should be uh in that sentence and eventually the needs of the media to create create Great Golf stories will require them to be together more than just the four majors each year do you think Casey that this is a

Situation where the tide is going to make all the ships rise what about mid-tier golfers regardless of the tour that they play on currently yeah I think that’s tough I I do think that that the structure of the PGA tour with the elevated events is sort of bifurcating the tour a little

Bit um I also do have questions relative to how they’re going to distribute ownership shares to PGA Tour members of this new entity and one would assume that there’s going to have to be some sort of vesting process right you wouldn’t want an owner to be somebody

Who you know misses 17 Cuts this year and is outside the top 125 um and yet has a Perpetual ownership stake in the tour it’s got a best over some period of time uh uh relative to each individual’s performance and and that’s what those guys at SSG are likely

Going to be very good at figuring out the most Equitable way to do that um but ultimately I think that that that they’re going to be welcoming to put both sides together to create something even better fascinating stuff Casey I and I appreciate your perspective that

You have provided to us today both and its bread and width and also with your cander of the same as I was saying earlier in the program I happen to completely agree with you I think this investment from the Strategic Sports Group makes the game stronger not just

The PGA Tour it makes the game stronger as they move forward with further discussions with piff and what this means for the future of the game and where golf sits I am interested in something else though so since I have you here I want to I want to tap into

Your expertise I saw a recent report that you were one of if not the primary author of which was talking about the game of golf in 2024 now I’m talking about all of you at home and how the game of golf is going to impact you rounds played equipment purchases etc

Etc right could you talk to us about 2024 and how it looks for the game of golf sure uh you know it’s my expectation that that at least as the United States is concerned that 2024 is likely to be a record year for golf Club equipment sales and I you know and look

My job isn’t to tell you what the future is my job is to tell you what the odds are okay and we try to help investors stack the odds in their favor and but we’ve got a number of signposts that lead us to that 2023 had a record number of rounds

Played over 520 million rounds it had a record number of participants uh uh 26.6 million participants which which finally exceeded the previous record that I think goes back more than 10 years um previously uh and those surveyed which which were over thousand surveyed by Sports and Leisure research group um

Have a record intention to play more rounds in 2024 and have their highest expectation ever to spend the same or more uh uh for equipment in 2024 so you connect those dots which is record rounds played by record participants who have a record intention to play as much or more and a

Record intention to spend as much or more and that should lead you to the conclusion that 2024 will be a record year for equipment sales because intention is way more important than what their actual ability to play is track and that should lead to record equipment sales in 2024 at least as the

United States goes and since that’s 50% of the market for Global Golf Equipment sort of as the US goes so so kind of goes the rest of the world at least in the general sense that is fascinating Casey but I’m curious about one thing you know from call it a romantic

Perspective with the game if you will we look at it and say you know during covid and postco people discovered the exercise Virtues Of The Game the fact that you can reconnect with other human beings through the games obviously the fun and the challenge uh challenging

Aspects of the game Etc but from your perspective from the perspective of cold numbers why is the game of golf continuing to flourish well it’s not cold numbers Matt okay what happened here is is the prior to covid you know the the the the statistics were that two out of every

Three people who join the game quit inside of a year okay and for all the reasons that we know it’s a it’s a supremely difficult game to learn it’s very difficult to get over the hump of proficiency it has a Byzantine set of rules and in often cases golf isn’t

Particularly friendly to newcomers it can be somewhat of a hostile environment uh uh again with a with you know something outside the rules called etiquette which makes things complicated for new folks joining the game but the fact of the matter is is that Co had a 2-year cycle of other forms of

Entertainment that was not available to those folks and golf was Outdoors it was social it was available and it was a safe way for women kids Etc to socialize and have fun and get exercise uh without risking themselves in the co environment what it did was two years forced many of

Those to get over the hump of proficiency and get to the point where they went from newbies to actual golfers and once you become an actual golfer the the avidity of the game is compelling and as you know once you’re over that hump of proficiency and consider yourself a golfer not a startup

Golfer that then then you’re hooked then you’re there in in whatever form that you were hooked to which we welcome all of those forms in the game of golf Casey Alexander is a managing director at Equity Analyst at compasso research and trading uh compasso llc.com is the

Website thank you for your time my friend fascinating as always Matt thanks so much for having me on especially on one of your first shows and congratulations on your show joining the Golf Channel I appreciate that my friend we’ll be back with more the fairways of Life show right after this

I guess hello world huh and with one subtle hello tiger began an amazing and Unthinkable [Applause] career I’ve done it for 20 years now with with Bridgestone allows me to play an aggressive style around the greens and it’s allowed me to win a lot of tournaments Bridgestone Golf proud to be

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With the boy Golf Academy tournaments and so much more Bo golf truly offers an unrivaled Michigan golf vacation experience just to log on to Bo golf.com I think when you’re training for other sports or you’re what why most people go to the gym is so that they can like have

Muscles and you know be strong and be healthy and a lot of the reason why they struggle to play golf is their body doesn’t move properly for them to be able to hit a golf ball and when you’re training for golf it’s a little bit different because you’re focused more on

Flexibility and mobility and being uh strong in motion when you’re able to kind of have a warm-up and have a workout routine and kind of gradually build up to where you’re training your body to move properly yeah you’re going to get a lot of big dividends on the golf course relax easy

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To handle plus it easily fits golf carts order yours in save visit zerof fr.com stride or scan the QR code to order yours today stride your personal CAD welcome back to the fairways of Life show thanks to Casey fascinating guest I keep saying that because it is I was talking about the fact that when we were coming back from the break or in the break I was saying to D I was like I love when somebody is intelligent

Enough they hit you with a phrase that I hadn’t heard before time Horizons he was talking about you know the expectation of return on an investment hey congratulations to Jessica Corda she is a new mommy her baby was born on Monday her son Grayson John congratulations and

Good health to all now we did have a couple more bites that I wanted to get to that I was saving about this deal first of all Justin Rose on the SSG PGA Tour Union you know I I’ve sort of been keeping my ear close to the ground with

Some of the guys and um anticipated this happening and coming but it’s obviously nice and so when you finally hear the news and um I think just kind of curious to see exactly what it means for everybody and and yeah like you know one individually on the equity side curious um but two

Like what the strategy is for the tour how much it you know um strengthens us how much yeah like really what it means in terms of driving us forward as an organization but I think um you know anytime you can engage people with ownership they do take more pride in the

Product and pride in their work um I’m hoping that that’s the case uh 100 70 guys deep I guess the the real acid test is it remains to be seen if it’s a good thing having the players in power you know that that’s going to be uh you know

Hopefully obviously a lot of guys have committed a lot of time here and um I think we’re in a great you know we have a lot of options I think at the moment and um that’s a place maybe that we haven’t been but yeah listen I think there’s been some good elements in

The last couple of years and there’s been some elements that have obviously not been ideal so um hopefully that this moment in time now is uh is is a sort of a a soft Landing to be able to build something cool going forward yeah I think it’s complicated there’ll never be

A a one for one ratio where we one guy feels good about everyone coming back because they got something and they didn’t but I think ultimately if this is all structured the right way those guys coming back strengthens the tour and everybody that’s now involved in this

New structure is going to benefit from those great names coming back and being a part of the tour so you have to look at it objectively as well so um anything that’s going to strengthen the tour in the long term is going to benefit the players now so from that point you got

To get your head around that head around that I suppose but I don’t think there’s necessarily an easy uh reintegration anytime soon but you know I I don’t see that as off the table and here is Ricky farler who says he has tried to maintain Middle Ground I’m excited to learn more

About it um I basically know what you guys know um I’ve I’ve put my trust in the guys like Klay and and Jordan and and tiger and the others that are on the board but I’ve seen you know firsthand the amount of time and effort that can’t lay and Jordan um Tigers well

I haven’t been around the other guys as much but it’s been very impressive to to see what they’re they’re doing and and everything that they’ve put into ultimately getting to where we are um was that their first choice or ultimate choice or whatever who knows but um you

Know they work to get to this point so um like I said I’m going to learn more about it just like you guys are but um I I trusted what they were trying to do for for everyone and ultimately putting the tour in a better position I feel like I’ve kind of

Maintained Middle Ground as far as learning about live when it was first coming about and and my belief in the tour and that was always my dream to to play the tour always thought it was the best place to play and wanted to see it

Continue to be that um you know we’re in a different spot a few years down the road and and I feel like when I talked about you know Klay Jordan tiger those guys they put a lot of time and effort to to put us in a a better spot and make

Sure that the tour continues to be the best place to play um yeah as far as decisions to go elsewhere and just welcome back I don’t think it’s a direct Road I mean it they made decisions and um there there’s there has to be something for it you

Know whether how small or big that’s not up to me but um yeah it’ll be interesting to kind of see how I I feel like I’ve been saying it’ll be interesting to see how the next few months or year or two years go um and we’re still on that spot but uh

Little different now than we were a couple years ago all the comments that we’ve heard today I think speak to the hope of what could lie around the corner it also speaks to the complexity that Still Remains thank you for your company folks as ever and until we are together

Again be well and goodbye for Now