PGA Tour’s ‘Hard Knocks of Golf’ was incredible

The PGA Tour delivered.

Throughout all of the announcements last week during the Players Championship it was revealed that the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Studios, and NFL Films would all be linking up for what was being described as “The Hard Knocks of Golf.”

For those unaware, Hard Knocks is a series from NFL Films that typically covers NFL teams throughout training camp. It is as much of a staple as football returning as the sounds of helmets crashing against one another are.

It is for this overall reason that many were excited to see what a golf version could look like.

PGA Tour Studios and NFL Filims absolutely crushed this

The premise of this specific run was simple. Si Woo Kim, Rickie Fowler, Akshay Bhatia, and Chris Gotterup all agreed to be mic’d up throughout the duration of the Players Championship. It was all edited to produce an episode of reality television, for lack of a better word, like no other.

You can watch the entire thing here.

This episode worked for the exact same reasons that Hard Knocks does:

• Players were natural and not scripted
• They showed emotion, both positive and negative
• We got to see their personalities shine
• It dropped the Tuesday after the event so it was all still fresh in our minds

A key ingredient in the formula of success for Hard Knocks is that episodes are coming out while training camp is going on. You are putting together the puzzle of who that NFL team is as weeks stack up with one another, and the same thing happened here.

Consider Si Woo Kim as an example. He was a part of the opening group that Collin Morikawa was. The episode captured Morikawa’s practice swing that caused him to withdraw from the tournament, one of the more dramatic turns the whole event took. Ludvig Aberg was also in that group and he obviously was a huge storyline throughout his Sunday round where he couldn’t hold on for the win.

It is amazing what happens when microphones are turned on and natural reality is captured. This is what fans want more than anything else.

Kudos to the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Studios, and NFL Films for delivering on all accounts.