The PGA Tour logo has been the same for decades, going back to 1982, when it was unveiled to coincide with the first version of The Players Championship played at TPC Sawgrass.
The logo features the wordmark of the PGA Tour and the silhouette of a golfer. For years, golf fans have asked who the golfer is in the silhouette. Is it Arnold Palmer? Is it Jack Nicklaus? Maybe Ben Hogan or Byron Nelson?
As it turns out, the answer is none of those players. That’s because the PGA Tour logo features the silhouette of no particular player. The silhouette is just of a generic male golfer in the follow-through position of the golf swing. That’s it.
The PGA Tour logo is not like that of the NBA (National Basketball Association), which features the silhouette of an actual former NBA player, Jerry West. West is referred to as “The Logo” for his nickname for that reason. But the PGA Tour has no such golfer.
When Arnold Palmer died in 2016, there was a brief movement to convince the PGA Tour to change its logo to reflect Palmer’s swing in the silhouette. It can be argued there’s been no more important player to the PGA Tour than Palmer, who was also instrumental in forming the PGA Tour as we know it and separating the Tour off from the PGA of America.
Nicklaus was the Tour’s greatest champion of the television era until Tiger Woods came along, and perhaps one day, the Tour will modify its logo to reflect those players’ swings.
For now, though, the PGA Tour logo — and its font — are tried and true, and they’re not expected to change anytime soon in deference to any particular player. After all, the Tour moves forward through each era with new players and stars, adding to the Tour’s history.
