Swing Thought Tour

The SwingThought Tour (aka "ST Tour") is a developmental professional golf tour in the United States with a specific mission to develop & advance golf by delivering more access to golfers, courses & communities. The developmental tour system includes two distinct "series", The flagship series being the "National Series", which includes approximately 20 72-hole events that include pro-ams, near Monday Qualifiers for the PGA and Web.com Tours. The "State Series" is typically one- or two-day events located around various state hubs throughout the U.S.

In 2015, the SwingThought Tour was formed by Golf Interact, LLC which a privately held company of investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders and is led by Founder Michael Rush, a professional golfer and entrepreneur.

In 2017 SwingThought Tour announced the launch of "The 44 Race" which is a $2,000 cash prize awarded to the top 44 players each on the SwingThought Tour at end of the race in November. Making SwingThought Tour the leading sponsor for developmental golfers in the united states and a clear path of support for players towards the next level. In 2018 SwingThought Tour is extending this offering to "The 44 Series & Race" where the top 44 end of the year points leaders will each receive $4400 cash sponsorship from the tour and its partners. Further 2018 announcements related to the new 44 Series & race will be released in the fall of 2017. The main offering which spans across the various series is said to change the way golfers, courses & communities come together and generate greater value for themselves and the whole which is mission of the SwingThought Tour.

The SwingThought Tour is the third largest tour in the US after the PGA and Web.Com Tours. In 2015 the SwingThought Tour produced 89 players out of the 150 that advanced to the Web.com Tour. In 2016 a similar result with over 80 SwingThought Tour players advancing to earn their Web.com Tour cards for 2017. On average over 40% of PGA Tour and 55% of Web.com Tour fields are SwingThought Tour alumni.Two men's pro golf tours based in the United States have paid out more in prize money than the SwingThought Tour. The richest competition is in the highest-paying PGA Tour. The second-tier Web.com Tour offers prizes smaller than the PGA Tour but attracts many up-and-coming golfers trying to obtain their PGA Tour cards.

Unlike the PGA Tour and Web.Com Tour, for which prize funds are provided by sponsors, the bulk of the prize fund paid out in SwingThought Tour events comes from player entry fees and sponsorship revenues. Similar to poker tournaments, players are competing to win back their entry fees (and the entry fees from others). However, thanks in part to sponsorship, the SwingThought Tour players actually play for over 100% of their entry fees in some events, while other developmental tours typically pay back only 65%-90% of entry fees. Additional purse bonuses and prize related offerings, such as "ST Points" which are like credit card points or cash back, are typical on the SwingThought Tour. SwingThought Tour is shifting the focus from purse driven marketing efforts of old below the PGA Tour system to develop and advance support offerings such as The 44 Series & Race with the goal of attracting more golfers, courses & community involvement to net the result of larger purses in addition to the core tour offerings.

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