Michigan Golf Journal April 2020

By Tom Lang Michigan Golf Journal Life After Golf Channel In the media business it’s pretty rare for a small market TV sports anchor to leapfrog the big city markets and go directly to a cable TV behemoth like The Golf Channel, but golf enthusiast Kraig Kann got a bit of a break and took full advantage of the ride. Kann is a Chicago native that spent 4 years at WKZO-TV Chan. 3 in Kalamazoo before 16 years at The Golf Channel as an anchor and storyteller of some of the biggest events and players in the game. After The Golf Channel, he led the communications team for the LPGA Tour for six more years before launching his own motivational and branding company in late 2016 – Kann Advisory Group. “I’ll never forget they flew me down to Florida first- class, then flew me back coach; and I remember sitting on that plane thinking that didn’t go very well,” Kann said with a laugh about the first TGC job interview. “But they offered me the job and I was blown away by the opportunity. I did think it had the potential to become something big because Arnold Palmer’s name was attached to it.” Speed of Play: Kann believes that the PGA Tour is in the driver’s seat to make a difference with pace of play issues that have plagued the game the past several years. He said, however, that course set ups are a speed- of-play factor that players cannot control. “I think there is no organization that can better make a statement about pace of play – positive or negative – than the PGA Tour, because that’s what people pay the most attention to,” Kann said. “As the game evolves and they try to adapt golf courses to be able to keep up with the athlete today, they’ve got to make green speeds faster, and do certain things with the set up (like height of rough, width of fairways) that forces guys to take more time. That’s the issue. The PGA Tour is definitely the barometer and definitely the place that you would Former Golf Channel Commentator Kraig Kann From West Michigan TV sports to the national stage