PGA Tour’s ‘Hard Knocks of Golf’ was incredible

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 12: Si Woo Kim of South Korea and his caddie walk off the fifth hole green during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship at Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, 2026 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) The PGA Tour delivered. Throughout all of the announcements last week during the Players Championship it was revealed that the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Studios, and NFL Films would all be linking up for what was being described as “The Hard Knocks of Golf.

” For those unaware, Hard Knocks is a series from NFL Films that typically covers NFL teams throughout training camp. It is as much of a staple as football returning as the sounds of helmets crashing against one another are. It is for this overall reason that many were excited to see what a golf version could look like.

PGA Tour Studios and NFL Filims absolutely crushed this The premise of this specific run was simple. Si Woo Kim, Rickie Fowler, Akshay Bhatia, and Chris Gotterup all agreed to be mic’d up throughout the duration of the Players Championship. It was all edited to produce an episode of reality television, for lack of a better word, like no other.

You can watch the entire thing here. This episode worked for the exact same reasons that Hard Knocks does: Players were natural and not scripted They showed emotion, both positive and negative We got to see their personalities shine It dropped the Tuesday after the event so it was all still fresh in our minds A key ingredient in the formula of success for Hard Knocks is that episodes are coming out while training camp is going on. You are putting together the puzzle of who that NFL team is as weeks stack up with one another, and the same thing happened here.