PGA, Golf like no other sport other than the NFL host the majority of its events in the comfy confines of over-the-air network television. For casual fans and even people who would call themselves big golf fans there is enough free golf to dominate about half the weekends of your year. And if you are such a fan of the links that you can’t get enough on free TV you will probably be out on the course yourself during the rest of the time. If that is not the case and you want to watch more there are pay-TV options that can further your viewing. First though lets break down just how much golf is on TV and where to find it.
Free Network Coverage Of The Majors
- NBC The Open Championship (Extra Coverage on The Golf Channel)
- CBS PGA Championship (Extra Coverage on ESPN)
- CBS The Masters (Extra Coverage on ESPN)
- NBC The US Open (Extra coverage on Peacock/USA)
OTA Golf Event Coverage by network including the majors
NBC: 10 events (8 non-majors)
CBS 23 (21 non-majors)
The Golf Channel
This year there are 22 events are exclusive to the Golf Channel which is a channel only available to customers who have a paid streaming subscription to one of the major cable replacement services. That means Sling TV, Hulu+ Live TV, Fubo or YouTube TV. the range for those services starts at $45.99 and end at $99.99 depending on your package. But the good news in all those numbers is that as we said at the top. There is a lot of free golf, provided that you can use an antenna.
If you are a purist who wants to see as much of every tournament as possible you already should understand the network coverage of major championships of course does not show you every swing of every participant live, but there is very little in the world of Golf that will do that other then when something like ESPN dedicates a channel to a feed of one pairing bc they feel it will be a ratings winner. Otherwise, most golf fans are used to the broadcast that takes you from one place to the next with the leaders or people of interest like Tiger Woods.
So now that you have the majors figured out and understand that there are 29 other tournaments for free the question is, would you rather watch more TV or get that fresh air and time away from the house. The ball is on your tee.
