Golf Channel’s new morning show features TV’s longest-running golf face

It’s the start of a brand new golf season – and that includes the people responsible for bringing golf television to life.

The new year in golf has brought no shortage of developments in the world of golf, but one of the most notable came each morning on the Golf Channel, when a new studio show entered the network’s morning airwaves: 5 Groups.

If the name sounds familiar to you… it should! “5 Clubs” is the name of both the studio’s new show and the production company it owns — a show that has been running for several years in alternate forms on YouTube and SiriusXM. Gary Williams is a long-time host, a veteran of sports TV who started off with a long stint as morning studio host on the… Golf Channel!

To put it more clearly: Yes, Williams is back on the Golf Channel in ’25 after leaving the network in 2020 at the end of his long-running morning show, Morning Drive. His new role will look … very similar to his old one, which brought golf news and insight to viewers of the cable network dedicated to the sport for several hours every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. This time, however, Williams will also serve as executive producer of the show, which will be produced off-site at the network’s Stamford HQ.

5 Groups marks the latest in a growing trend of studio shows being bought as turnkey production assets by cable networks. Although Golf Channel’s programming isn’t nearly as comprehensive as ESPN’s deal with it Pat McAfeethese two protocols share the same type of DNA in this way.

“It started with a phone call two weeks after the Masters with Tom Knapp (EVP of programming at Golf Channel),” said Williams in an interview with. Bad publicity. “He said, ‘Look, let me say this. And you can stop me and say I’m not interested. But what would you think about 5 Clubs as a morning show on the Golf Channel in January 2025?’ I felt like, ‘Why did you think my reaction would be anything other than excitement and enthusiasm?’ Obviously that was the case.”

Although Williams maintains the editorial voice and voice of the show, he said he relies on Golf Channel’s programming expertise, particularly Knapp and Golf Channel executive producer Matt Hegarty, to bring color and texture to the show.

“I don’t want them to feel like they’re looking at us as a satellite on a self-governing island, which we are,” Williams said. cooperation. I have a lot of respect for the people in charge of the programming side and the player side. My communication with them will be the same. “

Of course, it’s ironic that Williams is returning to the Golf Channel after most of his career has been spent up front, and much of the past decade has seemed to send the two sides in different directions.

But sometimes you have to look back to go forward.

And when you’re the Golf Channel, sometimes looking back is the easiest thing to do.

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