Charley Hoffman reveals reason behind his controversial memo to the PGA Tour membership

On January 2, 2025, news emerged about a memo written by Charley Hoffman to his fellow PGA Tour golfers. In this memo, he addressed several issues concerning the PGA Tour, particularly slow play.

The memo quickly became a hot topic of discussion in golfing circles, prompting Hoffman to provide a detailed clarification on January 4, 2025. When asked what prompted him to put pen to paper—or fingers to keyboard—to discuss slow play in competitive golf on the PGA Tour, he responded (via Golf Channel):

“To be completely honest, to bring awareness to it. I'm a fan like everybody else that watches the game of golf, and I just want to bring awareness to a few things that were at the top of my mind, sort of following Justin Thomas's lead.

And sometimes, I wouldn’t say it falls on deaf ears—sometimes the membership thinks it falls on deaf ears—but this was obviously not for the media. I released it to the players, and the media got hold of it. But just the awareness of a few things that were on my mind. [00:33]

Hoffman added:

“Obviously, slow play—we've been catching a lot of heat for that. I don't know if we're ever going to solve the problem of slow play, but I just wanted to hopefully have a guy think about it. If they’re out of position, then maybe they should play a little bit faster—for our product and for the game of golf. Just like an interview with CBS or NBC in the middle of a round, there are little things we need to do to make our product better.”

Golf.com writer Sean Zak summarized the memo in a post on X (formerly Twitter):

“Another letter was sent to PGA Tour members this evening, now from Charley Hoffman: - Addresses the ‘heat’ the Tour has received over pace of play - Critiques the implementation of Aon Swing 5 - ‘Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai…’”

Although Hoffman stated that the note was intended for members and not for the media, it was somehow leaked

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Charley Hoffman received strong reactions from Rory McIlroy

In his memo, Charley Hoffman also criticized players’ commitment to non-PGA Tour events, such as TGL and the Race to Dubai, over PGA Tour events. This section may have sparked strong reactions from other PGA Tour golfers per Joe I of Tour Picks:

“I asked Rory McIlroy about the letter Charley Hoffman wrote. No surprise, he gave me a thoughtful answer and clearly took it a bit personally. No surprise, he gave me a thoughtful answer and clearly took it a bit personally...”

Rory McIlroy, Hoffman's fellow PGA Tour member, strongly disagreed with the views expressed in the memo. McIlroy argued that Hoffman had misinterpreted the situation, pointing out that the PGA Tour has financial interests in both TGL and the DP World Tour, of which McIlroy is a part. In short, McIlroy suggested that while Hoffman criticized players for external commitments, he inadvertently criticized the PGA Tour's business ventures.