"Announcer-lite" golf broadcast...

[jamo]

I must say, as much as I didn't like it part of that had to be the fact that I knew next to none of the players and I don't really care who wins. I did think it was funny that the announcers that were there were sitting on sofas under a tent.

[TheGeekGolfer]

So the takeaway is this: we don't want less (or no) announcing, we simply want BETTER announcing.

+1...you are correct.

[BonoVox]

It is different. I kinda like, no make that I really like, hearing the banter between player and caddie. But there are times they go a long time without that. Like when on the green. (would be cool if they mic up the guys so you could hear better when they are discussing speed and line on the green) Then I think some commentating would be good.

[Shorty]

So the takeaway is this: we don't want less (or no) announcing, we simply want BETTER announcing.

Correct. It one thing to listen to Bones and Phil discusing something at lengtgh - that is bad enough - but this is just awful.

The other thing is that becaue the mics are turned up, there is this awful sound in the background like the vuvuzela at the world cup. I suppose it just shows how conditioned we are to expect something we don't even like that much. It's actually a very strange experience watching it. Not enjoyable at all, for me. TAkes away the atmosphere (which is lacking in NT events), but I am not suggesting that commentators add etmosphere, it just makes the whole ting lack presence and the conversations are ridiculous. In the first minute, literally, a player was making fun of his caddy who correctly said "false front" and the player was acting as if he had said "forced front" and, essentially ridiculing the guy, who said it correctly anyway - asking him how to spell it and saying it over and over again.

[kafka01]

How was the golf vs. advertising ratio? I turned in late and it seems there was only one group left so they showed 2 shots then showed ads - 2 shots - ads and so on. How many groups had they covered during the round?

[O.B. Right]

That was bad. I have to admit I thought it was going to be cool . .but it was not. There were long periods of silence, boring repetitive conversations between players and caddies, strange computer-game noises when various information would appear on the screen . . In general, almost unwatchable awkwardness. It would be cool to have more of that type of audio mixed into the usual coverage but no way do I want to watch another round without announcers. Even bad ones.

[melchior]

The only times I didn't like it (and I blame this solely on not knowing how to produce something like this) was over the putting. For so long the producers just used to rely on the announcers to keep our interest during the most boring part of the round (for me), putting. I loved hearing the caddy talk and just watching the shot on every full shot; but putting definitely had to have some tweaks to make it better.

[iacas]

The only times I didn't like it (and I blame this solely on not knowing how to produce something like this) was over the putting. For so long the producers just used to rely on the announcers to keep our interest during the most boring part of the round (for me), putting. I loved hearing the caddy talk and just watching the shot on every full shot; but putting definitely had to have some tweaks to make it better.

I agree. Now that I actually watched it I'm not ready to pan it quite as much as others had earlier.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say I quite liked it. Putting was the boring part. There was no conversation and you had no idea how long the putt was or how it would break or the speed or whatever. I LOVED the conversations and hearing the players. I think they could have done a better job with the graphics. What I found lacking was the information. Announcers give information (but unfortunately they give a lot more than that), so without announcers I found information lacking. How far did a drive go? What's the hole look like? Which bunker is the player in? They could have used the right third or quarter of the screen to constantly keep a player's name, maybe an overhead of the hole (possibly even with his shots drawn on it), the wind direction, a picture of his lie if it was appropriate... lots of information. Instead, they treated what little information they had - like the player's name and what the putt was for (par, birdie, etc.) the same way they would as if they had announcers constantly saying "for par" or "Michael Sims" or whatever. So in the end I think an announcer-lite broadcast could work IF they didn't treat the entire REST of the broadcast like it had announcers. Right now I'm watching some guy beside a busy road looking to pitch out - how about you show me where the guy is on the hole to get into such a position with some sort of graphic?

[jamo]

The only times I didn't like it (and I blame this solely on not knowing how to produce something like this) was over the putting. For so long the producers just used to rely on the announcers to keep our interest during the most boring part of the round (for me), putting. I loved hearing the caddy talk and just watching the shot on every full shot; but putting definitely had to have some tweaks to make it better.

Agreed on the putting. I didn't like the rest of it much, but putting was the worst part.