Is there too much putting shown on tv?

[SirSliceAlot]

I am sure this has been asked before on here but I am interested to hear your current thoughts.
As we all know golf is pretty much won and lost on the putting surface, but it really isn't that interesting and/or entertaining to watch on tv is it? I don't know exact figures but I would guess that at least 70% of live golf coverage is of putting. Should the broadcasters save the intense putting coverage until the final day of play when it gets more important and therefore more interesing to watch? It really bugs me at times!
Your thoughts?

 

[Alex1975]

Yep, too much for me, I find it boring because we can not see the green properly on TV. I am told that 3D TV will help this.

I would rather see alot more driving and iron play personally.

 

[Lump]

Its all about logistics though. The greens are easy to film while the players out on the course require a camera man, boom man and usually another hand.

I agree with the idea though, I would prefer to see more tee shots and fairway play.

 

[USER1999]

I am guessing it is because the viewers would get dizzy.

Watching a putt could take a minute, pacing it, lining it up, practice swings, the putt, the roll, the pan back to look at the players reaction, etc. Pan back, pick up the next player.

Iron shot. 3 minutes of standing by caddie with nothing happening (so it won't get shown on telly), then 1.5 second swing, 5 seconds in the air, bang, it's landed, jump to next player. An hour of this and you would be finished. It would give people epilepsy.

 

[Alex1975]

Iron shot. 3 minutes of standing by caddie with nothing happening (so it won't get shown on telly), then 1.5 second swing, 5 seconds in the air, bang, it's landed, jump to next player. An hour of this and you would be finished. It would give people epilepsy.

^A pretty fair point... Sky+ does help with all this anyways, the putting included.

 

[CMAC]

especially USA coverage where its just a putting competition

 

[patricks148]

Lazy broadcasting its easier to set up 18 tower with a remote camera than to follow the players around.

I have to say it bores the pants off me. Was watching last night, get to a tricky shot or result of a bad drive, cut to someone putting cut back to the other group and they have missed the shot and are now putting.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I do think this is where the SKy coverage wins though. On the first two days of European events, they do seem to have a lot more coverage of shots into greens and off the tee than anything the US care to show and at weekends tend to show a lot of the chasing players and not just the lead group

 

[Mungoscorner]

BBC's Masters highlights programmes,were basically 50 minutes of putting,and 10 minutes of waffle.Totally and utterly boring imo.
The best coverage i remember,was the 2004 Ryder cup.The overhead shots from the blimp and the cherry pickers was superb.

 

[MashieNiblick]

I have felt recently there has been too much putting being shown. It frustates me when they cut to someone with a shortish putt for a birdie when they haven't shown the shot that set it up. Was it lucky, did it pitch right by the hole and spin, did they run it up to the hole? It's as though the only thing that matters is seeing the putt go in, which is probably the most unremarkable part of the process.

Also they do seem to show a lot of players' pre-putt routines when I'd rather watch somebody actually hitting a golf ball.

 

[Mongoose]

We've cancelled our Sky Sports partly due to this. We only watched the golf, and the US coverage is just painful, the little golf they do show is holing out short putts. Sky's own coverage is much better but then there are weeks there isnt a Euro Tour event, and some of them are really second rate fields - £22 a month to watch a load of journeymen isnt really value. Also due to the time difference etc the USA tour is evenings, and I would rather watch highlights of the Euro Tour then, than wait to 11pm.

All in all, for us, golf on Sky/Virgin is too expensive and poorly covered, just not worth the money. If they did a golf only deal for say £10 a month we'd probably go for it, warts and all with the coverage, but we feel all we are doing is subsidising football coverage.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Yes there is way too much putting shown. I've given up watching the Monday night highlight shows because of exactly this reason. I don't want to see the putt, I want to see how they got to the green.

Murph does however make a good point

 

[MashieNiblick]

Out of curiosity I thought I'd keep a little running tally while watching the golf this evening. I logged 50 consecutive shots as follows

Tee shots 13 (26%)
Approach shots 10 (20%)
Bunker shots 1 (2%)
Chips 4 (8%)
Putts 22 (44%)

So just under half the shots were putts. What was interesting was it seemed to go in bursts depending on where the featured groups were. If they all happened to be putting at the same time you saw lots of putts, if they were hitting tee shots you saw lots of tee shots.

 

[SwingSlow]

I do think this is where the SKy coverage wins though. On the first two days of European events, they do seem to have a lot more coverage of shots into greens and off the tee than anything the US care to show and at weekends tend to show a lot of the chasing players and not just the lead group

I agree - one of the reasons I like the Sky European Tour coverage is that you get to see an entire hole played from tee to green. Agree also re the US coverage - not in the same league.