Fixing Tour Golf Coverage on TV

[iacas]

See the poll above. I wish we could let people add their own answers.

[ControlJunkie]

As an addition, I really wish we could get true DTL shots instead of that off angle that I've seen a good bit. Kinda screws up perspective a bit.

[BrushCaddy]

I'd like to see a better perspective of each shot so you can see it as a whole.  Maybe a wide angle from behind and above the player...?

It's neat to see the tracking but I don't think I would want that on every shot.

[xxsoultonesxx]

I voted for shot shape, visuals. etc. Golf can be presented so much better than it is right now. Think about how new camera angles, filming techniques and editing have changed the NFL in the last 10 years. Now we have automated cable cams for the follow along action shot, how cool is that? I'm not saying blow up the game on TV, but implementing some creative new ways to shoot golf shots could keep it fresh. It would add perspective and hopefully help the announcers explore ballflight concepts with visual aids more often. I'm a big fan of the shot tracker cam on some of the tee boxes and wonder if they could use a similar camera to do a wide angle shot of the hole with a similar line drawn to the shot, or from the front. Many of the tour stops are in stadium settings (Sawgrass, Scottsdale, etc.) and they should make better use of a made for TV venue and get some ziplines out there, as unobtrusive as possible and get some follow along shots.

My second choice would be to add to the spread of who gets TV coverage. Which has been getting better lately, but always has room for improvement.

[max power]

Lot of good ideas in the poll, but #1 is...SHOW MORE GOLF.

[Zeph]

What we see today is a bunch of guys swinging at the tee, the ball moves through the air and lands somewhere. Next, they swing at the fairway, ball against blue sky lands somewhere. Then we watch them measure up a putt for 1 minute before making the putt. There are some technological challenges in golf. For one, following the ball while keeping the player or scenery in view almost require using Protracer. The ball is moving up to 350 yards, if you don't zoom in on it or give the viewers a red line to follow, they won't be seeing a whole lot. HD might help make the ball easier to see, but from that far away, it's tough. Watching Jim Furyk walk up and down the green for a couple of minutes if of very little interest to me. I know how they measure up a putt, there is no need to show us how they do it all the time. I'd rather see them putting more microphones on the players and use them while they are discussing an upcoming shot. We don't see the curves of the green, we can't related to what they are looking for. On approach shots from the fairway, we can see the hole layout and know what they are talking about. Missing bunkers, coming in from the right or left, high or low. After that, having Protracer show us the outcome would be nice. I don't know if Portracer is portable enough to be driven around the course, but I'd like to see more of it on the tee at least. More high speed swings, but there is no need for the commentators to give us the good and bad about it, drawing lines etc. They do this quite well on the European Tour. We often see style shots in high speed from the players, without being an analysis.

[nevets88]

Too many commercials in and out of the broadcast. I'd pay to minimize the amount of commercials plus CEOs and promotions. Fire all the announcers, get new ones. Mix up the announcers, Different ones each week, rotate every 3-4 weeks. Allow one to follow a player or the leaders.

[ControlJunkie]

I did forget something - more viewing options. What I mean by that is the ability to see whoever you want, from start to finish. Don't care if the player you want to see is first to tee off in the morning, or the last. Like DirecTV has NFL Sunday Ticket which allows you to see any team you want every week, or I even think they had some NASCAR thing where you could see the view from any car at any time, should be able to do that with golf. I'm not sure if part of the reason that isn't possible is because of the PGA or what. It just sucks to not have the same flexibility as you do with other sports.

[Deryck Griffith]

I voted for more use of technology.  There are so many posts and discussions on this forum that revolve around swing speed, distance, ball speed, etc etc etc and to have a point of reference on TV would really show many people the realities of what the pros are really doing.  The other day, someone posted here that Ernie Els Swing Speed was 140mph which is a great example of Golf fans not really knowing the realities of the true statistics on tour.

A good example of a sport that uses technology is baseball.  For years, baseball never showed the speed of a pitch from a radar gun during their TV broadcasts which I never understood; especially since I was a NCAA Div1 baseball pitcher myself.  Within the last couple of years however, almost all of the TV braodcasts post and show the speed of every pitch which really adds to the game and allows the viewers to see how hard the pros throw.  Another thing baseball does is measure homerums which again, brings the viewer closer to the actual realites of the game.

With all the information that a system like trackamn can provide i.e. ball speed, launch angle, distance, ball flight, ball spin, etc, it would make watching golf WAY more interesting.

[zeg]

Main thing for me is a better angle on the full shots.  Show it like it looks from the player (or caddy/nearby fan) perspective.  If I just want to see a golf ball against the sky I can get a sheet of blue construction paper and hold a ball in front if it myself.  Even if you can't do that because of camera limitations, watch it from a perspective where you can see the ground and some landmarks.

Also I say fewer interviews.  I was tempted to say less talking in general, but I do think some voice-over is necessary for context.  However, I want far, far less color commentary and more simple updates.  Occasionally discussing technique is fine, though given the misinformation that's spouted I think it'd be better for everyone if they had less rather than more.  For the interviews, the quality of most is so poor that I can do without them.

[dmnoland]

This weeks coverage is some of the worst yet. GC is apparently too stupid to either get the mic off Tiger or put him on a time delay so they can catch all those words the FCC has a problem with.

Second, JD is in the lead and I have yet to see a tee shot from him today. Again the GC has their cameras on nothing but Tiger and Phil.

Third, the picture looks weird. Not a cloud in the sky but everything still looks real dark with lots of shadows.

Fourth, I really liked Faldo when he played but he sucks as an announcer. It's sad really, since as a pro he should be one of the better announcers but he really just seems to ramble on about nonsense.

EDIT: In hindsight my post was mostly complaints, not remedies. I really like the idea of putting cameras and mics (with a delay of course) on the tour bags so we have the actual players perspective. What's a few more ounces added to those monster bags anyway?

[pusher]

I'd really like to hear more caddy/pro shot discussions and less drivel from announcers- especially while the caddy and pro are talking.  Also, I like the animated graphic the European Tour telecasts use to show the layout of the hole and where each player is on the hole.  That is very informative and helps to put each player's next shot in perspective.

[westcyderydin]

1)  The analysts are terrible.  Nick Faldo and Johnny Miller need to do something else.  They need analysts who go on more than experience because obviously that doesnt make you good at that job.  I would also have a seperate analyst do the swing vision things and i would have it so they could prepare what they are going to say for them.  Faldo saying its all about the......he keeps his level....theyre all about the..he just blabbers BS the whole time.

2)  No sideline reporter type of interviews.  How did you feel when... What went through your mind when... Have golf people do the interviews not some woman who always trys to talk about feelings and have no idea about the golf....which is a big part of the telecast.

3)  The camera work obviously can be changed and i think that has been touched on enough in this thread.

4)  I would want to get the most golf with the least amount of words from the booth.  I would rather hear the players and the caddies..just how things sound on the course and not blabbering from some old dude who loves the sound of his voice.

5)  The telecast should be made with the golf enthusiest in mind....

[cbrian]

Today they tried to break down one of Tiger's drives and I don't know who it was, but it was one of the worst ones I have ever heard. He was like, 'wow, he really has that front foot turned out.' And then was followed by some nonsense rambling where he tried to find the fault that caused the face to be a fraction of a degree open. Then Faldo was like yea, 'yea if you are going to stay that centered, you have to get behind it to swing up' (or something like that).

That stuff is beyond annoying. Unless you are going to take the time to properly think about and break down someones swing, don't. It sounds like a fish out of water grasping for air. Show the super slow-mo and just enjoy the show.

As others have said, they need more caddie/player interaction and better camera angles. It would be very entertaining to listen in on the conversation and then to see the actual shot. That would give so much insight to your average fan as to what is actually going on. Seeing the caddy and player just stand there talking, then a weird angle showing the player hit the shot, then some random in air angle, and then finally showing the ball land on the green is like watching a movie without sound.

[bigoak]

I like Miller as announcer but never as a player, I don't like Foldo either was.  We need Freddie, Fuzzy, JD and the like at the mike.

[yimpydimpy]

Definitely more caddy player interaction. Nothing sucks me in more than hearing what the players are trying to do and then seeing them pull if off (or not pull it off).

[Camo]

I would like to see any technology that helps show how amazing those golf shot are. That and more data on each shot a player makes. Also, yes mic up more players and caddies. Always cool to hear their conversation or remarks as they are in process of playing.

[Radford Wooly]

More technology. It would be cool if the viewer could change the view or aspect themselves.