Ringer: "What Happened to Tiger Tracker, Golf’s Most Beloved Twitter Account?"

Hell of a read here.

Though somewhat uncorrelated, how Golf Channel handled the *one* authentic thing they had speaks volumes as to why there’s a glaring absence of relatable, original programming on the network. https://t.co/uqAVkhplns

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) December 16, 2020

There should be so many painful elements in reading John Gonzalez’s Ringer account of Golf Channel’s Tiger Tracker and the accounts’ demise.

While it’s obviously a first world account of a silly-fun social media account, it’s also the story of a the brutal implosion of a Golf Channel staple that no beancounter could fully appreciate. After all, the GCTigerTracker did not generate revenue but in the world of “content” it did connect fans to the channel in ways no accountant or, as the story notes, even executives could grasp.

So while this is a look at TT’s demise, it’s also a devastating look into the point-missing that is quickly taking a once wildly successful 25-year-old start-up into no man’s land. Some of the details here should raise alarm bells with Golf Channel and NBC’s partners, particularly because the writer in question admittedly knows little about golf or the account, yet with some digging, was able to grasp the insanity of destroying the kind of authentic, slightly crazy and sometimes captivating connection the account made with “consumers.”

Please read the entire piece, but this from Gonzalez is particularly brutal regarding TT’s resurfacing at the 2020 Masters.

According to Tracker, executives at the company didn’t understand why, in the wake of layoffs that gutted the Golf Channel staff, TT didn’t have the manpower to cover the Zozo Championship just as it always had. In fact, the bosses didn’t know the most basic details, like how to log into the account. They didn’t even have the password. Ultimately, Tracker skipped the October event, the first tournament TT missed that Woods played in since the handle launched eight years earlier. Fans noticed.

“I sat and watched people lose their freaking minds when Zozo was going on,” Tracker said.

The discontent over the discontinued account finally registered with the brass, who realized that they ought to get the handle tweeting again for the Masters, considering Woods was the defending champion. But here again, there was a disconnect about what that required. Tracker says Geoff Russell, a senior vice president and executive editor for Golf Channel, wondered if maybe TT’s Masters responsibilities could be outsourced to a freelance golf writer who had never worked on the account before and didn’t know its voice, which confirmed what Tracker thought—that the bosses “didn’t understand.” (Russell did not respond to several requests for comment.)