"It’s a saturated product" – 3x PGA Tour winner calls for proper offseason in professional golf

The PGA Tour’s regular season has officially come to an end, and the first playoff event in the postseason lineup is underway at TPC Southwind. Following the conclusion of the tour’s regular season, three-time PGA Tour winner Hudson Swafford has voiced his thoughts on having a proper offseason.

During the latest episode of the Subpar podcast by GOLF.com, Swafford joined former PGA Tour player Colt Knost and his co-host Drew Stoltz to discuss the latest happenings in golf. Knost raised a critical point, saying that golf fans are never really 'starved' for the game due to the lack of a proper offseason.

Swafford agreed with the host, saying,

“I totally agree… Maybe you end- maybe the season goes a little bit longer. It does overlap with college football and NFL and you end [it] the end of September, but it’s done. There’s no real talks about it. There needs to be downtime. Every sport has downtime and the fans get fired up about it again. But it’s a saturated product.” [1:14:07 onwards]

The three-time PGA Tour winner also added that having a proper offseason would allow players to recover from any injuries they may have. He argued that players can use the offseason to properly heal and recover as opposed to leaving in the middle of the year and resuming at the end of the season.

During the discussion, Swafford, who moved to LIV Golf two years ago, also spoke about his decision to join the Saudi-backed league. He said that while it was a tough choice to make, he was intrigued by the competition and the team component factor LIV brought to the table.

Swafford joined LIV Golf in 2023 but did not play in the league that year due to a hip injury. He resumed competition in the league in 2024 and was eventually relegated.

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3-time PGA Tour winner reveals the ‘most difficult part’ about joining LIV Golf

During the previously mentioned podcast with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, Hudson Swafford opened up about his time on LIV. He said that the disruption LIV brought to the game was needed, however, he also had some challenges during his time in the league.

“I was intrigued by LIV and I feel like the actual events are really good over there… But like everything, it’s a startup and rules change all the time. There’s not a ton of transparency upfront. So yeah, that was the most difficult part of all that once I got there,” Swafford said. [32:00 onwards]

Swafford added that he knew there would be suspensions and other repercussions for leaving the PGA Tour. However, he admitted that he didn’t know how long the suspensions would be and didn’t expect the game to be 'fractured' for this long.

As it stands, Hudson Swafford is currently facing a five-year suspension from the PGA Tour. As such, he won't be able to play on the tour again until 2027.