ESPN please get rid of...

[Clubswinger21]

Anyone else find the live scoring tool bar annoying as hell. I dont need to see the top 15 scoring leaders over 5 straight hours of coverage. I wanna see an update on all players in the field, maybe every half hour.

I have nothing against Curtis Strange as a player, but his heavy southern accent isnt suited for broadcasting, and stating things i already know 6 or 7 times in row.. like "Remember, Phil Mickelson is using a 3 wood bent like a 2 wood instead of driver" or "Remember its a US open, you have to find the fairway" or "Remember, the rough is longer because its a US open" can get really annoying. After watching him cover 3 hours i was releaved to hear Gary Koch's voice.. Curtis Strange makes him sound like a Genius.

[egehoski]

Anyone else find the live scoring tool bar annoying as hell. I dont need to see the top 15 scoring leaders over 5 straight hours of coverage. I wanna see an update on all players in the field, maybe every half hour.

I'm not an overly huge fan of Curtis Strange, but you're slamming him for his "heavy" southern accent?? Come on. I guess you'd rather listen to Faldo laugh at himself all day saying things that are only funny to himself with his own "heavy" accent? What is the correct accent 'eh?

Anyway, I agree about the explaining things over and over thing. But you have to remember, they have to cater to the average guy that might not know it all. They already know we are going to watch no matter what. But I think that they do that, so the avg channel flipper might catch on.

[hawkeye]

Took a while to get used to the toolbar - It's pretty much there for the Tiger & Phil (only) fans which ESPN is trying to promote (hence the "ultimate 3-ball").

I quite like it in real time - Westwood holes a birdie putt, the ticker changes instantly. You see the score he was, is and new and old position.

As for Mr. Strange - I don't envy you. A great champion though. We have Butch Harmon, Peter Oosterhuas and Ewan Murray - 3 of the best commentators out there.

Still have the ESPN pictures though....it's the Tiger and Phil show.

[iacas]

I have nothing against Curtis Strange as a player, but his heavy southern accent isnt suited for broadcasting, and stating things i already know 6 or 7 times in row.. like "Remember, Phil Mickelson is using a 3 wood bent like a 2 wood instead of driver" or "Remember its a US open, you have to find the fairway" or "Remember, the rough is longer because its a US open" can get really annoying. After watching him cover 3 hours i was releaved to hear Gary Koch's voice.. Curtis Strange makes him sound like a Genius.

Not everyone knows these things. They were just talking in the post-game show about Saturday's coverage, and they said that "we have to be careful as announcers, because more people who aren't necessarily golfers will watch, and they won't know what "Q-School" is and things like that." It's true.

I didn't find Curtis to be overly annoying. He didn't repeat the things you listed too frequently, and most of the times he might have said "you have to find the fairway" he was being critical of Phil. I'll take Curtis over Gary any day. You want to complain about repetition and yet you like Gary Koch? All I can think of when I think of Gary Koch is a whiny voice repeating "will it stay...? will it staayyy..??? will it staaaaayyyyy????"

[Alex B]

Anyone else find the live scoring tool bar annoying as hell. I dont need to see the top 15 scoring leaders over 5 straight hours of coverage. I wanna see an update on all players in the field, maybe every half hour.

My problem with Curtis Strange is that he is stuck in the past. On Thursday, when someone hit a ball deep into the trees, he commented (this is all paraphrased from my memory), "I can't believe someone could hit a ball that far off line." Another talking head pointed out, "Well, their trying to hit the ball as far as they can, and that will happen," to which Curtis replied, "But how can they mishit a ball that badly?" The talking head replied, "It's the game they play today." Curtis sadly whispered, "I know..."

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Anyone else find the live scoring tool bar annoying as hell. I dont need to see the top 15 scoring leaders over 5 straight hours of coverage. I wanna see an update on all players in the field, maybe every half hour.

I thought ESPN was fine. At first I thought the scoring ticker was a bit weird with the group scoring then top 15 scoring but that was easy to get used to. Strange is OK, I'll agree he isn't the greatest announcer but I actually liked listenening to him. I guess I just needed a break from Nick Faldo. Now as far as Chris Berman....

Honestly I think ESPN is getting bashed a bit too much on here. They really weren't that bad. One thing I was confused on is Phil's 3 wood. Is it bent strong or not? I thought Phil said it was is "regular" 3 wood loft but Andy North I think was talking about it being bent to an 11 wood.

I'm not an overly huge fan of Curtis Strange, but you're slamming him for his "heavy" southern accent?? Come on. I guess you'd rather listen to Faldo laugh at himself all day saying things that are only funny to himself with his own "heavy" accent? What is the correct accent 'eh?

lol. good call.

All I can think of when I think of Gary Koch is a whiny voice repeating "will it stay...? will it staayyy..??? will it staaaaayyyyy????"

Wasn't he the "better than most" guy too? That's all I can think about when it comes to him.

[CG031]

Get rid of that dumb leaderbar at the top, and Chris Berman and they are set! I don't really like Karl Ravech for golf either.

[Thrash13]

I actually enjoyed the leaderboard scrolling across the top. When they showed a particular golfer hitting their shot/putt, they flashed the scores of the entire group across the top. I enjoyed seeing that because it was easier to keep up with the entire field that way. I definitely found myself looking at it quite a bit.

As for Curtis Strange, he was definitely better than some. I never had a problem with him in the past, and I still don't. Hell, Chris Berman wasn't even too bad because he wasn't on very much. The only ESPN guy that seemed lost was Karl Ravech, but he doesn't cover golf much. It really wasn't his fault they stuck him out on the West Coast for the U.S. Open. He is a baseball guy.

Overall, the coverage has been pretty solid so far. The U.S. Open Extra stuff was pretty boring, but at least we got those extra two hours per day. I won't complain much about extra golf.

[gogolfing]

The tool bar was annoying at first but I got used to it. I actually liked hearing Strange again after being off the air for a while.

As for Chris Berman, they have to get him off golf telecasts. He was the one thing that had me reaching for fast forward on the DVR remote.

[Scratch-Hopeful]

I actually didn't mind the scroll bar in their coverage. I guess I liked how it would show how all three golfers in the groups were doing when covering specific groups but yeah I did miss the big overall leaderboard. And I don't know what you guys are talking about, Chris Berman is a GREAT golf announcer. Where else would you get to listen to an overrated hype machine apply worn out cliches to a sport he probably rarely plays and watches even less. It was almost as enjoyable as listening to Jim Brown call the NCAA Tournament a few years ago (if anyone remembers that...).


Yeah, the Berman part was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell.

[Avid Golfer]

I'll take Curtis over Gary any day. You want to complain about repetition and yet you like Gary Koch? All I can think of when I think of Gary Koch is a whiny voice repeating "will it stay...? will it staayyy..??? will it staaaaayyyyy????"

I find Gary Koch's continual repetition of the same phrases over and over again very annoying too. Add to that most of what he says is pointless babble that has no significance in the first place. I've found all of the announcers to be of poor quality this week, but by far Koch is the worst.

ESPN also has done a poor job in their choosing of what to show from a video standpoint. For example Appleby was leading most of Friday and as far as I recall they didn't show him hit a tee shot on any of the par 4s or 5s until the final hole. Instead they waste time showing Woods picking his nose, and doing other things that have no relation to golf (when they could have been showing golf shots instead).

[Lange]

Anyone else find the live scoring tool bar annoying as hell. I dont need to see the top 15 scoring leaders over 5 straight hours of coverage. I wanna see an update on all players in the field, maybe every half hour.

The live scoring tool is so people who just tune into the channel can find the scores and if they are in a rush they can see where everyone is at and then do whatever it is they have to do. I aggre it's annoying but gotta remember there's others who may have to run out the door though they really just wanna watch to. There basically just thinking of them for the most part.

[Dent]

Man I hate that thing, as soon as i Turned on ESPN I said "get that fricken thing off the T.V" and then occasionally they have that little extra drop down bar that comes down even further when it says "For Birdie" or something.

[MrKadash]

Strange is OK, I have no preference. Berman, meanwhile, is the Legend of Bristol, so they're going to let him do what he wants.

[Clubswinger21]

Not everyone knows these things. They were just talking in the post-game show about Saturday's coverage, and they said that "we have to be careful as announcers, because more people who aren't necessarily golfers will watch, and they won't know what "Q-School" is and things like that." It's true.

I never said i like Gary Koch, I was just comparing 2 awful announcers. It comes down to preference really. In majors you really get to hear Gary Koch's genius at work because of all the shelves and runs offs. "Dotty.. will it stayyyyyy... no, no it wont." I know its annoying as hell but IMO Curtis Strange was the more annoying of the 2.

I agree with everyone else that Chris Berman has to go aswell.. he sounds like George Carlin. In last months Maxim, there was an artical on the top 10 worst sports announcers of all time.. Chris Berman managed pull out the #1 spot, not that that mag has any relevance, but its still funny. And say what you want about the tool bar, it takes up 1/8 of my 32" LCD screen. Thats 1/8 less full HD golf i get to see. Have it pop every 20 minutes but not for a full 6 hour broadcast.

[TheGolfingDetective]

Give me Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo in the tower, and Feherty walking the course, and I'd be in heaven.

Any comments on Peter Jacobsen? I don't even remember much of what he had to say, which can't be good.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Any comments on Peter Jacobsen? I don't even remember much of what he had to say, which can't be good.

I don't recall seeing a lot of him. He and Strange were recapping some early play but I don't remember much else.