Critique this year's Masters

[BigEdSC]

I haven't started many threads in the years that I've been on this board, and because of work, I haven't been able to keep up much.  However, Golfclubatlas usually has the best spot on commentary of the Masters and golf in general for that matter.

Here's my observation of the tournament, and I'm sure there will be many that I have overlooked:

Masters.org-  I thought the website was incredible.  Being able to picture-in-picture through Amen Corner, 15-16, Featured Pairings and Masters Extra was like sitting in the production truck and watching my own telecast.  Really cool if have checked it out.

The golf course-  One of the best set-ups in memory.  Billy Payne wanted the roars to come back, and they did.  I thought the balance of hard and easy pins of the course set-up was great.  A while back, Pat Mucci and I got into one of those "discussions" of the pins on 15.  Last year, I felt that there were too many back pins on the green.  This year, Billy Payne explained in his opening press conference that they redid 15 green to bring back the right front pin.  This year, the locations were spread out over the entire green.  They did a fine job with that.

Lee Westwood-  Gave a very credible interview after his round outside the scorer's hut.  He made a lot of fans there.

Tiger-  The opposite with his interview.  Let's leave it at that.

Phil-  Solid play, went out and won the Masters.  Shot 67.  A real made for TV movie on the horizon.  But my hat's off for him.

My disappointment-  Every year, between the time the winner disappears in the scorer's tent, and the time he reappears in the Butler Cabin, CBS does a 5 minute highlight package.  This year I expected CBS to show Jack and Arnold to kick the highlights off by starting the tournament Thursday AM, followed by mention of Ray Floyd announcing that he no longer is competing in the tournament.  Then go to the Thursday highlights leading with the play of the old guys of Watson, Langer, Lyle, and Couples.  Sprinkle in some great shots that day.  Then go to Friday's highlights with some of the great shots of that day.  Saturday's highlights would of been explosive with all of the eagles and movement.  Then Sunday, a short tribute to Watson and Couples, watch Kim's and Watney's incredible rounds, then go to the horse race itself.  Watch Tiger self-destruct, then watch Phil display some incredible shotmaking.

But, after teh scoring tent, they some interviews, and then they paraded Phil, Angel, and Masseo into the Butler Cabin.  It felt like that they had to hurry the ceremony because the soup was getting cold.  And then, that was it.  they faded to 60 minutes.....  I was looking forward to the highlights that never came, and just felt like I was bumrushed out.

Comments?

[Anthony Gray]

    Nothing in Major Championship golf tv coverage beats the guy ingraving the Clarot Jug at the end of The Open.

  Anthony

[Garland Bayley]

The website has some great aspects, but they have to get some of the software defects out of it. It created windows that would not go away by clicking the close box. I had to shut down my computer and restart to get rid of them. It created windows that went blank and lost content with none of the usual buttons like the refresh button. It created self replicating windows that would for no know reason pop up copies of themselves.

But then with Bill Gates a member there perhaps the only software the website was tested on was Internet Explorer. 

[RJ_Daley]

While I didn't make but a few checking leaderboard hits on the masters.org website, I thought it was pretty good.  I didn't know or see how that picture in a picture worked on the website. 

But, I really felt that the overall quality of the TV was as good as it has ever been, with the exception of the now obligatory fauning over Tiger to excess at every chance.  I still think they could have shown more other players when they were watching Tiger set up shots and all the preshot routines of too many players.  The talkovers while players are wandering around greens gets excessive in any broadcast, IMO.  I guess it is a balancing act for the producers.  They have the wit and wisdom of various on-air personalities, so I guess they have to give them airtime. 

I also thought that with all the tree planting controversy and discussion behind us, and resigning to the notion that we'll never see the old AN as Jones and DR Mac actually envisioned, that to accept the inevitable changes to the course and how they did get "the roars" back into the mix, was a good thing.  It seems that the early rain on Thurs was enough to soften the course all weekend, and it was pretty forgiving on the greens holding, it seems to me.  I think that to see the course rock hard would not actually make for great viewing either.  It is a balancing act.  The Augusta National Committee will always have their toon-a-mint in accordance to their way, and with that in mind, I think they did well this year.  I'd give them a B+.

[Terry Lavin]

The setup was great, the play was great, we had a great champion and the return of Tiger led to some unbelievable television ratings here in the US.

As always, the Butler Cabin ceremony was incredibly boring.  It has to be the worst four minutes of sports television every single year.

[RJ_Daley]

Terry, as boring as that 4 minutes is, I'll take Payne's teleprompter reading to Hootie or Cliffie's anytime.   

[Tim_Cronin]

The setup was great, the play was great, we had a great champion and the return of Tiger led to some unbelievable television ratings here in the US.

As always, the Butler Cabin ceremony was incredibly boring.  It has to be the worst four minutes of sports television every single year.

That's what Frank Chirkninan said, and he produced the Masters telecast for a good 30 years. Had to be better when Bobby Jones was asking the questions. Still, it was at its worst when Hord Hardin asked Seve Ballesteros how tall he was. "Six feet," Seve said. "Six feet even?" newshound Hardin eagerly followed up.

I say the Masters crowd have the actual post-tournament ceremony ready to go on the putting green, directly behind 18, and start it with the awarding of the green jacket so CBS can show it live. Wouldn't take more than few minutes longer, and it would be better. Hang the jacket on the guy, let Nantz ask three questions, say g'night, and cue "60 Minutes."

[Bruce Katona]

The course showed as terrific as usual on tv, the re were roars from the crowd all 4 days, CBS got its drama with a close finish and Tiger was in contention, which helps ratings and the "win for the family" was perhaps the correct storybook ending.

Winner all around.

[Jim_Kennedy]

One of the best I've ever viewed.

[henrye]

I agree.  Great Masters.  Beautiful intro to Spring.  Sunny skies and perfect weather.  Great seeing Phil win with his aggressive play and his family situation.  Nice to see Westwood do so well.  16 year old amateur performance.  Kid should go to Duke or Stanford instead of turning pro.  Good having Tiger back because he's #1 in the world.

[Kalen Braley]

The website has some great aspects, but they have to get some of the software defects out of it. It created windows that would not go away by clicking the close box. I had to shut down my computer and restart to get rid of them. It created windows that went blank and lost content with none of the usual buttons like the refresh button. It created self replicating windows that would for no know reason pop up copies of themselves.

But then with Bill Gates a member there perhaps the only software the website was tested on was Internet Explorer. 

Garland,

I noticed the same kind of issues. As one who works in the industry and tests web applications for a living, I couldn't fully enjoy the site because technically speaking it is a dog.... despite all its wonderful eye candy.  It looks like its programmed in Flash...who still uses that?   

P.S.  You could have just gone in Task Manager and shut down those processes instead of having to re-boot.  Additionally, even a simple log-out will often resolve those kind of rendering errors.

Overall though, I thought the actual tournament was beyond compelling...hands down one of the best I've watched in recent memory.

P.P.S.  I stand corrected...its actually Javascript, which isn't as bad.

[Matt Schmidt]

Masters.org-  I thought the website was incredible.  Being able to picture-in-picture through Amen Corner, 15-16, Featured Pairings and Masters Extra was like sitting in the production truck and watching my own telecast.  Really cool if have checked it out.

I had no technical issues with the website and thought the content was fantastic.  Beyond the live coverage (which worked seamlessly for me) there were a few other treats.  For example, when the leader board was expanded to show an individual player's score card, many scores were surrounded by a yellow square indicating highlight video was available for that player on that hole!  Really cool!

By the way, I just checked and the leader board still is available at masters.com and all of the highlight videos for each player/each round still are available.  If you want to relive any highlight shot/moment, chances are you can find it there.

And maybe I was just looking for it more as a result of hearing about it on this website, but I thought some of the camera angles used did a better job showing some of the more significant contours on the course.  A friend of mine commented, without prompting by me, that he never before realized how sloped some of the fairways are. 

Overall, I enjoyed the course set up, and hope the scoring excitement was intended, and not primarily a result of benign weather.  I would be interested to see some opinions of 11, though.  For all the criticism of the added length, it seems like there was a good mix of players that went for the green in two and that played safely out to the right of the green.  Didn't Hogan say something like if you ever saw him on that green in two it was a mistake?  In that regard, although the hole is now very long, did the added length return the hole closer to its intended play/character?

[Jud_T]

Best Masters in years and the Website was a huge uptick, particularly for all the complainers about limited coverage....

[Gene Greco]

[ Had to be better when Bobby Jones was asking the questions. Still, it was at its worst when Hord Hardin asked Seve Ballesteros how tall he was. "Six feet," Seve said. "Six feet even?" newshound Hardin eagerly followed up.

"Newshound" Hardin