Golf TV Coverage must improve!!! - suggestions HERE ** including some sweet drone footage **

[stingerfade]

How irrelevant is this topic now? At least it’s one we can talk about

[Body_Visions]

Yeah. I’m afraid we will all be wishing we had the terrible coverage in a few weeks.

[freowho]

Painful!

[Parsux]

I would love to see the networks lose the zoom feature on their cameras. 

[Golfer4Life]

Steve Sands- Gone

Rich Lerner- Gone

Dan Hicks- Gone

Shane Bacon- Gone

 

This will fix 45% of tournament coverage follies.

[Ghost of Snead]

Just now, Golfer4Life said:

Steve Sands- Gone

Rich Lerner- Gone

Dan Hicks- Gone

Shane Bacon- Gone

 

This will fix 45% of tournament coverage follies.

 

I'd settle for Lerner gone - only through the 1st tee shots and sick of his rambling.

[tacklingdummy]

I think golf tv coverage just needs to have most of the audio to be player/caddie dialogue and interactions and less analyst/commentator dialogue. I'm tired of listening to the analysts/commentators saying the same things over and over. The player/caddie dialogue and interactions would be much more interesting to listen to and I'm sure there would be some drama seeing how so many player/caddie breakups every year. Some players/caddies would probably not like to be mic'd up. However, being mic'd up would probably boost ratings/likability for some players and perhaps opposite for others. 

[Golfer4Life]

I could not go 18 holes listening to Spieth and Horschel, no way in this God's green earth, lol....

[Golfer4Life]

I am more irritated by the television commercials from the sponsors and their messaging, but that's a whole different subject 🙂

[acemandrake]

All US announcers need to talk less & stop going for the "home run" statement every time they talk.  

 

Also, not everything they say is of great & equal importance.  Modulate!

[stinger_gc]

How about less commercials, less corporate shilling, the announcers shutting up and not showing there faces to us, following the ball from and showing more golf shots

[BMC]

I think you guys should go outside and play.  These  TV coverage threads are so 2010.

 

[Titleist99]

9 hours ago, Golfer4Life said:

I could not go 18 holes listening to Spieth and Horschel, no way in this God's green earth, lol....

If they got that, they would then be begging for the announcers back.....(LOL!)

[Golfer4Life]

33 minutes ago, BMC said:

I think you guys should go outside and play.  These  TV coverage threads are so 2010.

 

Exactly the year you joined😂

 

You are the one reading, lol.....We are just sharing opinions, if you don't like it, perhaps you are the one who needs to take a stroll.

[BMC]

1 minute ago, Golfer4Life said:

Exactly the year you joined😂

 

You are the one reading, lol.....We are just sharing opinions, if you don't like it, perhaps you are the one who needs to take a stroll.

Stay classy!

[bobfoster]

Not worth complaining about. No one has a choice. Contracts have been signed. Want to watch pro golf? You'll have to put up with vacuous, irritating announcers (unless, like me, you just mostly have it on mute), 3.5 to 4 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of golf (and that's not counting that BS "Playing Through" garbage), or try to deal with that horrid ESPN+, that is quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the most spotty streaming channels ever. 

 

I love golf, playing it. But it has frankly become less enjoyable to watch over the years (and I'm saying this as someone that has been watching for many many years). I'll still most certainly watch it, regardless of how downhill the coverage has gone - how could I not? I watch it with joy, but a joy that has a growing pea-under-the-mattress discomfort that comes from declining production values, and ad-time optimization. But none of us can do anything about this. 

[chillybilly]

Behavior modification is a tricky beast but the one rule it seems to follow is that the person or persons modifying behavior must think that it's their idea.

 

In other words, broadcasters hear so much criticism from so many sources that they 'bow up' and refuse to change until and unless someone in their circle suggests it and that someone must usually be the boss - a director, a producer, etc.

 

As discussed upthread, drones were once considered anathema to coverage. They steal jobs from union types, particularly camera crews. They were regarded as visual and audible distractions, almost like giant flying insects. But those concerns seem to be resolved to the satisfaction of all. If drones are being used at Augusta then all remaining resistance elsewhere has probably disappeared also.

 

I do note that drones' 'field of vision' is as tightly controlled as the ground-based cameras at Augusta.  In other words, despite the proximity of holes at, say, Amen Corner they maintain the (partial) illusion that each hole is its own animal with its own sightlines, framing etc.  A drone elevating a bit too high above the pines and pointing its lens in the wrong direction just might get a glimpse of tacky Washington Road beyond and spoil the effect.

 

I freely admit that I tend to forget the sheer layout of money, gear and manpower at a standard Tour event...until I attend a Tour event. Carts and personnel scrambling everywhere, setting up and tear down tripods, carrying those little antennae pointed at the big antennae in a central location, boom mics, sound men, etc. The shot-shot-shot coverage we're accustomed to has a lot of (invisible) moving parts. Unfortunately, if you're at a live event the moving parts are often inside the ropes and blocking your view.

 

Ryder Cup coverage, among others, provided exactly what I and others have asked for in the past: they muted the mics after club strikes ball. In many cases it was to prevent the airing of profanity from players but there was another primary or secondary objective: to blot out the absolute derivative idiocy of derivative idiots shouting absolutely derivative idiotic things at impact. At times the sudden silence or drop in volume (while ambient course mics remained hot) was jarring but it was preferable to the status quo. Sadly, certain phrases are almost considered normal or expected from drunken fools (although drunkenness is not always a factor). As Nick Faldo lamented several years ago after the standard shouting: 'Oh not at The Masters too.'

 

A sustained campaign of mic-muting could very well disrupt the stimulus-response cycle of morons shouting to hear themselves and others on the telecast. As audio engineers hone their techniques, some generic applause or crowd murmur might be mixed in and home viewers will be none the wiser. Phoenix will be Phoenix but that doesn't mean Dublin or Charlotte must be.

 

Unless I'm dreaming I haven't seen much of the green-obscuring 'ideal putting line' nonsense. Was it abandoned?

 

With a large HDTV panel I never had much trouble following the ball flight but I know I'm in the minority when it comes to the necessity or popularity of the tracer ribbons. They are, obviously, here to stay, although I would prefer if they were included in replays, not live action. It's interesting to note that Sky Sports had the tracer for their Masters coverage one year while CBS did not. Augusta National decision? CBS decision with, er, 'input' from ANGC? I'd be interested to know. At any rate, the tracer is another item that has received 'Masters approval' and therefore is fair game everywhere else.

 

Ego is a funny thing. A CEO whose company sponsors an event presumably is an intelligent, accomplished person and an intelligent, accomplished person might notice in watching other events that the sponsor tower interview is so stiff, awkward, predictable, boring and counterproductive that he might opt out of his own. But ego is a funny thing.

 

Overall, the coverage has improved, largely through the advancement of technology. But directors and producers and technicians in trucks believe all their little illuminated buttons just have to be pushed. Repeatedly. And anchor announcers have a stack as thick as a phone book of ads and promos to read. The marketing tail wags the golf dog all too often. Moving our index from a 14 to a 10 may involve the kind of time and work that simply isn't feasible but most of us have honed our DVR skills to a razor-sharp edge. On some level from some source the broadcasters must know their core audience are trimming the fat but as long as the rather archaic ratings system dictates revenue they have little incentive to change.

 

 

 

 

[Bad9]

7 hours ago, bobfoster said:

I love golf, playing it. But it has frankly become less enjoyable to watch over the years

 

+1. Except I almost never watch mens pro golf anymore other than a bit of the majors and mostly just the British and the Masters. I do watch the LPGA regularly but they haven't descended into the abyss that is PGA Tour coverage yet.

[JohnnyCashForever]

21 hours ago, Ghost of Snead said:

 

I'd settle for Lerner gone - only through the 1st tee shots and sick of his rambling.

Have to agree.  IMO, his performance in the 18th tower at the WCG Match Play was muy mal.  Aside from the numerous factual errors, his endless descriptions of everyone's play as definitively good or wanting was tiring.  The less he talks, the more he sounds authoritative.  The more he talks, the more he sounds like a fill-in-the-minutes-with-my-voice BSer.  He needs a quick remedial class from the Summerall school of broadcasting.  Until then, keep him away from the 18th tower.  

 

Also, on Friday, none of the broadcasters seemed able to figure out match play scoring or who was actually eliminated or poised to move on from group play.  Jimmy Roberts (I think) spent a couple of minutes explaining an error he made and then going through the multiple permutations of what actually could occur.  Thereby, confusing everyone else who was unaffected by his original confusing statement.   

[ChipStrokes]

8 hours ago, bobfoster said:

or try to deal with that horrid ESPN+, that is quickly gaining a reputation for being one of the most spotty streaming channels ever

i’ve seen this said a few times on here and don’t get it. i’ve had no issues at all with the streaming on ESPN+. also, their announcers, and the way they actually cover the action are great. 

 

does it cut in and out for you? lots of buffering?

[Greg_B]

All I can say to those wishing Rich Lerner to disappear is: be careful what you wish for. That would lead to more of Steve Sands, Shane Bacon, Jimmy Roberts, Damon Hack, Paige MacKenzie and worse. Lerner is very good at understanding golf history and painting word pictures that help those so inclined to understand it as well. He is the closest thing we have presently to a modern-day Jack Whitaker. That style of broadcasting is suited to golf where you have large swaths of airtime to fill. One of the best demonstrations of that was his yeoman work the night that news of Arnold Palmer's death occurred. On a half-finished set at Hazeltine National in the dark of night he anchored an off-the-cuff broadcast effort by Golf Channel that was one of the greatest things I have ever seen done in sports broadcasting. He and whomever produced that should have received a sports Emmy award. I suspect few others could have handled that nearly as well.

[Fuscinator]

A shot I've seen a few times, of which I'd like to see more, is either from behind the green, or the fairway, looking back toward the golfer. With more of the curve in a shot occurring in the latter part of a ball's flight, the movement takes up more of the frame than it does in the from behind the golfer view. It's a view we as golfers seldom get to see while playing unless the group behind us has had their fill of our buddy's pre-shot routine.

 

I'm wondering how easily an announcer mute option could be worked out. I like the sounds of the game, but I'll occasionally mute it just because I can't take the yacking anymore. 

I also don't want to hear from the corporate guys, either.

[Ferguson]

On 3/4/2020 at 3:26 PM, Hawkeye77 said:

Word, as the kids say. Or Words, lol.

I’m not aware social media is abuzz about much of anything useful other than it is constantly abuzz about something and overwhelmingly negative - meaning Tweeter in particular. Stay away!

 

I'm down.  Cool beans. 

 

[Hawkeye77]

On 3/26/2022 at 4:58 PM, Parsux said:

I would love to see the networks lose the zoom feature on their cameras. 

 

Those shots from the blimp or any of the many cameras on a boom trucks, etc. will sure be compelling, lol.  Genius!

[Greg_B]

3 hours ago, Fuscinator said:

A shot I've seen a few times, of which I'd like to see more, is either from behind the green, or the fairway, looking back toward the golfer.

 

Years ago when ABC Sports was probably the preeminent network to broadcast golf, holding rights to 3 or the 4 majors, they sometimes used this kind of camera shot. I would guess it was from a tower or crane behind a green on a straightway par 4 or par 5 hole.The interesting thing about it was not only being able to see any sideways curve a tee shot might have, but even on a straight tee ball how it would often start out on a fairly flat trajectory, but then suddenly climb upwards quite dramatically before falling to earth. It was really quite striking.

 

I do note that CBS also used this sometimes on certain holes at the Masters, such as 18, where they had a camera tower near the landing area.