US PGA Tour vs. European Tour TV Coverage

[longfornothing]

Euro Tour coverage offers a broader look at the entire field, rather than droning on and on about the "headliners" in the field. A much better approach, IMO........... only wish we could get away from the Viagra (et al...) commercials that seem to be The Golf Channels major funding source.

Who watches commercials? Step into the 21st century and get a DVR/TiVo.

[Jebrit411]

Are you out of your mind? I am an american who moved to the UK over 4 years ago. I suffer every Saturday and Sunday eve over the most boring announcers talking the same trash week in and week out. Bashing Tiger at every turn. Nothing but how great it is to have Lee Westwood number one in the world.........blah blah blah b;ah b;ah! What are they going to talk about when Tiger regains the crown? I have never witnessed coverage that allows players on the course to play three holes before coverage resumes. The channel is US PGA TOUR GOLF not ENGLISH TWATS TALKING TRASH!!!! More golf less opinionated CRAP!!!!!!!!!!

[Texian]

I've got to agree and disagree.

I like the European coverage too, for a lot of the reasons already mentioned. But I really got annoyed at Sunday's coverage of the final round of the Dubai, which was about as exciting as a non-major gets. I like Alvaro Quiros to begin with (don't we all like the big hitters) and he was spectacular. Triple bogey on one hole after getting his ball stuck in a palm tree and an ace a couple of holes later. Going for the green on a short par 4. Hitting driver on 18 with a one-stroke lead "almost into the TV compound."

"He's always so good to watch," one of the commentators said after he had won. Only problem was, we didn't get to "watch" some of the most key shots.

For some reason, and I don't know if it was lack of cameras or poor directing, they didn't show two of his key drives down the stretch. And driving with Seve-like abandon is why I like to watch him. Then when he hit it "almost into the TV compound" on 18 the next time we see him is in the middle of the fairway, hitting his third shot.

I guess the best thing about the European coverage is seeing courses in places I'll never visit and courses I've never seen before, whereas most in the U. S. have been on TV a lot.

As for golfers on the U. S. tour being better, the Europeans have been kicking our butts pretty well every other year for most of the last few Ryder Cups. The field in the Dubai tournament was twice as strong as the one at Pebble Beach.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Two words describe the difference for me:

Less cheese.

[Aquaguru]

The euro tour is more simple and easier to follow.  But they do not have HD and I don't like the lighting they have, it always seems dark and gloomy.  The US PGA is much more exciting to watch even when the big names are not in the field.  The only problem that the US coverage has is the announcers.  They are obnoxious and try to hard to make sly jokes and humor.

[Texian]

Faldo, Feherty, McCord, Miller, Nantz and Tilghman are all good to great, although a bit short of the best ever, Henry Longhurst, and "Yes sir," Verne Lundquist.

A digression. Lundquist had the best comment I've ever heard on a telecast of any kind. Once in a pro football game, Kevin Faulk was hit hard and looked woozy as he staggered off the field.

Lundquist:

"The good news--Kevin Faulk is walking off the field under his own power. The bad news--he thinks he's Marshall Faulk."

[SoCal Blade]

Most of the announcers with the exception of jim nance are fine....... nance pours it on SO THICK that a viewer could easily get a cavity listening to his sweet drivel and over the top pandering....especially to the schmoes that sponsor tournaments. He acts like its the holiest of holy events going on and he is SO INCREDIBLY PROUD that YOU decided to watch it while HE gives the play by play......jeeez... I loved Lanny Watkins and miss him.

Gary Koch is a jerkwater too, his sing song voiced comment arent worth squat....Peter Kostsis..a legend in his own mind.... NOBODY can complicate and misdirect parts of the golf swing more than kostis with his konica/minolta swing vision BS....Im sure he rips his students off for big bucks with that mumbo jumbo like he does on TV everyday.... who is he anyway? Did he ever play?

Nance needs to back off and smack faldo around a little at times when FALDO gets a little "too british".... Dont get me wrong, I love the limey's, but after a while they give ya gas

[dhanson]

The Euro Tour coverage seems to contain a lot more actual shots per hour, which I prefer to interviews with tournament sponsors and panning over the entire course from a blimp. I see a lot more things like Swingvision and Shot Tracker during PGA Tour coverage.

Edit: The best comment from any sports related telecast was from Jim Nance during the 2008 NCAA Basketball Championship game: "Rock Chalk Championship."

[Zeph]

Quote:

The Euro Tour coverage seems to contain a lot more actual shots per hour, which I prefer to interviews with tournament sponsors and panning over the entire course from a blimp. I see a lot more things like Swingvision and Shot Tracker during PGA Tour coverage.

I made a statistic on the amount of shots per hour once, comparing the PGA coverage to the Euro Coverage. In those two tournaments, it was pretty much even on the amount of shots. Some differences as to type of shot, but it was pretty even.

Shot Tracker is something I almost never see. They do have some Swingvisions on the PGA coverage, the problem is that Peter Kostis always have to explain something that makes no sense at all. Last weekend he analysed a shot that went into the left rough. He first went on about how the player got the club too far to the inside on the take-away, then said he saw the clubface over-rotating through impact. How do you see a clubface being 3-4 degrees too shut at impact? As far as I can tell, there are more high speed swings on the Euro Tour, but they aren't commented and analysed as much as on the PGA Tour. The announcers usually comment on it being a good or out of the ordinary swing, or something like that. The picture quality is better than with the Bizhub and they are more stylistic shots from different angles. I prefer the Euro Tour's way of doing it.

On the PGA vs Euro discussion, both got their goods and bads. Over-producing is definitely a problem on the PGA Tour, especially with Nantz, McCord, Kostis and the likes. They try too hard to make golf more interesting than it is. In the end, I want to watch golf players play golf, I don't need statistics on how they played this event the last 20 years. The most important part of the coverage is where everyone fails, the camera angles. Nobody has yet found a good way to film a shot that is interesting, perhaps with the exception of the Pro Tracer, which is almost never used. They do sometimes show shots from down the line without changing camera the first couple of seconds after the ball has taken off. Then you get to see the initial direction of the ball, it's trajectory and which way it is moving. If they were able to do those kind of shots, perhaps with a bit of zooming in, any shot could be an interesting one to watch.

I prefer the Euro announcers over the PGA ones. Like someone else said in this thread, it is more easy and calm on the Euro tour, just a couple of guys chatting and having fun with the coverage. Over-producing is a phenomenon you see in a lot of US sport coverages. It's like TV for the impatient where you have to be entertained by some flashy graphics or some announcer talking all the time. Sometimes less is more. The Euro Tour could probably have slightly more of what the PGA Tour got too much of, but overall, the Euro coverage is more fun to watch. The PGA Tour does have more characteristic players in their favor, especially with a top field.

[johnny2balls]

When I was at the Ryder Cup at Vahalla I bought one of the coverage radios. It had 2 channels the US and European. The European channel was not only better it was 100% better.  Most people I talked to listened to the European ch.  The announcers were much better. Just like the t.v. coverage we see on the Golf Ch.  It's night and day.

[Chris G]

Originally Posted by SubPar

After watching the ladie's tournament in Dubai, I am wishing they were covered on TV over here.

It may sound sexist, but some of those girls are HOT and know how to dress for the weather! Good golfers too. If Golf Channel covered The Ladies European Tour, they would be on my TiVo!

SubPar

I Love to watch the Euro tour every weekend on Sky, and then in the evening the PGA Tour, i do find i prefer the euro tour. Maybe that is a little biast been from the uk, one thing i would love to have on is more of the ladies events, simply because my daughter has now been playing since November and has already made a place on the Academy for the south west already, i feel if they televised more of the LPGA or the Euro ladies tour she might decide to watch or take even a bigger interest in this, also at the same time clubs may find they get an increase in Junior girls memberships.

[jamo]

I think the real best coverage would be somewhere between the Euro Tour coverage and the PGA Tour coverage.

[michaeljames92]

Originally Posted by Texian

For some reason, and I don't know if it was lack of cameras or poor directing, they didn't show two of his key drives down the stretch. And driving with Seve-like abandon is why I like to watch him. Then when he hit it "almost into the TV compound" on 18 the next time we see him is in the middle of the fairway, hitting his third shot.

We actually did see his second shot, he clipped the hedge and finished on the fairway. But you're right they quite often miss tee shots which is frustrating.

[Texian]

Must have dozed off.

[Chas]

Ahhhh, the great Henry Longhurst.

Measured against him, they all come up a bit short imo (U.S. and Yurpeen).

[Tho26]

I am from the Netherlands and I am living for like 2 months in Wisconsin now. Back in the Netherlands I watched the European tour in the afternoon and in the evening the PGA tour. The coverage of the European tour is much better I think, and it's all about the courses that they play that makes it that interesting. As a dutchmen I found a lot of the tournaments on the PGA Tour a bit of the same...except of the WGC en the majors. The European Tour plays in a different country every week with different cultures and real different courses! that makes the european tour so special at this moment.

But the best players are definitly playing on the PGA Tour

[Zeph]

I have to put down some stuff that annoy me from the announcers.

• When they have to mention the type of grass (kykuya) through the entire tournament
• "That is dead" "He's got no shot from there" "That is impossible, no chance". These type of comments are often followed up by "That was an amazing shot", "Incredible". Oh my, he wasn't dead after all?
• "This is special, we are so special, this golf course is so special, this tournament is so special, thank you special people for making this special event happening, we are so happy to be here, it is an honor"
• Gary McCord
• Peter Kostis explaining why a 300 yard tee shot ended up 2 yards into the left rough. "You see there at impact, his clubface was shut".
• "Welcome to The Masters. We in the tower are jerking off to the coverage from last year to warm up"
• Approach shot ended up in the middle of the green, some distance from the flag: "He played it safe"
• Approach shot ended up 4-5 yards short: "He caught it a bit fat"

Now I can sleep tight (after watching the back nine from Northern Trust Open.

[jamo]

Originally Posted by Zeph

I have to put down some stuff that annoy me from the announcers.

When they have to mention the type of grass (kykuya) through the entire tournament

I haven't been watching the Northern Trust this year, but last year and really every year Feherty and McCord can barely go a sentence without talking about the kikuyu grass. It's crazy. Feherty and McCord are to kikuyu grass what Johnny Miller is to the grain in putts and his U.S. Open win.