TGL announces WTGL in partnership with LPGA as women’s golf attracts young, tech-savvy audience

The GIST: After months of consideration, Tomorrow Golf League (TGL) is teaming up with the LPGA to launch the WTGL, a virtual offseason golf league featuring LPGA athletes. When announcing the league on ESPN’s SportsCenter, LPGA star Lexi Thompson said WTGL “brings in a whole different fan base” than traditional golf does.

• Thompson’s observation hints that the WTGL will attract new, avid fans exclusively through non-traditional women’s golf. And considering the both LPGA and TGL audiences skew younger and more digitally-savvy than the PGA’s, this could be a unique intersection for brands to reach one of sport’s most coveted demos. Reaching their core audience.

The context: While women’s golf participation is on the rise, both tours historically have a predominantly male audience. While exact viewership breakdowns by gender are unknown, the LPGA says its audience share of women fans ranks high among professional sports leagues.

• Both the LPGA and TGL are resonating with younger audiences. While the average PGA fan is in their 60s, 60% of LPGA fans are under 45 — a number more akin to TGL’s audience, which has explicitly said it’s winning over new golf fans in the sport’s post-COVID boom.

• In its inaugural season, about 42% of TGL’s TV audience was aged 18 to 49, one of the highest shares among major sports and stronger than the PGA’s share. Social audiences skewed even younger: 84% of Instagram followers were under age 45, while 70% of TikTok followers were in the same demo.

The landscape: There are several ways startup leagues are capitalizing on golf outside of classic pro tours to win over young, digital native audiences. There’s creator-driven leagues prioritizing entertainment like Good Good Golf, par-3 leagues open to all, and TGL’s shortened, tech-powered format. However, these leagues remain predominantly male, so the WTGL differs by intentionally cultivating space for women to engage in a non-traditional format. Love to see it.

Bottom line: To win over younger demographics, new golf formats are the way to go — and expanding such formats in women’s golf may be able to uniquely win over these audiences. Women’s sports fans skew younger and are more digitally-savvy, something TGL is relying on for its audience as a challenger to traditional golf.

• That’s why brands who want to meet these audiences should show up for WTGL. This should become a league where women golfers can be more front-facing and personality-forward than ever, so brand darlings from Lottie Woad to Nelly Korda can shine more fully. All teed up.