Apple TV+ Tees Up Stick Amid a Real-Life Golf Boom

Apple TV+ is aiming for a hole-in-one with its latest sports series.

This week, the streaming service premiered Stick, a new sports comedy starring Owen Wilson and Peter Dager. The show follows Wilson as Pryce Cahill, a retired golf superstar whose career was derailed by a tournament meltdown, as he returns to the course to mentor a teenage phenom played by Dager.

According to showrunner Jason Keller, the inspiration for Wilson’s character came from his own father, who had a short career as a professional athlete in a different sport: baseball.

“That was the origin point of this character,” Keller told ADWEEK. “I wondered what it was like to be great at something, do it, and what’s that like 25 years after the fact.”

This isn’t the first time Apple TV+ has gone for a hit with a feel-good comedy series centered on a specific sport. After the soccer comedy series Ted Lasso starring Jason Sudeikis premiered in 2020, some experts believe it boosted the sport’s popularity in the United States.

This time around, the show’s premiere coincides with a period when golf has experienced a boom itself, and Keller said he has noticed the growth in the sport, especially after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“Golf is having a moment right now,” Keller said. “It’s a more diverse sport. Now, we’re seeing more women playing golf. Younger people are playing golf. That old idea of golf is starting to move to something more exciting and young.”

According to the National Golf Foundation, the sport has an estimated reach of 138 million, with more than one-third of the U.S. population over the age of 5 having played it (on-course or off-course), followed golf on TV or online, read about the sport, or even listened to a golf-related podcast in the last year, up 45% since 2016.

Leagues like TGL have gained popularity among more diverse demographics interested in golf in more nontraditional golf settings. According to research from TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, though women (28%) and people of color (25%) remain underrepresented on U.S. golf courses, women accounted for 43% of all golfers at “off-course” facilities, while Black, Hispanic, and Asian golfers represented 45%.

Swinging for accuracy

Although the show is fictional, it features real-life golf elements, including appearances by golfers such as Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, Max Homa, and Wyndham Clark; broadcasters Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman; and golf enthusiast Dan Rapaport.

Keller said they even hired golf consultants to teach Wilson and the other actors how to golf, making the show’s atmosphere as accurate as possible.

“It was very important for us to get golf right,” Keller said. “We wanted golf enthusiasts and fanatics to watch our show and feel that we took the time to render that sport authentically. There was never a time when a professional golfer was not involved in this show.”

Guymon Casady, founding partner of Entertainment360 and executive producer of Stick, said one of the things he’s especially proud of is that even though the show is golf-centric, the point of view is still from the perspective of outsiders.

“It’s everyman, so they’re not all insiders or part of the country club establishment,” Casady said. “It speaks to the democratization of the sport and how accessible the sport has become for a broader group of people.”

What this means for advertisers

Like many sports, golf attracts numerous brands and sponsorships. The PGA Tournament has worked with brands like Anheuser-Busch, Nike, Rolex, Callaway, and TaylorMade, while TGL has secured partnerships with Best Buy, Genesis, MasterCard, FedEx, Monster, Samsung, KPMG, and Levelwear.

On the show, brands like DraftKings, Five9, Burns & Wilcox, ADP, and more show up on characters’ golf shirts, hats, and equipment.

Ben Silverman, co-CEO and chairman of production company Propagate, who also is an executive producer of Stick, said he’s confident advertisers will want to become more involved with the show as it goes on—especially since the series is for a wider audience that encompasses sports and non-sports fans, adults, and families alike.

“In the golf world, there are so many advertisers who are going to watch this show and raise their hand to try and figure out how they can be involved in the next season because it’s four quadrant,” Silverman said. “It’s warm, it’s emotional—it’s for all of us to watch together with any of our peers.”

Silverman said he feels like the timing of the show is on the money, especially as golf becomes prominent on social media as well. In fact, there’s even a #golftok hashtag on TikTok.

“We’re watching this explosion of golf brands—and as those golf brands now migrate into athleisure brands, you’re finding so much youth participation in golf, especially with what’s happened on social media with the explosion of these golf influencers drawing in a whole new audience to the sport,” Silverman said. “Our timing is perfect on tapping into the excitement and interest inside the game of golf that you’re already seeing represented in the mainstream.”

The first three episodes of Stick Season 1 premiere on June 4, 2025, on Apple TV+, with new episodes airing every Wednesday.