This is a question many people have raised over time, as NBC and CBS failed the task miserably over the last 10 or so years. In 2022, the PGA finally stated they were going to do something about it and partnered with ESPN+, who promised a new style of broadcasting with both more internal access and footage per player. Everyone, your boy included, was very excited for the change — but one month into the new season it turns out it’s just as shitty as before. I don’t want to rush this one, so I will break it down into the five spots they missed the most.
Camera Work
Historically, this has without a doubt been the worst part about golf on tv. I get it — it’s very difficult following a small white ball fly into the sky 300 yards.. but they seem to screw it up in the biggest of moments. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched a long hitter launch a piss- missile and here I am stuck watching a random part of the fairway as the ball suddenly appears sitting on the green. Although it wasn’t ESPN+ or even a PGA tournament, I always think about that Tom Brady shot on the par 4 where he made Bryson his bitch and we saw literally none of it.
I wanted to find the full video, but it seems PGA is at least good at wiping the internet of their blunders. That being said, this is something we see repeatedly watching live golf, which is always bothersome that they have absolutely zero idea of what to expect shot-wise from the top golfers in the world. Now, I have tried to give ESPN some leeway since they’re pretty new at this, despite the fact that they broadcast The Masters every year.. but I have seen so many still shots of random golfers just standing there on a fairway, while the announcers talk about something completely irrelevant. It’s just felt very unprepared and sloppy — which I’m praying gets fixed throughout the year.
Broadcasters
Now this one is unique to ESPN. When NBC used to own the rights to everything, the announcers weren’t anything GREAT, but at least they had smooth voices and got you through the day. ESPN on the other hand — these guys just suck ass. They rarely say anything interesting and spend half the time telling stories that barely have relation to golf. Wednesday it took about 10 minutes for them to explain that the Chiefs beat the Bills which was just painful and ridiculously pointless. I really don’t care too much about broadcasters –I often watch on mute with the second tv (that’s right 2 tv’s one room) — but when you’re already watching sloppy coverage, you can’t help but blame the announcers too. I’ll touch more on what they should talk about later, but the hiring of these guys felt very rushed to me.
Featured/Marquee Groups
Ohhhh the lovely featured groups. Let’s take a second to soak this one in and give everyone that’s only a slight golf fan an idea of what we deal with each week. Take the Farmers Insurance Open this weekend – about 160 golfers participated. Of those 160, only 50-60 of them are worth watching. I pay extra for premium coverage, very similar to those who pay for NBA League Pass, MLB Extra Innings and NFL Sunday Ticket. What that typically means is you get access to your favorite teams/players, so you don’t have to see anyone you don’t want to. What does the PGA give you for paying that premium? 9 golfers. In the first tournament with ANY meaning of 2022, we watched NINE people play golf. The next question you probably have is, “okay, but they’re probably the top nine guys in the tournament, right?” That’s a cute question. Of those nine, three are in the top 20. Of those nine, five of them won a tournament last year. One of which hasn’t won in a year (still love you Patty Reed), but this is just getting ridiculous. I can go on a ten-minute rant breaking down what was wrong with each choice, but I will save you the time. On second thought, fuck that, let’s chat. The Wednesday Farmers Insurance groups are below:
| Featured Group 1 | Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas |
| Marquee Group | Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Marc Leishman |
| Featured Group 2 | Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, Joaquin Niemann |
First group, great, awesome group. They went off and we all loved it. Next group, the BS they call a marquee group, starts with Patrick Reed. First of all, we all know if the cameras are scoping out Patty Reed, he can’t cheat so he can’t win. He was the champion last year, so I’ll let this one slide. Next up, Phil… seriously? Hey, did you guys hear Phil won the PGA last year??? OMG!! Look, I love Phil, but I don’t need to watch him in BACK-TO-BACK weeks get cut by 6-10 strokes. I just don’t need it, no one does. Also at the Amex Open, we didn’t even get to watch him hit a 9 on a par 4. If you’re forcing me to watch it, let me watch the good and the bad ESPN. I really don’t feel like typing it all out and more than anything I just wanted to rant about Phil being on there again, so I’m just going to move on. Once our podcast takes off, you can all listen to me go off for an hour straight.
The worst part is that this was by far the best groups of the year. Normally we’re stuck watching no name guys like Hudson Swafford who won that one time… meanwhile Cantlay is chasing 59 and I don’t even get to see one shot. At the end of the day, if you’re not going to give me full access despite me having to pay extra the least you could do is show the top golfers in the tournament before you absolutely FUCK ME.
Live Feed
This fucking thing. I feel bad because the featured groups and their bullshit marquee groups just got me so heated. So, now I must take it out on my guy Nick Faldo. Love Faldo. In my mind, he is easily the top broadcaster in all of golf coverage — but can a good announcer fix a shit broadcast? No, no it cannot. I’m not sure where to get angriest about, whether it’s the fact that they decide not to show meltdown holes, or that we didn’t get to see Henry Higgs smack a hole in one last week, or if it’s that we missed all of that because I’m getting Paul Barjon shoved down my throat. I want to see the top guys, especially when it’s Thursday or Friday. If nobody in the top 20 isn’t in the hunt on Sunday, sure – show me these nobody’s so I can clap for them getting their first potential win. Otherwise, let me watch Dustin Johnson drive it 340 yards, or JT hit 50-foot putts, or Patrick Cantlay go full robot on the course. Sorry Faldo, none of this is on you and I’m sorry I even brought you into it. This just feels like something so simple but somehow year after year we’re too busy watching some random close out 18 when the clubhouse leader, Jon Rahm, just put the ball to two inches on a 180-yard par 3 and all we get is Faldo saying ‘ooof what a tear this young man is on today, don’t try this at home folks.”
Lack of Gambling Talk
Since gambling became federally legal, we’ve seen some sports attempt to incorporate it into their broadcasts. However, not a single broadcast team has done a good job of it probably because they’re all a minimum of 60 years old and talk about something they most likely have no idea about. The worst part is, golf is the best sport to live bet while watching. You can bet birdies, missed fairways, GIR’s, Bunkers, matchups and just about anything else. If you’re already choosing young broadcasters for these random featured groups, did it not even cross ESPN’s mind that it could be fun to have someone saying what bets to take on each hole and rooting for it? I’m watching this at 10am while I work from home and if we’re being honest, if the announcer starts hitting bets, there is no way I don’t open the sportsbooks and let some money fly. Why is it smart? Because I, just like many others, am stupid, bored and want entertainment/da dopamine rush. Premium coverage is the perfect opportunity to try something like this and I really don’t get why they won’t do it considering how viral it could go. So, that is why I have decided to say @ESPN and @PGA if you need someone, I’m willing to volunteer for tribute.
Resolution
I’ve spoken about the best resolution before, and although it’s likely expensive, I think it really isn’t that crazy to pull off. For The Players’, we get to choose what group we watch each day and it’s the best golf content of the year. Getting to choose each group you see should be exactly what we get for paying for premium sports content, and it would be incredibly beneficial for the sport by bringing in new golf fans by letting them choose who they want to watch. Some others might disagree, but if the cost of this is limited to no broadcasting on certain groups, I think that it’s more than worth it.
As far as the fix for commentating goes, I mentioned it just before and really think they need to bring in some young guys that know gambling, with a focus around taking live prop bets. The PGA already has some partnerships with gambling companies – if they just commit to the game, they could easily pull in a younger crowd. Think about it.. how funny would it be to see a guy lose every fairway and birdie bet, then gets hot and starts hitting every single bet — and you could join in from your couch! It would make you feel like you’re part of the game, and it’s a whole lot better than listening to some random guy tell stories of the couple times he met the pros which we’ve all already heard 100 times before and frankly don’t give a fuck.
Overall, I think the PGA has a lot of work to do here considering the amount of cameras and widespread production they have going as-is. I don’t think this is that hard to do, it’s likely just the companies cheaping-out on the fans Covid has opened the door to the golf world and brought in so many news fans looking to more into golf and get more out of golf. They are quickly being turned off by this shit production. Some of the best players in the world are young and are extremely charismatic, and the fans want access to seeing and hearing them during tournaments – both good times and bad. The PGA has a chance to take their crowd and new top golfers and make golf one of the most popular sports in the world. Golf could become the best streaming service in sports, and it sucks that we’re consistently getting let down. Your move, PGA.
Three Putt Bogeys 