Golf in the United States

Golf in the United States is played by about 25 million people, or 8% of the population.^[1]

Professional golf is aired on several television networks, such as Golf Channel, NBC, ESPN, TNT, CBS and Fox.

Organizations

USGA

The United States Golf Association has about 10,000 club members and courses. The organization is responsible for the Rules of Golf together with the British-based R&A.

The USGA conducts national championships open to professionals: the U.S. Open (since 1895), U.S. Women's Open (since 1946), U.S. Senior Open (since 1980), and U.S. Senior Women's Open (since 2018), as well as national championships for amateur, juniors, seniors and four-ball teams.

The USGA co-organizes the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup together with the respective British & Irish organizations, and competes at the Eisenhower Trophy and Espirito Santo Trophy, which are amateur tournaments for national teams. Also, the USGA gives the Bob Jones Award recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf since 1955.

PGA of America

The Professional Golfers' Association of America was founded in 1916 and has 28,000 club professional members. They organize three tournaments for tour players: the PGA Championship (since 1916), Senior PGA Championship (since 1937) and Women's PGA Championship (since 2015), as well as the PGA Professional National Championship (since 1968) for club players. The PGA of America also co-organizes the Ryder Cup and PGA Cup.

Professional tours

The PGA Tour is the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was established by the PGA of America in 1929 and was spun off in 1968.

Its calendar features the four major tournaments and World Golf Championships, but do not organize them. The PGA Tour organizes several tournaments, most notably The Players Championship and Tour Championship. In addition it co-organizes the biennial Presidents Cup.

The PGA Tour also operates other professional tours. The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour since 1990. PGA Tour Champions has been the main senior tour since 1980, and the PGA Tour organizes two of the five senior major championships: The Tradition and Senior Players Championship. The organization also operates tours in Canada, Latin America and China.

There is not a well defined third tier of golf tours in the United States. The larger regional tours include the Gateway Tour and Swing Thought Tour; there is a constantly changing roster of small "mini-tours".

The LPGA Tour is the main women's professional tour, founded in 1950. Its calendar features several major championships and national golf opens. It organizes several tournaments, including the ANA Inspiration, one of the major tournaments, and the CME Group Tour Championship. The LPGA Tour also co-organizes the biennial Solheim Cup. The Symetra Tour has been the official development tour of the LPGA Tour since 1999.

Media

Television

The current television partners of the PGA Tour are CBS, NBC and the Golf Channel. NBC also airs the British Open, Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup. CBS also carries the Masters and PGA Championship. The Golf Channel also carries the European Tour and LPGA Tour.

Fox has a contract with the USGA since 2015 to air the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open.

ESPN aired several golf tournaments from 1979 to 2015. It carries the early rounds of the Masters and the PGA Championship.

Magazines

Notable dedicated magazines include Golf Digest (1950, Condé Nast), Golf Magazine (1959, Time Inc.), Golfweek (1975, Gannett), and Links (1988, Purcell).