Comments on: Network TV Golf Coverage

By: Al Morris

Al Morris — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:38:21 +0000

I have been watching the tour pros continue to take the flag out of the hole when they are off the green. This tactic is contrary to the information presented by Dave Pelz in his short game book. His stastical analysis is based on extensive impirical research and is backed up by attentive observation of golf balls hitting the pin at various speeds. It is unquestionable advantageous to leave the pin in in almost all situations. I have observed that every golf announcer enorses the pulled pin policy. Is there some reason that the best players in the world are allowing myth to supersede reality?

By: cbe_golfer

cbe_golfer — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:52:04 +0000

Wow!.
I have no idea how I missed out on reading this article much earlier.
The putting analysis was real good. 95 putts on a sunday is statistically good enough for me. Now I think I started missing many putts high after getting that bit of rubbish in my head. I can't count how many times I have missed high playing imagined breaks on short uphill putts lately. Thanks Erik.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:57:21 +0000

Great analysis! Next time why not add a count of how many times we get to see the rear end of a player as he or she bends over to take the ball out of the whole. What's with that?

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:49:38 +0000

I think its fun to watch how quickly they kill off most players from coverage on a Sunday.

Sure we don't want to see anyone collapse (unless its a certain frenchman) but it seems after a bad hole they give up on players pretty easily and bury them quickly.

I always enjoy on a Sunday when someone is killed off in the first few holes to make a comeback and suddenly on 16 they are alive and back in it.

I wonder what the coverage rule is for SOTLNTOP's (shots off the lead not Tiger or Phil) and what algorithm they use to determine who can becomes a zombie and visit us late in coverage from beyond.

I'm sure there is a formula.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:58:57 +0000

Nice Report. When i watch golf i want to see less tiger, less tap ins, i want to see the players in contention, and good shots. however, on cbs i really enjoy the swing vision camera, it is really cool watching those beautiful swings in slow motion.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:02:16 +0000

Wonderful analysis.

It is interesting that 20% of the televised golf shots were of Tiger. It feels like it is closer to 50%. The only other statistic I am curious about is Tiger's screen time over the course of a broadcast.... I wonder if you logged that as well? It seems like we wind up watching Tiger smile after good shots, grimace after bad shots, read putts, towel off his forehead, drink bottled water, etc. far more than any other player. Most of the time he is in contention so I understand it, but this weekend I couldn't help wonder who else's shot I might be missing because I was watching Tiger stroll down the fairway while Jim Nantz went on and on about how good he was.

If I had to guess I would say the typical broadcast breaks down to about 30% commercials (as you illustrated), 30% Tiger, and 40% everyone else. The percentage would be even higher if you accounted for the fact that most of the commercials feature Tiger too!

By: Mikeland

Mikeland — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:29:47 +0000

Nice report.

I'm digusted with all the commercials, blabbering, and other antics during golf coverage...you'd think The Golf Channel would do a little better job of showing more golf...but they are just as bad. As Tom pointed out, TV is a "for-profit" business...

The best thing that's come along is DVR technology.

By: moree golfer

moree golfer — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:54:30 +0000

I think the endless shots of a water hazard and the like are the fault of Aussie Fox Sports as TGC/CBS would be showing an ad at that time. I am another avid fan who gets annoyed when you know there is an Aussie creeping up the leaderboard without a shot of theirs being shown.

By: Rookie

Rookie — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:27:55 +0000

As Jonno said, as an Aussie trying to keep up with our guys playing it is nigh on impossible. Many times thios year, there has been an Aussie in contention but we never see a single shot played even though the players are paired with Tiger or Phil Mickelson.

In the first round of the AT&T last week. I was watching the leaderboards and noticed Stuart Appleby had made three birds in a row to be equal leader, but saw none of it. Now I love watching Tiger play and would like to see him any time but when drama is building at the pointy end of the field, it would be great to concentrate on that.

Also, I have seen enough flowers, plants and lakes. We get to see endless shots of these but not enough golf!!

By: tglover44

tglover44 — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:52:50 +0000

God bless you my man for enduring through that tedious task Sunday. I knew that lots of opportunity existed for improvement of golf on TV, from any network, but I had no idea it was this bad.

Tim