With the ever-rising popularity of the game of golf, mainstream television decided they needed to cash in on the golf craze and founded The Golf Channel. The history of this cable phenomenon is really a storied one.

In’90, cable and cellular entrepreneur Joseph Gibbs of Birmingham, Alabama, offered to host a professional golfer for the’90 PGA Championship. Mr. Gibbs was ecstatic to learn he would be hosting Arnold and Winnie Palmer during the week of the tournament. A friendship was instantly born and as the friendship blossomed so did the discussion of a 24-hour cable network devoted entirely to golf.

After conducting a Gallup survey to determine public interest, Joe Gibbs was pleased to realize that there was a strong interest for a golf channel among the general public. The successful entrepreneur and the golf legend were convince that The Golf Channel would flourish with offerings for the golf-loving viewer.

Both individuals worked together in financing and providing adequate funds to launch The Golf Channel and once they were able to put together up to $80 million, the channel was launched in’95. During the channel’s debut, it was able to garner up to 1,000 cable subscribers. The first live tournament was televised over The Golf Channel on January’,'95 and featured the Dubai Dessert Classic.

Since then, The Golf Channel has grown by leaps and bounds in popularity. Many cable and satellite dish systems now carry The Golf Channel as part of their regular lineup of channels. It is now broadcast in Japan and Canada and in’99, reached a “break even” status on their financial statements.

Today, The Golf Channel is considered the place to go for golf news and programming. They have a daily golf news show called “Golf Central” along with “College Central” which is dedicated to college golf. They air highlight shows of past tournaments and have many programs with professionals handing out golf tips to the eager viewer.

Not to be left behind with the reality TV phenomenon, The Golf Channel has joined in with their reality-based program called “The Big Break”. This program was designed to help aspiring professionals gain exemptions into PGA Tour and LPGA events. It has proven to be wildly successful.

The Golf Channel, in 2005, helped sponsoring a special tournament of two-player teams, named ‘Big Stakes’ which doled out a largest ever prize money of $3,000,000 to the winning team, prize money being the largest in history of any golf event. The entry fee for this tournament was however a smashing $100,000 for a two-member team. Garth Mulroy and David Ping, professionals from mini-tour circuit, were the winners of the first prize that was split between the two.

So this is a history of two zealous persons, one an entrepreneur and the other a core golfer combining to give birth to ‘The Golf Channel’ which has now become a news source to many a household for their everyday golf news and this writer too is on the same boat. Along with us let me hope you too will love The Golf Channel.

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