Tour News

PGA Tour targets a younger audience with Skratch TV

Published

11 years ago

Feb 11, 2015

The PGA Tour wants to broaden its appeal to a more youthful, social-media-centric generation — one that is more likely to use online platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and Vine. To do so, the PGA Tour has created Skratch TV, an internet golf network that will focus on engaging golf’s younger audience.

[quote_box_center]”As younger fans find new ways to follow their favorite sports, it’s important to deliver great golf content to platforms that they use and in a voice that resonates with them,” PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said. “We believe Skratch TV will provide a tremendous new platform to effectively speak to this audience.”[/quote_box_center]

At the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Skratch TV gave viewers a first-person look at what it’s like to play TPC Scottsdale’s famed 16th hole in front of a huge crowd.

See the loudest hole in golf through the eyes of @preedgolf with @callawaygolf and @GoPro. #WMPhoenixOpen https://t.co/nXUxSDjC8N

— SkratchTV (@skratch_tv) January 30, 2015

To produce Skratch TV, the PGA Tour partnered with Bedrocket Media Ventures, a digital entertainment company that brands media networks on multi-platforms.

Taking the reigns is Skratch TV General Manager Lee Bushkell, who was previously the vice president/general manager of PGA Tour Digital and vice president of digital media sales. Also leading the team is Stefan Van Engen, who previously oversaw the launch of Bedrocket’s Kick TV and Network A and Director of Programming Aaron Spielberg, who previously worked in production at ESPN Radio and Major League Baseball’s website, MLB.com.

A recent video from the Farmers Insurance Open shows the dichotomy between traditional golf coverage and Skratch TV. In the video below, an ex-Navy Seal strapped with a GoPro is shown dropping in from the sky to present Jason Day with the tournament’s trophy.

At the Farmers Insurance Open, Skratch TV brought viewers a glass-shattering competition between Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel and Keegan Bradley.

The all-star game of alumni golf between @RickieFowlerPGA, @Keegan_bradley, @BillyHo_Golf & @BenCraneGolf https://t.co/IWZg9z7uja

— SkratchTV (@skratch_tv) February 7, 2015

Skratch TV is probably not your father’s golf network, but it passes two important journalism credos: Take people where they’ve never gone before, show them things they might otherwise never see.

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Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

11 Comments

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Frank McChrystal

Feb 13, 2015 at 5:07 pm

Best of luck engaging a generation whose minds are hardwired for speed. Short attention span theatre comes to mind.

Reply Report comment
kess

Feb 13, 2015 at 12:56 pm

The misspelling is unnecessary, I don’t think they necessarily had go to with “golf. But louder”. I don’t think we are going to fool anyone into thinking that golf is an extreme sport. But I do like the general direction. I think the presentation of the game has needed to change for a while. I like hearing the banter between players and caddies and think tech can be worked into the presentation, tracer on every shot please? I also like cut aways to instructional snippets that explain what the player was doing to achieve a certain shot type. And, finally, let the guys loosen up out there and have a good time. Then it can just be “Golf. But more interesting.”

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Jeff Smith

Feb 13, 2015 at 12:13 pm

I hate golf channel and the doosh bag announcers on NBC or CBS. Anything has to be better. Thank god in this day and age there is mute and fast forward.

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Alex

Feb 13, 2015 at 10:42 am

As a millennial, I’m extremely averse to the letter ‘c’. I’ll konsider watkhing this if they khange ‘Skratch’ to ‘Skratkh’. Til then, no dike PGA tour.

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lars

Feb 12, 2015 at 4:30 pm

Nothing speaks to the youth more than incorrectly spelling things….

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Peter Kratsios

Feb 12, 2015 at 1:28 pm

First and foremost, I am a huge fan of Skratch and the type of content they are putting out there. As a 25 year old avid golfer I think it really hits home with my demographic, but furthermore, I think it is appealing to all types of entertainment junkies. Golf is such a visual sport!

Reply Report comment
alan

Feb 11, 2015 at 6:41 pm

pga needs to offer a channel or subscription method for those of us that have ditched cable and satellite.

Reply Report comment
- B-Man
  
  Feb 12, 2015 at 10:15 am
  
  Tell me about it. When the NBC coverage cut off for 60 Minutes, I didn’t have the Golf Channel so I didn’t bother even finding out until I watched some highlights the next day. Too bad.
  
  Reply Report comment

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.