The PGA Tour is reportedly set to unveil a revamped player content policy, which would loosen regulations on what and how players can share Tour-related content on social media.
Front Office Sports reported Friday morning that the updated policy was finalized during a Players Advisory Council subcommittee meeting held earlier this week ahead of the Truist Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to the report, players will soon be able to:
- Post broadcast footage of up to six shots per round, up from just one shot
- Post up to 120 minutes of highlights on YouTube, double what was previously allowed, starting 72 hours after an event concludes
- Produce up to 3 minutes of on-site, competition-day content, up from 2 minutes
- Use archived PGA Tour footage without having to transfer ownership of YouTube channel
- Earn ad revenue for any content captured during practice rounds and pro-ams, though players are still prohibited from commercializing any content filmed on site or broadcast footage directly through sponsorship integrations
“The PGA Tour strives to provide the most athlete-friendly social media guidelines in professional sports,” a PGA Tour spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
The news comes on the heels of comments made by LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau, a two-time major champion who boasts nearly 2.7 million YouTube subscribers. DeChambeau told Skratch’s Garrett Johnston ahead of LIV’s event outside of Washington, D.C., that the PGA Tour’s social-media policy is a hurdle in a potential return should he decide not to renew his LIV contract at the end of this year.
“It’s one of them,” DeChambeau said. “If you look at it, it’s affiliate marketing, so me being able to create content on that golf course that week at that event should only bring value to the tournament, and that’s what I care about most, entertaining like I’ve always said from Day 1.”
DeChambeau added: “If I was to film a video during the week of one of their events with a content creator or a celebrity, that would be in violation to my knowledge. It’s their policy, they didn’t let me do it when I was on there. I asked various times. They didn’t let Grant Horvat or Garrett Clark do some videos during the Monday, Tuesday practice rounds. That’s the truth.”
Horvat, a popular golf influencer, declined an invite to compete in the Tour’s Barracuda Championship last summer because he wouldn’t be allowed to film how own YouTube content during the week.
It’s worth noting that the reported new policy wouldn’t completely free up DeChambeau to create whatever YouTube content he wished during PGA Tour events. Players are still not allowed to collaborate or tag companies and sponsors outside of the Tour’s list of official partners, among other restrictions still in place.
“Everybody can tell me what I want to do, but I think what matters also is what makes me happy,” DeChambeau said. “It’s ever changing. It can always change based on new information. But I think doing a bunch of content creation and doing it more freely, and then also playing events that want me is great, it’s a great opportunity.”