Sports spectatorship theories and spectator views of the LPGA golf product.

Abstract

The focus of this study was on determining which reasons for attending a golf event influenced spectator's decisions to attend the LPGA DuMaurier Classic 'major' golf event as well as to determine what, if any, sport spectatorship theories could be used to explain golf spectatorship. A questionnaire comprised of a demographic section and 27 attendance reasons was completed by 957 spectators using the spectator intercept method. It was predicted that Entertainment theories would best explain golf spectatorship. It was hypothesized that to see the finesse of shotmaking, to see live action and to see the best perform would be in the top ten reasons of the total sample, as it was in previous studies; and that male and female spectators, the four categories of golf playing frequency spectators, and weekday and weekend spectators would focus on different aspects of the golf spectating experience. All four hypotheses were supported by the results of the analyses. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)