Blitz Golf Founder Interview

Video details

• Instructor: Golf Life
• Category: Profiles

Transcript

I'm so excited to welcome Simon Zybek from Australia of Blitz Golf. Simon, so fun to have you here on "Golf Life." What you've created really got my attention. Could you tell our viewers about Blitz Golf? Yeah, absolutely. Blitz Golf is basically a short format of golf which comprises professionals and celebrities going head-to-head. It's a 24-player event. They play six holes of golf. The top two and a half, those top 12 advance and play three hole blitz. Scores reset, start again. So it's like the format really is designed around every shot matters. So, one bad shot will definitely send you home. And then from the 12 players, the top four advance to a sudden-death final. So if you think about it, six holes becomes three, becomes one. Twenty-four players becomes 12, becomes four. So it's super sharp, three-hour format. So professional with celebrities, head-to-head, influencers, and it's just been a wild ride so far. It's been some great events that we've run over the last eight years. I noticed that, I thought, well, if it's just three holes, you really got to play fast right away, but it's not the case. And it's a brilliant way that you guys created it, because it is six holes, so you really have to continue to compete for that six, and then the three, you've ultimately played nine holes and then 10 holes if you get all the way to the final. So it's got that short burst, but you also really have to play and stay in your game, right? So it's kind of the best of both worlds. Yeah, 100%. We found a lot of players that don't quite understand how to go about it, and they sort of attack it a little bit too aggressively in the six holes and, half the field's going through. Yes, you have to play good golf and you're not going to get through without even par, maybe one under, but, the three holes is where you've really then got to switch gears and really attack it and chase those birdies. We've had events where, one under is not good enough and two under's required to get through to the final and over that three holes. And what we then do is, if it then ties at the end of the round, it goes to an nearest the pin shootout. So, the last thing you want to be doing is stuck on the cut line, where you're competing maybe against six people for one spot in the final, which we've had a number of times. It's built for the fans. It's a highly entertaining product and, we think it's going to explode onto the US market next year as well, which is going to be fantastic. Well, that's the segue, thank you, that I wanted to get into, is what also caught my attention was your last shows that were from London and just the response of the crowds, and then you mentioned during those shows that you're coming to the US, and I think that's just brilliant. So that's exciting for us. But I would encourage people, tell us about the London event and obviously the events from Australia as well. Yeah, look, it's been running in Australia since 2018. We've now run almost 30 professional events in that time, and it's been growing steadily. So unlike sort of other leagues, it's been sort of self-funded and growing organically for the best part of six, seven years. And we just made the decision that at some point we're always going to go global with this. And the time is right. We just set record crowds in Australia. So England got the four events just in June just gone and they were a tremendous success. The golf, the media, the quality of players and celebrities that got around it. We had our record first-ever crowds for new events. So turn ups to all of our events in England and the model was always to get to the US, the biggest golf market in the world. It was always going to get there. We just wanted to make sure that when we came, we were ready, and we are now. And our first events will be on American soil in late 2027. So the business plan from day one was to have our series around the world, each of those series being six events, 24 events globally. The winner of each would win their way through a world final, and then you've got 24 players, 24 winners playing in a large world final somewhere in the world. The level of play that you had, the type of celebrities, the type of influencers, golf personalities, and even players that you had in London, it sets up really well that I would imagine you're going to have some pretty big names and a lot of excitement here in the US as well. Yeah, I think so. If you look at the quality of professionals and celebrities that have gotten around it so far, it's been awesome. So obviously when we get to the US, it's just such a big market. There are so many quality golfers, so many celebrities, and such a sports-loving country that it's not going to be difficult to fill 24 players. Yeah, I don't think you'll have a hard time finding 24. You might have to hold qualifiers around the country and make a few bucks and then whittle it down. But you're only really just a little over a year out. And so this is really full tilt, and if people want to know more, it's probably important that they start paying attention. Yeah, definitely. I mean, look, we recommend to jump on our socials and follow obviously Blitz Golf. You can subscribe to our sort of newsletters and get ready for all the announcements. But, we're planning to lock in our schedule by around November this year. So we'll know what that is internally. We'll be planning around that. Simon, good on you for developing something new and exciting that seems to have staying power in the game of golf. I really applaud you for your efforts and your fortitude. Thank you very much. And thanks for joining us on "Golf Life" and we'll be back with more in just a moment.