If you’re a golfer and haven’t attended the Grass League yet, you’re not alone – but you’re running out of excuses. The 2026 season starts April 24 in Tempe, Ariz., and if this thing keeps growing the way it has, you’ll wish you had gotten in earlier.
Let me back up.
It starts with the grass
There is one concept in golf that doesn’t get enough credit and it starts with the people who make it all possible. Grass clippings. Freeway conditions. The people who are there at 4am so that your Sunday round plays perfectly.
Growing up in and around the game, I probably had more friends in course maintenance than course operations. There is a specific type of golfer who gets it. Who realizes that love for the game starts at ground level, literally. If that’s you, there’s a good chance Bar League concept it will resonate very quickly.
So what exactly is Grass League?
With alternate tournaments, content leagues, simulator events and celebrity fights multiplying by the year, it’s right to be a little confused. Let me break it down:
- It’s a real professional league: Not an impactful fight or single exposition. The Grass League has 11 franchises representing US markets, including Dallas, LA, New York, Phoenix, San Diego, Minnesota, Michigan, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, Tampa Bay and Hollywood, with contracted teams, a $100.00 prize purse and a television deal with the Golf Channel.
- The format is par-3 scramble: Two-player squads playing a skirmish.
- Played under the lights: The home venue, Grass Clippings Rolling Hills in Tempe, is a floodlit par-3 course with a hilltop bar, food trucks, live music and a crowd that looks more like a concert than a golf gallery.
- The season has three major championship events: Grass Clippings Open (April), Summer Grind at Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, California, (September) and the GL Championship again in Tempe (December) plus a Match Play Series throughout the year.
- Anyone can qualify: 17 years and older, no handicap restrictions. You earn your way in, get drafted by a franchise, and suddenly you’re playing alongside PGA Tour veterans in front of several thousand fans. That part is true.
Five minutes with Pete Wilson will do that for you
I had a chance to sit down with co-founder Pete Wilson to talk about what’s happening with the league heading into 2026, and here’s what I’ll say: his energy is contagious in the best possible way. This is a guy who clearly loves what he’s building and has no shame about it. By the end of the conversation, I was half ready to start seriously working on my par-3 game.
What Wilson described for the players in the Grass League will excite any great player, golf fan or former professional. These are players like Ryan Ruffels, Colt Knost, Jennifer Song and Charlie Beljan. They are veterans of the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour who can play smoothly, but who perhaps never hit the right stage at the right time. The Bar League is that stage.
But the best part? You don’t have to be someone the golf world already knows. If you can play and score, the Grass League would love to have you.
Why the par-3 is the perfect battlefield
The par-3 levels the playing field in a way that no other format really does.
On a par-4 or par-5, you have margin for error. A car slightly out of line can still find its way through. A piecemeal approach can still leave a manageable chip. A par-3 gives you none of that. One shot to get it close, one shot to finish it (if you want to compete).
Last year, I passed some data on points and numbers confirm par-3 it is statistically the most difficult hole to rate. Play it like a scrimmage and you’ve found a format that rewards short game excellence, nerve and hitting.
Grass League is good golf condensed into something that works on television, works live, and works for people who have never seen a tournament in their lives.
More to come
If I’ve done nothing else here, I hope I’ve at least made you curious. Pete Wilson’s enthusiasm is infectious and I hope some of it comes across to you on screen.
We’ll be back with more Grass League content as the season rolls around. In fact, we have three teams of MyGolfSpy staff members we’ll dig the players, the stories, and, yes, we’ll dig into the gear, because that’s our thing.
The lights come on April 24. Trust me, it’s worth watching. (Tickets can be purchased here.)
