“U.S. Open Announcers Better Shut Up”

[Tim_Cronin]

I guess when the coverage is two holes behind live you can pawn off replays of English as live and look relevant,since they missed the entire live collapse of 8 of the top 10 leaders...
Now that its a 2 man race they have stopped the cliff trophy and desk shots which couldve been paused while 10 people were contending,then impolding..

It's not two holes behind. Either you're watching on a DVR delay or you're trying to make a point with a lie. Which is it?

[jeffwarne]

I guess when the coverage is two holes behind live you can pawn off replays of English as live and look relevant,since they missed the entire live collapse of 8 of the top 10 leaders...
Now that its a 2 man race they have stopped the cliff trophy and desk shots which couldve been paused while 10 people were contending,then imllding..

It's not two holes behind. Either you're watching on a DVR delay or you're trying to make a point with a lie. Which is it?

The latter
17 was clearly taped,
and in their defense, after missing most of the implosion of the field showing trophy shots, desk shots recaps and commercials, they were on target to show English replay on 17, as he did birdie 18, and they even showed his eagle attempt.


Ok, I've mea culpaed.(and I did like your radio suggestion
Do you honestly believe the coverage early in the back nine, when so much was happening, and so much could've happened-was adequate?, and did we not see many, many shots well AFTER they were played(or not at all) due to all the interruptions and prepackaged drivel, followed by 4 more commercials after 3-5 live shots?
A great producer would cut the drivel and shown as much live as they could while it was crazy exciting, and saved the drivel for later when the contenders whittled down, or skipped it altogether if need be.He can't control all the commercials, but the drivel(desk shots of Zinger etc.,Cliff shots, long, long leaderboard shots/long leadins) could've been skipped.
I'm not knocking the announcers in this instance, just the production, which surely was hectic and difficult for awhile, and much of it missed.


Not saying it's easy, nothing done well is easy-just saying it could have been so much better.

[Tim_Cronin]

I'm sure you could always show one more shot. And much golf is shown a minute or so behind because so much is going on simultaneously. But I'll bet NBC showed as many golf shots, if not more, in the last nine holes this year as last year. Maybe I should pull out the DVDs and look, then compare to this year. (There was someone on the Internet who charted this for the final rounds of majors, but he hasn't done so this year.)


It's very hard to keep up when so many players are in contention. And I'll argue that you're overestimating the amount of beauty shots, etc., when the leaders were on the course. i saw plenty of shots going to the gunch, etc.


A few years ago, CBS took 10 minutes to show an ace on the 16th hole during the final round of The Masters. I had already seen it on the 15-16 feed – maybe the first year of it – and was astonished it took so long to get to. In my experience in being at tournaments NBC has covered, including the U.S. Open, NBC, under producer Tom Roy, is much faster at it.


This was one of the more crowded final-round leader boards since 1986, when ABC was scrambling to show the nine players tied for the lead at Shinnecock Hills until Ray Floyd emerged from the pack. I'll guess they did about as well as NBC did today.

[jeffwarne]

I'm sure you could always show one more shot. And much golf is shown a minute or so behind because so much is going on simultaneously. But I'll bet NBC showed as many golf shots, if not more, in the last nine holes this year as last year. Maybe I should pull out the DVDs and look, then compare to this year. (There was someone on the Internet who charted this for the final rounds of majors, but he hasn't done so this year.)


It's very hard to keep up when so many players are in contention. And I'll argue that you're overestimating the amount of beauty shots, etc., when the leaders were on the course. i saw plenty of shots going to the gunch, etc.


A few years ago, CBS took 10 minutes to show an ace on the 16th hole during the final round of The Masters. I had already seen it on the 15-16 feed – maybe the first year of it – and was astonished it took so long to get to. In my experience in being at tournaments NBC has covered, including the U.S. Open, NBC, under producer Tom Roy, is much faster at it.


This was one of the more crowded final-round leader boards since 1986, when ABC was scrambling to show the nine players tied for the lead at Shinnecock Hills until Ray Floyd emerged from the pack. I'll guess they did about as well as NBC did today.

There WAS a lot going on for sure! Amazing leaderboards


It just seemed like every time they came back, after yet another series of commercials, they took a long lead in, recapped again, then showed a few live shots before the next break.(but I said that already
I was as frustrated as I've ever been while trying to watch.


In truth, my frustration comes from the sheer amount of commercials-I actually like all the beauty shots normally and I enjoy commentary for the most part(case in point I don't get much from the no sound "playing through" during the commercials)


It just seems the USGA, with such a war chest, could take a little less $ for the rights and demand less commercial time be sold.

[Tim_Cronin]

I don't know if there were more commercials per hour than usual for a U.S. Open. The four-minutes per-hour deal the Masters imposes on CBS is a delight, though.


Funny thing about the TV deal is this is actually the old Fox deal, and Fox is still paying a large percentage of the TV rights money just to get out of the deal. NBC, happy to get the USGA back, is paying the rest. I don't know if NBC is sharing commercial revenue with Fox in turn, but the Rolex deal to cover costs for other USGA telecasts started with Fox (which found it easier than to sell commercials piecemeal) and continues with NBC.

[jeffwarne]

I don't know if there were more commercials per hour than usual for a U.S. Open. The four-minutes per-hour deal the Masters imposes on CBS is a delight, though.


Funny thing about the TV deal is this is actually the old Fox deal, and Fox is still paying a large percentage of the TV rights money just to get out of the deal. NBC, happy to get the USGA back, is paying the rest. I don't know if NBC is sharing commercial revenue with Fox in turn, but the Rolex deal to cover costs for other USGA telecasts started with Fox (which found it easier than to sell commercials piecemeal) and continues with NBC.

It seemed we got more live shots, or shots in general, on the back nine(less other stuff)
Still a great event, just felt left out the middle of the telecast.

[Ronald Montesano]

It begins with the company. Is the NBC of 2021 the same as the NBC of 2011, or 2001?


Next, go to the truck and find out who is in charge, and how good he/she/they is at his/her/their job. Not many Chirkinians in this business. Remember that televised US Opens have been going on for half as long as US Opens have.


Look at the purported talent. There are available journalists, but they lack the prescience that a former competitor possesses. As for the former competitors, they lack the journalistic training of the former. And there you are.


I listen to European Tour commentary, as some have held up as standard herein, and they are quite content to hear their selves ramble on about detritus and falderol, as much as any.


Many of you know that I write stories for GolfWRX. Am I any good? I don't know. I have a forum to give my perspective, and I read the criticisms that folks have for my work. It is not my daily-bread maker, so that distinguishes me from commentators. Most of you don't know that I did some television work in the early 2000s, local stuff related to golf. It's not easy to get it all right, all the time.


The next time you watch golf on the telly, be that ten-year-old kid with a pretend microphone in his/her/their hand, and do some commentary with the sound muted. If you're brave, ask a loved one to listen to you do it and critique your work. If you're really brave, record yourself doing it and send it along to your GCA friends.

[Edward Glidewell]

I guess when the coverage is two holes behind live you can pawn off replays of English as live and look relevant,since they missed the entire live collapse of 8 of the top 10 leaders...
Now that its a 2 man race they have stopped the cliff trophy and desk shots which couldve been paused while 10 people were contending,then imploding..

Exactly this. The coverage was atrocious, although it's not exclusive to NBC. CBS is like this for almost all of their regular coverage (the Masters is different).

They could have easily shown every shot from every player in the top 10 -- of course some of it would be on tape delay, but that's fine. I'm watching to see golf. Instead they zeroed in on a few guys and spent all the time on them; they'd show them walking, talking to their caddie, lining up putts, etc. instead of showing other people (who were also in contention!) actually hit golf shots. I had to keep the US Open website up to keep track of all the players they barely showed.

Maybe it will be a wake up call that Harris English finished in solo third and I think the only time they showed him the entire round was his putt on 18. You never know when someone is going to blow up or when someone is going to go on a run; if you actually focus on just showing golf then you've got all of that covered.

The Masters really makes everything else look terrible now that you can see every single shot from every single player on their website.

[Matthew Rose]

send Paul Azinger packing.

Yes, yes, 100 times yes.

[jeffwarne]

I guess when the coverage is two holes behind live you can pawn off replays of English as live and look relevant,since they missed the entire live collapse of 8 of the top 10 leaders...
Now that its a 2 man race they have stopped the cliff trophy and desk shots which couldve been paused while 10 people were contending,then imploding..

Exactly this. The coverage was atrocious, although it's not exclusive to NBC. CBS is like this for almost all of their regular coverage (the Masters is different).

They could have easily shown every shot from every player in the top 10 -- of course some of it would be on tape delay, but that's fine. I'm watching to see golf. Instead they zeroed in on a few guys and spent all the time on them; they'd show them walking, talking to their caddie, lining up putts, etc. instead of showing other people (who were also in contention!) actually hit golf shots. I had to keep the US Open website up to keep track of all the players they barely showed.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who felt they missed much of the event-at least in the middle when it was ALL unfolding.
10 guys in hot contention and 16 commercials later it was two.
Watching McIllroy walk for 30 seconds drove me insane.


I actually give them credit for showing English(at the time I was so frustrated I missed he was potentially in contention-because we were missing everything else as well)
Shauffele maybe hit 3 shots live on the weekend?

[John Emerson]

I watched through the app and it was much better and not nearly as much filler garbage

[Kalen Braley]

They may have not showed everyone, but at least they made sure we were kept in the loop on Brooks gaffes and BDC's utter meltdown...

But give Rahm all the credit in the world, those putts on 17 and 18 were beyond clutch!

[jeffwarne]

They may have not showed everyone, but at least they made sure we were kept in the loop on Brooks gaffes and BDC's utter meltdown...

LOL

[Brad Lawrence]

The Masters really makes everything else look terrible now that you can see every single shot from every single player on their website.



I would argue that the Masters is comfortably the worst covered major championship in golf.  It’s barely on television relative to the other three. I’ll take poorly covered golf on television over golf not on television at all. And when they finally do go on air, they are great at showing boring nonsense from the Butler Cabin rather than contenders hitting golf shots.

[Edward Glidewell]

The Masters really makes everything else look terrible now that you can see every single shot from every single player on their website.



I would argue that the Masters is comfortably the worst covered major championship in golf.  It’s barely on television relative to the other three. I’ll take poorly covered golf on television over golf not on television at all. And when they finally do go on air, they are great at showing boring nonsense from the Butler Cabin rather than contenders hitting golf shots.

I agree that it's unfortunate that the Masters doesn't allow TV coverage for the entire round, but their website coverage is so much better than the coverage of any other tournament on TV that I don't really care. As I said, you can watch every single shot from every single player, which is impressive.


Beyond that, once it's actually on TV, I feel like they show far more golf than NBC showed at the US Open this year. NBC also spent a ridiculous amount of time on non-golf -- there was a good 15 minute long infomercial about how great Mike Davis is while people in the top 10 were on the course.


Regardless, the poor coverage that focuses on storylines and specific players rather than actually covering the entire golf tournament is rampant across all networks and tournaments. That's why the Masters website coverage dwarfs anything else available.

[Mark Kiely]

I would argue that the Masters is comfortably the worst covered major championship in golf.  It’s barely on television relative to the other three. I’ll take poorly covered golf on television over golf not on television at all. And when they finally do go on air, they are great at showing boring nonsense from the Butler Cabin rather than contenders hitting golf shots.

Is this post from 1995? It's been quite some time since they've joined the action with the leaders well into their rounds. This year the final-round telecast was 5 hours long meaning they likely aired every hole of the last few groups.

[jeffwarne]

The Masters really makes everything else look terrible now that you can see every single shot from every single player on their website.



I would argue that the Masters is comfortably the worst covered major championship in golf.  It’s barely on television relative to the other three. I’ll take poorly covered golf on television over golf not on television at all. And when they finally do go on air, they are great at showing boring nonsense from the Butler Cabin rather than contenders hitting golf shots.

.

[Peter Pallotta]

I'm remembering back fondly to Ken Venturi in the Pat Summerall days, when we'd watch a birdie putt that was right in the heart come up one inch short, and then hear Ken say 'That was right in the heart, Pat -- another inch and it would've dropped in for birdie'. And then Pat would say 'It came up just short', and Ken would answer 'You have got to get it to the hole, Pat. The one thing you can't do on the back 9 on Sunday is leave it short'. And Pat would say (as we watched it happening) 'Greg Norman taps it in, and settles for a par, and remains at 6 under'. And then Ken would wrap it up with 'He could've been at 7 under there, Pat -- and I'm sure he's wishing right now that he'd gotten it to the hole'.

I could never have imagined back then that today I would be missing Pat and Ken as much as I do: the calmly self-assured voices of old men not prone to hyperbole or melodrama, or to fawning and excessive praise -- and not afraid to state the obvious Just what you want for a lazy Sunday watching golf!

[Bill Seitz]

send Paul Azinger packing.

Yes, yes, 100 times yes.

Not a big Azinger fan, but I thought it was pretty hilarious when, after Bryson's ball nearly landed in an empty 12 pack box, he suggested Bryson hammer down a couple of Modelos to get himself back on track.

[jeffwarne]

send Paul Azinger packing.

Yes, yes, 100 times yes.

Not a big Azinger fan, but I thought it was pretty hilarious when, after Bryson's ball nearly landed in an empty 12 pack box, he suggested Bryson hammer down a couple of Modelos to get himself back on track.

He is improving

[Kalen Braley]

Now that Fox is out of the game, (thank gawd), there are only 2 players in the game for PGATour golf, NBC and CBS. So it is what it is I guess.

However, at least CBS doesn't do those horrific puff pieces and if Jim Nantz says we're friends then I can live with that too. 

[Steve Wilson]

Clone Judy Rankin.

[Rob Marshall]

I was surprised no one mentioned on air that Rory missed every left to right putt on the low side. He had some good chances but  could never covert.

[Mike_Trenham]

Last year I heard most contracts for on air golf talent end at the end of the 2021 Season with the exception of the multi-sport individuals.  [size=78%]I hope both networks will freshen-up their teams.[/size]


Ironically the people that complain about limited number of hours of Masters coverage are the same people that complain about announcers droning on and on at the other majors.  I think we would be better off with 4 hours of coverage max each day.  No other sport is expected to be on air for 12 hours consecutive days, no wonder golf is perceived as boring by most people.