Inside Comments by Steve Turcotte

I love those old episodes of the Big Break

The golf season on television slows down in the winter months. If you like the Golf Channel like I do there isn’t much to watch, but the TGL Golf League did crank up providing some golf to watch.

But one night as I turned on the channel, a past episode of the Big Break was on the air. I had completely forgotten about that show. It was a golf reality show which got its start on the Golf Channel in 2003 and ran for 23 seasons. As I watched that first episode of the Big Break which was filmed at the Treetops Resort in Michigan, I forgot how much I liked that program.

And fortunately for a golf TV nut like me the Golf Channel aired even more episodes. If you missed the Big Break here is how the show worked. They brought in golfers from around the country to take part in challenges. One of the coolest was when they had to hit a wedge shot over a huge wall and another was when they had to break glass with a Tiger Stinger shot. The show would pare the players down before the final two would compete in a match play championship where the winner would get exemptions into some professional tournaments.   The Big Break was for both men and women and players around the country.

At the time you didn’t realize that some of the contestants would make their way onto the PGA Tour like Tommy “Two Gloves Gainey,” Tony Finau, James Nitties and Matt Every.

But what made the series even more fun for me was that I met some of the ladies who took part in the Big Break at events I would put on. Julie Wells from Eugene was one, Lindsay Aho from Vancouver was another, Kim Welch who played at Washington State was one, Courtney Coleman too. It was fun to chat with them about their experience on the show and found out that it was as nerve-racking for them as any type of golf they had played before.

This was a series what was highly enjoyable to watch and a series I would have liked the Golf Channel to keep on running. But the Big Break series ended after 2015 with the Golf Channel citing the costs to put on the show were becoming too much for them to keep airing the show. But, and sorry to bury the lead, in October it was announced the series will be revived later this year in partnership with Good Good Golf, the influencer brand that has nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube.

Thanks Golf Channel and Good Good. 

Steve Turcotte is editor of Inside Golf Newspaper. He can be reached at sdturcotte@comcast.net.