Golf Channel’s new morning show features a longtime golf TV 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 of golf hasn’t been short of developments in the world of golf, but one of the most notable has arrived each morning on the Golf Channel, where a brand new studio show has entered the network’s morning primetime airwaves: 5 clubs.

If the name sounds familiar… it should! “5 Clubs” is the name of the new studio show and the production company that owns it – a show that has been running in other forms for several years in to YouTube and SiriusXM. Gary Williams is the show’s longtime host, a veteran TV sportsman whose resume includes a long stint as morning studio host on the … Golf Channel!

To put it a little more plainly: Yes, Williams is back in the fold at Golf Channel in ’25 after leaving the network in 2020 at the end of his long-running morning show, Morning trip. His new role will look … much like his old one, bringing golf news and insight to viewers of the sports’ dedicated cable network 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 offsite from the network’s Stamford headquarters.

5 clubs marks the latest in a growing trend of studio shows being acquired as turnkey production assets by cable networks. While the Golf Channel deal isn’t nearly as comprehensive as the ESPN deal with Pat McAfeeboth deals share the same kind 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),” Williams said in an interview with Terrible announcement. He said, ‘Look, let me just say this. And you can stop me and say I’m not interested. But what would you think of The 5 Clubs being the morning show on the Golf Channel in January 2025?’ I felt like saying, ‘Why did you think my reaction would be anything other than excitement and enthusiasm?’ Which it definitely was.”

Although Williams has a say in the shape and editorial voice of the show, he said he relies on Golf Channel’s editorial 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 like we’re a satellite on an autonomous island that we are,” Williams said. “I’m the executive producer of the show, but I want the collaboration. I have a lot of respect for the people who have been running the programming side plus the player relations side. My communication with them will be ongoing.”

Of course, it’s strange for Williams to return to the Golf Channel after so much of his career was spent on the front lines, and so much of the last half-decade seemed to send the two sides in opposite directions.

But sometimes you have to look back to move forward.

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

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