In June 2023, Tele-Town Hall, in collaboration with Aristotle, conducted a comprehensive survey to gauge the perception of golfers in the contiguous United States towards the recent merger between PGA and LIV. 

The participants, aged between 18 and 75, were reached via cellphones using Tele-Town Hall’s text-to-web survey platform.

Methodology

The survey was fielded from June 9th to June 11th, 2023. A total of 76,395 survey invitations were sent out, resulting in 1,223 (1.6%) opened surveys. 

Of these, 82 participants (6.7%) were disqualified due to failure in meeting the outlined criteria. An additional 55 (4.5%) surveys were partially completed, and 204 (16.7%) respondents completed the survey fully. The margin of error for the study was calculated to be 7%.

Findings

The key findings from the completed surveys include:

• A significant 96% of respondents were aware of the merger between PGA and LIV.

• Of these, a staggering 75% had a negative view of the merger, with 55% of them feeling extremely negative.

• Conversely, a mere 15% felt positive about the merger.

• On the benefits of the merger, 54% thought it favored LIV (with 95% of this group believing it benefited a lot), whereas 6% felt PGA reaped the benefits (with a relatively balanced split of 54% a lot, and 46% a little).

• 29% of the respondents felt both entities benefited from the merger, while 11% felt neither benefited.

The demographic characteristics of the respondents were as follows:

• 77% of the respondents have been golfing for more than 15 years.

• The frequency of golfing varied, with 22% golfing 1-10 times a year, 51% golfing 11-50 times a year, and 27% golfing more than 51 times a year.

• 26% of the respondents were members of a private golf club.

• The age group distribution showed 13% were under 49, 43% were between 50-64, and 44% were aged 65 or above.

• The educational background was relatively high, with 77% of respondents having at least a Bachelor’s degree.

The findings of the study underline a significant level of disapproval towards the PGA-LIV merger among golfers, with a majority of them perceiving LIV as the chief beneficiary of this union. 

Despite the survey’s limited sample size, it provides an important perspective on the impact of corporate decisions on stakeholders. 

The complete data set, including open-ended comments and the questionnaire used, is available upon request.