The Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens is undergoing major changes in 2025, signaling a shift in the PGA Tour’s approach to fan experience. With declining attendance and a need for financial sustainability, the Tour has opted for a scaled-down, more immersive fan experience over the traditional grandstand-heavy buildout.
This comes about a year after the Tour took over the event. While these changes help cut costs, they may also indicate that the Cognizant Classic is being used as a proving ground for new ways to engage golf fans—experiments that could eventually make their way into bigger events.
What’s changing?
The most significant changes at this year’s event involve a reduction in grandstands and suites in favor of open spaces, closer views, and fan-friendly zones. A couple weeks ago we talked about this as a way to build excitement on the Tour and help broadcast partners like CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Golf Channel put together a better product.
By now we’ve all heard about the ratings success that the Tour has experience since Pebble Beach.
Here’s what’s changed at Palm Beach Gardens:
- The Bear Trap (holes 15-17) now features fewer grandstands and more open viewing areas, giving spectators a clearer, more interactive vantage point.
- The 18th hole has been significantly modified, with over 1,000 seats removed, allowing for a more natural, roped-off spectator experience.
- The driving range fence has been removed, letting fans watch players warm up immediately after entering the course.
- New fan villages have been added, ensuring multiple areas for fans to gather, eat, and socialize.
- The Yellow Flamingo Club, a high-end hospitality venue inspired by Jack Nicklaus, introduces an upgraded VIP experience while tying into local golf history.
The goal here is simple: Improve the fan experience for people on-site, and perhaps make the product more visually appealing on TV. If it’s also less-expensive to produce, then that’s an obvious win here, too.
A testing ground for the PGA Tour?
The PGA Tour’s Championship Management Division oversees several events on the schedule. We’re talking about THE PLAYERS, The Tour Championship, St. Jude Championship, and Sentry. The Cognizant Classic isn’t close to any of those events, so it’s an ideal testing ground for new concepts without the risk of alienating large crowds or high-profile sponsors.
What does this mean for future PGA Tour events?
If the open-space, fan-centric model at the Cognizant Classic proves successful, other mid-tier PGA Tour events may follow suit. Scaling back on unnecessary infrastructure, incorporating more immersive viewing areas, and integrating localized experiences could become the new standard for non-Signature Events.
For me, all of this harkens back to the old black-and-white videos of 1960s-era professional golf. Fans were close to the greens, it was as cozy as it was interactive, and while times have certainly changed so that bringing fans that close isn’t an option—this serves as something of a middle-ground.
All told, we could be at a point now where The Cognizant could be a blueprint for the future of the PGA Tour experience.
- Click here if you want to check out the full-field of the 2025 Cognizant Classic. It’s one of the few traditional event structures left on the PGA Tour schedule.
