Is the Shot Tracer the best TV golf broadcast innovation ever?

[Jeff Schley]

I love the shot tracer/trackman during broadcasts and find myself disappointed when a shot doesn't have the shot tracer with it. In recent years they have married the shot tracer with trackman data of ball speed, apex and even curvature. I also really appreciate when they superimpose the animation of the hole where you can see the trees/hazards/fairway as the ball flies to see where the ball is flying.

Is it the best golf broadcasting innovation ever? You can see where the ball is going in relation to the hole layout as opposed to some on course broadcaster sayin, "this is headed left."

I can't imagine going back to watching golf without this innovation without being disappointed.

[John Kavanaugh]

What ever happened to seeing the actual ball in the air? I seem to recall that. Shot tracer has laid birth to a lazy narrative. Boo!!!

[Kalen Braley]

Its a bit like the yellow first down line in football broadcasts...you wonder how you ever watched em without it.

100% agreed Jeff, what a terrific innovation to the viewing experience.

P.S.  The only thing I miss from the old days of pre-cable TV and ESPN, is hearing Howard Cosell doing the halftime highlights on MNF from the previous days games..

[JESII]

Coupled with the mute button, shot-tracer is wonderful.


If I had to choose one, the mute button is king.


Ha

[John Kavanaugh]

I don’t seem to miss a thing when I get in the car and listen on XM.

[John Kavanaugh]

Would we still be listening to audio replays of the 86 Masters if they had shot tracer?

[Michael Whitaker]

What ever happened to seeing the actual ball in the air? I seem to recall that. Shot tracer has laid birth to a lazy narrative. Boo!!!

Maybe the worst visual in all of sports... a golf ball traveling through the air. It tells the viewer absolutely nothing. ABC used to have cameras on cranes during their major broadcasts and would have overhead visuals of a ball flying towards its target. Now, THAT was good TV. But, just showing a ball flying through the air with no sense of direction is just asinine.

[John Kavanaugh]

I'm at a loss why golf isn't broadcast as well as it was 40 years ago. I don't watch much and seem to suffer through a constant barrage of complaints from so called fans during the entire tournament. Where was the drama or element of surprise on the greatest shot of the year? The second it was off the club we all knew exactly where it was going.


Anyone who loves Shot Tracer needs to turn in their roll back card.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I have been watching golf since the fifties. Shot tracer is indeed one the best innovations in broadcasting. Showing a ball in the air is a talent in itself but gives the viewer little information, other than the shot wasn't topped. I love seeing the height and curvature of the shots.

[Kalen Braley]

Agreed Tommy,

The world couldn't fully appreciate the shots of players like Bubba Watson until it showed them with Shot Tracer and how much movement there was. 

They used to show the putting lines on greens that players needed to hit to hole it, but I guess they stopped doing that in case someone who hadn't teed off yet was watching and gained an unfair advantage?

[Peter Pallotta]

I like it too. It's also another visual for how good the pros are: you watch a draw or fade off the tee and it looks perfect/textbook -- and it *is* perfect, except not when it's travelling 320 yards and the teeny tiniest bit of extra draw or fade puts the ball in the rough or trees.

[JESII]

They used to show the putting lines on greens that players needed to hit to hole it, but I guess they stopped doing that in case someone who hadn't teed off yet was watching and gained an unfair advantage?

Nope...they stopped because they couldn't figure out how to read the greens...the lines were always wrong.

[Kalen Braley]

They used to show the putting lines on greens that players needed to hit to hole it, but I guess they stopped doing that in case someone who hadn't teed off yet was watching and gained an unfair advantage?

Nope...they stopped because they couldn't figure out how to read the greens...the lines were always wrong.

Interesting, I recall them being fairly accurate.

I think the baseline it showed was for a ball that would end up 6 inches past the hole, as lines on some putts can change quite a bit based on initial velocity.

[John Kavanaugh]

The shot tracer is no more accurate than the putt tracer. You guys just believe it is.

[Kalen Braley]

The shot tracer is no more accurate than the putt tracer. You guys just believe it is.

John,

I would actually agree there.  But something that closely approximates the flight of the ball is far far better than nothing, or a ball showing in your screen with no clue where its actually going.

Its a bit like watching Poker on TV years ago before they installed pocket cams and it was a mystery until the reveal vs now where you can follow what is happening and why/how they were betting or folding.

[John Kavanaugh]

So the tradeoff is you guys get to know instantly were the ball is going and the networks can hire dumber and dumber announcers.

[Peter Pallotta]

The shot tracer is no more accurate than the putt tracer. You guys just believe it is.

When it comes to watching golf on tv, I'm happy to take the blue pill.

[John Kavanaugh]

This weekend as you focus on the shot tracer think about everything else you are missing with the players. I personally enjoy watching the body language of my opponents while listening to the sounds of the game. Can't imagine anything worse than a real world shot tracer.


I suppose there are people who would argue that watching a concert through their phone is a better experience.

[John Kavanaugh]

Do you guys know that you can follow along on twitter and know what shots are made even before they are broadcast? Takes away any anxiety you may feel not knowing where the ball is going.

[John Kavanaugh]

Watch the coverage of Nicklaus hitting his famous approach on 17 and ask yourself if the coverage would have been better with a shot tracer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEZ7ap375PQ

[Greg Clark]

Yes.  Along with HD and 4k.

[Craig Sweet]

Shot Tracer is very nice, and a close runner up is paining the hole white.

[John Kavanaugh]

Technology has killed the world’s poets while only AI weeps for the loss.

[John Crowley]

What ever happened to seeing the actual ball in the air? I seem to recall that. Shot tracer has laid birth to a lazy narrative. Boo!!!

+1

[Peter Pallotta]

Technology has killed the world’s poets while only AI weeps for the loss.

It's true, JK, and in most areas of life it is our loss. But if Tiger is a poet with his golf clubs, maybe shot tracer is the ink in his pen, allowing us to see -- however imperfectly -- the poems he envisions in his imagination.