Can the Golf Channel live up in quality to the Chicago Golf Club?

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Set your Tivo, VCRs, the Golf Channel is televising the Walker Cup Saturday and Sunday, two hours each day.  8 AM to 10 AM Sat, 1 PM to 3 PM Sunday, PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME.  
If the Golf Channel has some golf savy producer and director, it is my opinion they could tape and/or show as many, or more, interesting shots in their two hour telecast as will be shown in the many more hours that the PGA airs.  Let's hope they play down the key 4 foot putts and teammate reactions and show us a classic Seth Raynor design and the golf it can produce.  I saw Pepperdine golf coach, John Geiberger, today at Rustic Canyon and he is flying in Friday to watch his Pepperdine star Michael Putnam.  I believe Geiberger thinks Putnam is Pepperdine's greatest player, surpassing Jason Gore's career at Pepperdine.

[Bill_McBride]

What about Geoff Shackelford's career at Pepperdine?  Even if he did have to leave UCSB to have it?  I will send you a report on the camera placements, on camera nonsense factor, etc.

[Tim_Cronin]

It turns out there was a third Golf Channel telecast, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (approximately) on Sunday morning. If there was any promotion of it, I missed it, and I watched the Saturday telecast when I returned home from CGC in the evening.
But Sunday morning, surprise! Cameras on the move, technicians about, Roger Maltbie stalking the first alternate shot match, and, rather than merely taping coverage in case of an afternoon rainout, a live telecast that nobody outside of the Golf Channel knew was coming.
Did anyone tape it?

[Tony_Muldoon]

Interesting that you highlight Putnam as a player to watch. In both singles matches he drew Oliver Fisher the 16 year old.  Oliver won 2 up on Saturday and drew level on the 18th with a 20' birdie for a half on Sunday.   Truly Oliver is a player for the future.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Didn't know anything about nor did I see the "3rd" telecast.  It was unfortunate that the super spent months getting the course firm and heavy rain before the contest changed all that.  However it might have benefited the Americans, being a bit more unfamiliar with firmer conditions.  The competitiveness was equal to anything this year in golf.  The American captain called it the greatest Walker Cup ever!  Maybe a bit excited after the win, but can someone name a better one?  The play was good, but they made the course look dated until they reached the greens, some long putts were very tough.  As usual the announcers called it a great old course but didn't back it up with pictures and we only saw the last few holes.  Great drama that was hardly noticed due to the conflicting PGA championship.  I would love to have that Overton's putting stroke.

[Bill_McBride]

Lynn, I didn't see much of the Golf Channel at the matches, and haven't seen any of their coverage.

The competitiveness and sportsmanship was very evident.  Jeff Overton lost the first three holes and came back to win the decisive point by sticking several irons starting with #4.

The UK/Irish guys were incredible, sinking those 20' putts and a chip in one heart-stopping half hour at #18 Sunday afternoon.  Guy Wolstenholme is such a competitor, Anthony Kim was outdriving him by up to 70 yards and he hung there to win 1 up.  On #2, the Road Hole, he hit a 7 wood (190 yds) and Kim had a flip wedge.  Both made par.  That set the tone for the day.

[James Bennett]

Guy Wolstenhome?  

I remember watching him play the professional tour in Australia in the early 1970's.  He 'stayed down over the ball' for a split second longer than everyone else, producing a unique follow-through.  Guy had a demeanour that would have been at home at Lords watching cricket.

I think I saw in an earlier thread that it is Gary Wolstenhome.  Don't know if they are related.  Guy could be a father, or a grandfather!

[Bill_McBride]

Correction - Gary it is.  He's 44, not 70 something!

[James Edwards]

Gary is regarded amongst most in this country and europe as being one of the greatest amateurs to play the game behind another well known amateur??

He is certainly one of the most successful having won an amateur tournament in almost every country he has played in!  He just goes on and on!

The British Mid amateur trophy was thinking of renaming itself into the Gary Wolstenholme Challenge Me Trophy!

[RJ_Daley]

Unfortunately, I spent many hours at our 3 day County Men's open, and missed most of the Walker coverage.  But, I did see some of the end of the matches.  Did they only show the back 9 and concentrate on just the final 5 or 6 holes for the entire telecast schedule?  I was also disappointed that there were no real architectural comments or good fly-overs, etc.  The official website also didn't have anything on the course.  

Bill McB, did you get to see much of Holmes from Kentucky launch any ICBTSs (inter-continental ballistic tee shots?     Did he  have to go to FW metals and irons off many tees because he had too much length for some of the hole designs.  

[Evan Fleisher]

Re:Can the Golf Channel live up in quality to the Chicago Golf Club?

The answer was no.  The course was never featured at all, not a single aerial or discussion of a hole.  Very minimal coverage of the course and lots of on-screen lining-up of putts.

Agreed.  The coverage of the COURSE sucked...not much (if any) of the front nine was featured, and there was very little discussion of viewing of many of the "features" of the course at all.

Sad indeed...

[Bill_McBride]

Dick Daley, all the players with a couple of exceptions were long hitters.  But John Holmes is a LONG hitter!  The fifth hole is a great little short hole, 328 yards, maybe 310 to carry the wild front left bunker and deep rough.  Holmes did; the ball carried just over the bunker and bounced out of the rough to maybe 20' just off the left edge pin high.

Classic gorilla story: from there he managed to chip to 6' or so and miss the putt.

This is not hearsay, we were standing just across the green from all this action.

This after maybe 25 practice swings at the chip shot and a truly slow putting routine.  He was not only the longest hitter out there but also the slowest.

This was probably the most strategic hole on the course in terms of options.

A few of the young bucks tried to drive the green like Holmes; nobody else made it.  Overton was five yards off Saturday afternoon and got up and down for birdie.

Most of the players hit three wood probably to about fifty yards short and tried, mostly without success, to hit lob wedge close.  A handful did.  A few were smart enough to lay up to 100 yds (where a fairway bunker came into play on the left) to hit perfect yardage sand wedges.

A very fun short par 4.