PGA Tour Superstore Swings Through the Years for Father's Day

A middle-aged man who’s played countless rounds of golf with his dad through the years discovers a box of old scorecards in the garage. These trigger cherished memories of days on the links in a sweet Father’s Day tale from the PGA Tour Superstore.

Set in the 1970s, early ’90s and 2021, the 90-second ad boasts impressive period detail, and its narrative transcends the game to explore how sports and shared interests enhance the bond between parents and children.

Here’s a 90-second extended cut, a version of which will run this week during NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open:

The schoolboy (Ben Savage) and young adult (Thomas Clark) are the real-life grandson and son, respectively, of lead actor Tom Clark, who finds the scorecards.

The elder Clark often played golf with his dad (who passed away a few years ago), and he saved scorecards from their outings. “So it was no stretch for him to get emotional about the flood of memories that the cards brought back,” recalls Charlie Andrews, creative director at Tombras, which developed the campaign with Greenpoint Pictures directors Michael Kuhn and Niles Roth.

“Hopefully, when viewers see this on Father’s Day, it will remind them to not take any time spent with their dads for granted,” Andrews says. “It’s about these moments you got to share as a father and son. Golf is just a vehicle.”

It’s an evocative, suitably sentimental story that makes good use of bygone vehicles, fashions and styles—nice ‘stache, ’70s Dad!—with PGA Superstore branding kept to an admirable minimum.

“We have to work hard to connect with consumers to differentiate the brand,” agency president Dooley Tombras tells Muse. “This is a passion sport, but so often in sports marketing the focus is on the effort, the challenge and the glory of victory. Which are all fine and well, but we wanted to do something different and found an opportunity in the relationships built around the game. Golf is unique in that it’s a  family-oriented sport, so Father’s Day is a great moment for brand storytelling from a connections standpoint.”

The approach mirrors several recent initiatives that explore the experience of sports, as opposed to outcomes. Nike’s global “Play New” campaign provides the prime example, with Allianz and Betsson fielding similar themes.

Such stuff seems in step with a world still reeling from the pandemic. Opportunities to play, share and grow as humans beings can take on special significance these days, with wins and losses ultimately consigned to the dusty shelves of memory.

CREDITS

PGA TOUR Superstore
CEO/President: Dick Sullivan
CMO: Jill Thomas
Brand Manager: Phil Oliphant

Tombras
Chief Creative Officer: Jeff Benjamin
President: Dooley Tombras
Creative Director/Writer: Charlie Andrews
Creative Director/Art Direction: Rick Baptist
Art Director: Keith Thomason
Business Affairs: Denice Heyward
Group Account Director: Chris Randall
Account Executive: Will Watkins

Production Partners
Production Company: Greenpoint Pictures
Directors: Michael Kuhn and Niles Roth
Executive Producer: Tatiana Rudzinski
Producer: Luke Stevens
Edit: Elastic Pictures
Music: Auralation
Sound: NPall