The PGA Tour is increasingly under scrutiny over its course choices for key tournaments as LIV Golf continues to attract fans with more dynamic and challenging venues. This debate has intensified in 2025, with growing calls for the PGA Tour to reconsider its traditional approach to course selection, especially regarding the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where LIV Golf’s innovative venues have captured greater excitement.

Growing Debate Over Venue Choices in Major Golf Events

Golf’s appeal hinges not just on the players but also on the courses they compete on, and this has become a central theme in the ongoing rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. While the PGA Tour relies heavily on established, time-honored courses, LIV Golf embraces variety, often choosing less conventional and more demanding venues that seem to engage both players and fans on a different level. This contrast has spotlighted whether the PGA Tour’s static playoff courses have become too predictable and insufficiently captivating to audiences.

During a recent episode of the 5 Clubs Podcast, host Gary Williams expressed frustration over the site selections for this year’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. He criticized the familiar surroundings saying,

East Lake is, I think it’s challenging as far as the environment, as far as the climate, the atmosphere. I think the same holds true for Memphis to the site of where FedEx — that is their home. Why not explore the Pacific Northwest or the West Coast and get some prime time hours and show some venues that would otherwise not see the light of day?

—Gary Williams, 5 Clubs Podcast Host

Williams was joined by golf commentators Johnson Wagner and Brendon de Jonge, who voiced similar concerns about whether these venues genuinely inspire excitement despite the considerable stakes and prize money involved. Although the BMW Championship rotates locations, the longstanding tradition of hosting the Tour Championship at East Lake since 2004 has drawn criticism. The familiarity of these venues, particularly East Lake, has arguably led to underwhelming attendance and limited enthusiasm among fans.

Johnson Wagner praised recent renovation efforts by Andrew Green at East Lake but acknowledged the course’s inherent limitations:

But there’s not so much you can do for a boring golf course. It’s just long par 4 after long par 4 and uninteresting par 3s after uninteresting par 5s. It’s not an interesting place that provides a ton of drama. I think East Lake as a whole is just it would be a great place to go play as a member all the time, but for a championship golf course, I don’t think it is what we should be hosting our Super Bowl on.

—Johnson Wagner, Golf Commentator

Comparing the Tour Championship to the Super Bowl, Wagner emphasized that such a prestigious season finale deserves a course that demands drama and delivers engaging competition, qualities he finds lacking at East Lake.

LIV Golf’s Course Strategy Gains Favor Among Fans

Contrastingly, LIV Golf has earned enthusiastic fan approval for its innovative course choices, notably their stop at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Chicago. One fan publicly praised the course on social media:

I hope @livgolf_league never stop going to Bolingbrook! The maintenance team dials this place up into a legitimately stiff test, and when the wind comes blowing in, the place becomes a faux major venue. I hear people on its general looks and office park area location, but it keeps kicking these guys’ ass and asking them to hit highly skilled golf shots to score — and I love it!

—LIV Golf Fan

This kind of candid appreciation from the golf community highlights the excitement that LIV Golf has cultivated by embracing courses that genuinely challenge players with varied playing conditions, as opposed to the perceived monotony at some of the PGA Tour’s fixed venues. Such positive fan experiences have intensified pressure on the PGA Tour to innovate its course selection strategy in order to maintain relevance and appeal.

Historic Traditions Versus Demand for Fresh Experiences

The PGA Tour has traditionally anchored itself to courses with deep historical significance, especially in marquee events like the Masters Tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club. However, many other tournaments on the PGA schedule have remained static on their respective courses for years. For instance, the Wyndham Championship has been held at Sedgefield Golf Club every year since 2008, the 3M Open consistently takes place at TPC Twin Cities since 2001, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic has been hosted in Detroit since 2019.

While the PGA Tour does occasionally rotate venues for certain events—such as the BMW Championship—most of its postseason action revolves around familiar venues like East Lake, which critics argue lack the capacity to generate novelty or peak spectator excitement. This steadiness clashes with LIV Golf’s active pursuit of new and exotic venues globally, including stops at the Bolingbrook Golf Club in the U.S. and Valderrama in Spain, often mixing established favorite courses with fresh additions.

This strategy sustains fan enthusiasm and increases anticipation, as spectators are eager to see how players adapt to different environments and course challenges each season. The PGA Tour, in contrast, risks losing ground by relying on known entities that may feel stale to a modern audience used to ever-changing sporting landscapes.

Mounting Pressure for the PGA Tour to Innovate Its Playoff Venues

As LIV Golf continues to cultivate fan excitement through diverse and challenging venues, the PGA Tour faces intensifying calls to rethink its playoff course strategy. The perception is growing that maintaining the status quo could undermine the Tour’s ability to captivate its audience and to showcase golf at its most compelling level.

Potential reforms could include introducing dramatic new locations, particularly in underexplored regions such as the Pacific Northwest or the West Coast, areas mentioned by critics as untapped for prime-time golf events. A shift in course selection may also align with evolving fan expectations for unpredictability and challenges that mirror the intensity of season-defining moments.

The stakes are considerable because the FedEx Cup Playoffs represent the climax of the PGA Tour season, and delivering memorable, exciting competitions is vital for sustaining fan interest, television ratings, and sponsor engagement. Whether the PGA Tour embraces this challenge remains to be seen, but the current momentum suggests the pressure to innovate is unlikely to subside soon.