Harry Higgs is worried about the PGA Tour as a TV product, partly because LIV Golf ‘took all the a–holes … the villains’

Netflix cameraman Dan Wilson follows Harry Higgs as walks through the tunnel to the tee of the par-3 16th hole during the third round of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. (Photo: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports)

Golfweek: If you were to run a golf television network, and come on, you know you’d be great at this, what should be done? Give me your two-minute elevator pitch.

Harry Higgs: I don’t know if I’d be great at it. And, just simply because I get to see about 75 to 80 percent of what goes into covering golf, right, whether that’s print or television, I know that I do not have a great understanding of the other, we’ll call it 25 percent and that 25 percent is probably the most vital.

I read plenty of golf coverage, right? From every one of the people on your staff to many others.

But I think it’s part of the kind of Tiger Woods hangover, if we take it in a very, very, 30-thousand-foot view, where really no one had to be any good at their jobs. 

And I’m not saying that people weren’t, because they were, but really no one had to be any good at their jobs within the golf kind of landscape because Tiger was playing, Tiger was winning and shit just sold because he was showing up. We are certainly entering an era where that’s going to happen less and less, if at all. I’m obviously rooting for it to happen as much as it possibly can because that just helps out everybody involved.

So my kind of elevator pitch would just be, obviously, keep doing what you’re doing but also don’t be afraid to tell the more difficult story or storyline.

I obviously live golf and everything, right? And as for the division (with LIV Golf) and all that stuff, I don’t necessarily agree but I don’t blame any of these guys for leaving.

But we joke back and forth — they took all the assholes. They took all the villains. And that’s a problem. They took some of our best players, too. But those who have left haven’t put this in a spot where it’s like, oh, shit, you know, all the great players are gone and playing somewhere else. That’s not the case, but they took some of the ones who would have stories written about them maybe in a negative light with kind of negative connotations. And OK, that’s kind of a driving force for people to read your story or for people to turn their television on. I struggle with this.

Most of my irritation is not with the print side. It’s with the airing of the golf tournament for four days. I get how hard it is to get 156-plus storylines in, but it just always feels like we take the easy way out, and a lot of this is the Tour’s fault, too. I know that they’re starting to have more and more control over the product and then it’s just another thing that’s like, ‘if you guys aren’t any good at your jobs doing this, then like we’re gonna all be put in worse off position.’

Phil Mickelson and Harry Higgs Tuesday at the 2021 Northern Trust. (Photo: David Dusek/Golfweek)

GW: You bring up a great point about conflict and villains. I still watch the New England Patriots, even though they’re not as good right now. I hate them because I’m a Buffalo Bills fan and there’s still a vibe that draws me in. And it’s different without some of those personalities, even if they’re negative. You can’t put a positive spin on everything, right?

HH: For a long, long time some of the satirical voices in the game were giving us shit for being a tour of class acts. Yes, freaking 98 percent of the guys out on Tour are pretty boring. Or it seems that way. But they’re really not. They certainly go dive into their boring hole where they’re not going to say any bad things about anybody when the camera goes on, or when somebody has a microphone in their hand. They’re just not going to do it because it won’t serve them. So it is certainly a commitment from even us players to be more open, and you know, let more people in to tell our stories.

I was part of the social media … I can’t remember the name of it, I probably should remember the name … but kind of a committee that I was working on with some of the other guys. Basically, if I were in contention on a Sunday, and it was versus let’s just use Rory (McIlroy) as an example. Obviously, those are two very different personalities with two very different possible outcomes. If I were to win, it changes my life, right? If he were to win, it doesn’t really mean a whole lot, unless it’s a major, and then for him, it obviously means a lot. But in that, if they’re going to show Rory and me for two hours, I could tell you the two things that they’re going to constantly harp on about me.

And obvious Rory has more to talk about because he’s shown more and he speaks more to people. But, you know, me, it’s just going to constantly be ‘well, he’s such a character and, you know, so great in interviews’ or whatever it may be. And it’s like, well, yeah, that’s part of me. But also, tell the story of how long it took me to get to the Tour. My five years in obscurity, traveling all over the globe. Trying to hone my skills and get to this point and then in that, if you’ve done just that little bit of storytelling, you then have some credibility. You’ve explained basically to the viewer how much my life would change with this win versus the best player in the world. How this could be a springboard. Obviously, it changes my life, but it also gives me some confidence in beating the best player in the world down the stretch, right?

I just feel like we miss a lot of stuff like that, and part of it is hard because if I was the one just watching I don’t know that I want to hear any of that. Just show me the damn golf, right?

Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs take their shirts off on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

GW: Well, it sounds like you’re saying instead of seeing you and Joel (Dahmen) with your shirts off for the 10th time in a broadcast, it would be more interesting to hear about you and Keith Mitchell, who are very different personalities, on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica trying to figure out how much to pay a cab driver and bonding in foreign territory. I think you’ve got a future in this. Go kick those bastards at CBS out and take over the joint.

HH: Yeah. Exactly. I’ve heard people say this before and I do think I would be good at it, but it’s not a shoo-in. But let’s say in a decade after hopefully having a successful career, they want me to do that, they’re gonna have to give me a lot of freedom too. And I don’t know, maybe they don’t give the freedom they need to give.

But we are now at a point where all that had gone into putting this product out — and I know it’s a lot — but all that had gone into putting this product out, and what the product is showing us, the viewer, is not good enough right now. And it’s not going to be good enough as we progress further, year after year.

So yeah, we need to do a better job and it needs to come from, no disrespect to anybody, but it needs to come from the ground up, right? Whoever the, you know, the big swinging d— producer is needs to realize that this shit is not good enough and he needs to go to the talent below and say, guys, let’s get some new ideas.

If I was in charge of the whole thing, no idea is too much. There’s no such thing as a stupid question or a silly thought. Give me everything you can. Let’s tell these stories because no matter what the tournament is there is somebody within the top five who may not end up winning and who doesn’t get shown.

And if that guy was to be me who doesn’t get shown, and then I end up winning, the only thing they show is me playing the last hole, whether I’m in the final group or three groups in front and then they go right back to the other guys that are trying to catch me.

Yeah, we’ll show Rory hit a shot but we’re not gonna talk about Rory again. We’re gonna talk about this guy who’s sitting in the clubhouse and who is probably shaking with excitement and pride and relief.

For me as a golf fan, and I am a big golf fan as well, I want to hear that. I want to watch Rory swing, but I don’t need to hear any more about Rory. We have got him covered. I don’t need to hear any more about him. Everybody knows about him.

Harry Higgs points to the camera during the Tito’s Shorties Classic at Austin’s Butler Pitch and Putt (Photo courtesy PGA Tour Entertainment)

GW: Hey, if this was a pitch to get me to give $7.99 a month for Higgs TV or something, it’s working.

HH: (Laughing) OK, cool. That sounds like it would be, um, the best route — because if I’m charging people then I can curse and I think that would just make it better for everyone because I can get my point across.

(Editor’s note: This article was updated with Higgs’ correct college.)