The 19^th Hole

January 23, 2007

An Early Report Card

Last year, the PGA Tour shocked the golf world when it announced its new television contract.  Not only had long-standing broadcaster ABC dropped out of the PGA Tour business, but ESPN and USA had also withdrawn.  In their place, the Tour engaged the Golf Channel to become the dominant broadcaster of PGA Tour action.  The Golf Channel received a 15 (yeah, that’s right) year deal to broadcast all of the weekday rounds of the PGA Tour schedule and end-to-end coverage of early season events and the new Fall Series.

Getting Ready

The unprecedented agreement left analysts, players, and the industry wondering what in the world the PGA Tour was thinking.  Up to this point, the Golf Channel had only broadcast a limited number of F-level PGA Tour events, along with exclusive coverage of the PGA Tour’s other tours – the Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour.  Sure, the production quality was alright for the second tier tours, but the Golf Channel assuredly had to make significant changes in presentation and production in order to merit such a contract.

The Golf Channel, though, made very few personnel moves.  They wisely snagged Nick Faldo up (so did CBS) as their lead analyst.  They locked up Dottie Pepper for on-course reporting, though she had worked with TGC in the past.  Former PGA Tour player Rocco Mediate joined the team to provide another player perspective on the course.  That and three other personnel moves comprised all the growth TGC felt they needed to be able to handle this new responsibility and pressure.

They formed the rest of the PGA Tour team with in-house personnel.  The eloquent Rich Lerner would broadcast interviews and serve as TGC’s version of Jack Whitaker.  Frank Nobilo would be on the team on occasion. 

Then the Golf Channel made the gutsy decision to name Kelly Tilghman, the network’s most visible reporter, as the first ever woman to lead PGA Tour broadcasts as anchor.  Known as a steady anchor and occasional play-by-play broadcaster, Tilghman was quite a gamble considering that a number of other anchors would be available from the networks that were closing up PGA Tour shop.

The Debut to Date

With personnel handled, all that was left for the Golf Channel was to demonstrate that it had improved its production value to the PGA Tour level.  Few clues were leaked and so golf fans were left to wait until the Mercedes-Benz Championship to find out just what kind of PGA Tour broadcast that the Golf Channel would bring…for the next decade and a half.

From the opening of their coverage, it was obvious that the Golf Channel would be quite a partner for the PGA Tour.  One could not go a few minutes without hearing or seeing something about the inaugural FedEx Cup, its importance, and revolutionary potential for the sport.  The Golf Channel was broadcasting company line – certainly an understood part of the arrangement considering that the PGA Tour owns a stake in the Golf Channel (perhaps as a condition of the contract, but no one is certain).

While complaints about the FedEx Hype are valid, it also became clear that the Golf Channel would try to tell a story during each week of its broadcast.  Though the FedEx Cup was a nauseating selection for the Mercedes-Benz Championship, the 16 year old Tadd Fujikawa was a tremendous focus for the Sony Open in Hawaii.  Sure, the standing ovation for Fujikawa from the broadcast booth by Tilghman and Faldo (on camera, no less) was a bit much.  Regardless, TGC’s support of Fujikawa and the commitment to telling his story was invigorating.

That story focus technique may have hindered their coverage, though, and may do so in the future.  After all, a golf tournament is comprised of hundreds of storylines every week.  To focus on just one over the course of a tournament seems to be quite short-sighted.  It impacted the broadcast of the Sony Open negatively because the putting struggles of Charles Howell III under pressure and the unlikely win for Paul Goydos seemed to be afterthoughts compared to Fujikawa.  The Tadd Fadd would end after the tournament, but CH3 and Goydos would have much lengthier of an impact on the season as Tour card holders.

Goydos was even considered an afterthought by the new Win Zone formula that TGC debuted as a predictor of a tournament champion based upon the conditions and statistics at any one moment in the tournament.  Goydos, even on the back nine, was considered to have just a 1% chance of winning the Sony Open.  It must have been his lucky day then, according to Win Zone.  The formula will have to be revised or only used in certain situations.  For instance, Win Zone would have little clue about how to predict the finale of the mess that was the final round of the Hope.

Although that technological advancement is still being tweaked, the AimPoint feature is quite a treat.  At first, TGC went a little AimHappy with the feature and used it at inopportune moments that just cluttered a golf broadcast meant to be simple and transparent.  Used on tape, though, it really gives the viewer a great idea of the kind of pace and break combinations that can be used to make putts.  Sure, golf fans know how putts break, but to see how some lengthy putts find a way in is fascinating.

Other graphics, like those taken from ShotLink technology, are implemented well and are described in a way that does not hurt the broadcast.  They are used sparingly to make a point and convey the brevity of a situation.

Overall, the production value of the event is solid.  The technology used is crafted to be implemented on a limited basis, and TGC is beginning to understand the timing of those situations.  Camerawork is strong and the broadcast angles are pretty standard for what a golf fan is accustomed to seeing.  Standard graphics are edgy and sharp, but do not really convey information that fans are not used to seeing and ignoring.

The Team

It seems like there is a split among golf fans about the people now in charge of broadcasting the majority of PGA Tour golf.  The Golf Channel seems to have drawn the most negative feedback from its pairing of Nick Faldo and Kelly Tilghman in the broadcast booth.  Faldo was and is a phenomenon in broadcasting because he is refreshingly witty and honest while maintaining a light air around him.  Or, at least that was what made him so great in working with Mike Tirico and Paul Azinger at ABC.  With Tilghman, though, Faldo appears to have no foil like he did with Azinger.  Rather, Tilghman often lobs softballs for Faldo to swing for doubles instead of home runs.  Other times, Faldo is allowed to roam free into verbal space without any real limits and Tilghman is then forced to bring Nick back. The timing that the ABC trio had just is not there yet for Tilghman-Faldo.  Of course, that is not to say that it will never come.  It just is not there now.

As for Tilghman on her own, I think she faces a combination of self-imposed pressure and the pressure that the whole network faces in broadcasting PGA Tour events.  Tilghman is the flagship image of whether or not the Golf Channel can do this job well and she knows it.  She also knows that lots of men watching the broadcast will be automatically biased against a female broadcaster.  So, it almost appears that at times she is trying to demonstrate that she is just as good as Dan Hicks (NBC) and Jim Nantz (CBS) at anchoring a broadcast.  Also, she is trying to show that her presence carries that same kind of aura that those two do (especially Nantz) by creating melodrama.  Relax, Kelly.  You are great just the way you were on the Pre and Post Game shows, or on LPGA Tour broadcasts.  If you have a conversation with the viewers that is natural, conveys your personality, and is reputable, then acceptance is not too far from reach.

The rest of the crew does a good job.  Dottie Pepper is definitely the female Johnny Miller at times with the insights of Roger Maltbie.  What a great pick up by TGC.  Rich Lerner is still shaping his role in the broadcasts – sometimes anchor, sometimes play-by-play, and sometimes copy reader.  He’ll sort it out and learn to mix his poetic taped style with the speedy wit needed for the live segments.  Jerry Foltz is an up and comer in the interview spot.  Rocco Mediate, well, he’s learning.

Final Grade

The Golf Channel deserves a solid B from me for their broadcasts.  They obviously have a passion for the game and to get this thing right with due time and adjustments.  That was obviously no goal of ESPN or USA after a while, as they would customarily just put together a lazy broadcast with lousy announcers and no passion.

So far, TGC has some struggles in implementing technology and the broadcast team meshing into timing and roles that fit their styles.  Ultimately, TGC is likely striving for the consistency and familiarity that fans expect from CBS – though we all know how I feel about the Eye.  In time, they’ll get there.

Of course, that B is relative to the rest of the class (NBC, CBS).  The art of broadcasting a golf tournament has not fundamentally changed, maybe ever, but at least in a long time.  I have done a lot of complaining on the subject with a number of suggestions as to how to improve a golf broadcast.  None of those, or any other reasonable attempts, have been used by the Golf Channel to date and that is disappointing.  TGC has an opportunity to make fans rethink how golf on TV should be viewed.  So far, though, they are sticking with what has been working for the past fifty years.  Or, should I say not working.

Regardless of TGC’s insistence of working within the mold instead of breaking it, they do a good job so far in showing a golf tournament.  Like a work of art, though, the artist should never be happy until it cannot stand one stroke more.  They are plenty of strokes left to make this a masterpiece, but golf fans must allow the Golf Channel to try them before we condemn them to be Bob Ross (just like the other networks) and not a Picasso.

Ryan Ballengee is host of The 19th Hole Golf Show, found at The Golf Newsnet.com.  Having graduated from the University of Maryland in 2004 and 2006, Ballengee brings the perspective of the younger golf fan to the microphone and his columns.  Over the nearly five years he has been broadcasting and writing, Ballengee has developed a reputation for a unique interviewing style that asks both the difficult and fun questions. You can also get The 19th Hole on the go through podcasting by clicking here The Golf Newsnet Contact Ryan via e-mail at the19thholeshow@hotmail.com.