Bubba Watson Says 'Golf Was Kind Of Stale' And Reveals Future LIV 'Stadium' Plans

The two-time Masters champion says the game was stale and also revealed plans for teams to have their own 'stadiums'

Bubba Watson looks on after hitting a drive
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bubba Watson revealed some bold plans for LIV Golf that involve teams having their own golf courses, or 'stadiums', while he claimed that the professional game had become "stale" prior to LIV arriving on the scene last year.

The two-time Masters champion captains the RangeGoats franchise in the LIV Golf League, where event number five of the 2023 season takes place this week in Singapore. He was asked about where he sees the Saudi-backed tour in ten years' time, and he gave a bold look into what might be coming, while also revealing his thoughts on what the game was looking like pre-LIV.

"I know what our business plan is and business model is. We are talking about having teams from different parts of the world," he said.

"We are talking about having our own golf courses that, basically, we'll call them our stadiums. We are talking about having golf academies to help young golfers, but also young golfers that want to play at our level, just like any other sports team around the world. So there's a lot of dreams and aspirations and a lot of things that we've already accomplished in less than a year, but we still want to keep going forward. 

"Legacy-wise, I just want to be part of something that was amazing, I believe in. I believe in the right steps and what we are taking. I believe that golf was kind of stale and the only sport that I saw that was missing team atmosphere, we love The Ryder Cup, we love the Presidents Cup, so why not do it all year round?

Bubba Watson commentates during the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship in Florida

Watson returned to playing this year after initially joining LIV Golf as a non-playing captain and commentator while recovering from injury

(Image credit: Getty Images)

"For me, you play high school golf as a team, college golf as a team and pro golf, there's no team, and so now there's a team. Legacy is just be to part of something. It's not about me or who I am individually. It's about all of us coming together to start LIV, to be part of LIV, and watch the game of golf to grow to a place it's never been before, and I think so far we are doing it.

"Obviously not as fast as some people want and not as nice as some people want, but I think we are in the right spot, and ten years from now, it will be a different conversation. I mean, I will probably be retired by then. But it will be fun."

Watson was joined in his chat with the media by Bryson DeChambeau, who had nothing else to add. "I couldn't have said it better," DeChambeau said. "He said everything perfectly."

It's not the first time we've heard the idea of golf courses or 'stadiums' being built, as Ian Poulter revealed at the LIV Golf Orlando event that he had travelled to the course via helicopter to scope out any potential sites.

"I know we live very close but we decided to SpeedBird, who help us fly around, had an option to pop in on a helicopter this morning," Poulter said.

"So we're just kind of doing a site visit around Orlando to see if there's any cool areas where we may be able to build a Stix stadium golf course. Took about six minutes door-to-door and made it very easy."

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV