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Presenting the Claret Jug?

How people have you heard say - well I want nothing to do with golf because did you see the way that presentation party looked when they gave that young man that shiney trophy and one million pound cheque ?

Who watches the majors - golf and sports fans , people who already like watching golf surely and what exactly would you do to make all the presentations different ?

As I've said in post, lose the speech by the anonymous committee members and get someone in who has some TV presence, some skills in live presenting, someone with a bit of charisma, someone who can generate some interest, someone who can interview the players so we can get a vague bit of insight into the conclusion of one of the biggest tournaments in golf. As already mentioned, basically just rip off how they do it at Wimbledon.

People who watch sport are used to high production values nowadays mostly due to Sky Sports, and it just looks like something from the 1970s.

I'm just kind of wondering, apart from the fact that people fear change, what are the downsides to trying to pep it up a bit and bring it a bit into the modern era? Do you think the way they changed the presentation ceremony at Wimbledon has turned it into a prize giving at the local young offenders facility soundtracked by Dizzee Rascal? Or whatever you fear it will turn into.
 
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As I've said in post, lose the speech by the anonymous committee members and get someone in who has some TV presence, some skills in live presenting, someone with a bit of charisma, someone who can generate some interest, someone who can interview the players so we can get a vague bit of insight into the conclusion of one of the biggest tournaments in golf. As already mentioned, basically just rip off how they do it at Wimbledon.

People who watch sport are used to high production values nowadays mostly due to Sky Sports, and it just looks like something from the 1970s.

I'm just kind of wondering, apart from the fact that people fear change, what are the downsides to trying to pep it up a bit and bring it a bit into the modern era? Do you think the way they changed the presentation ceremony at Wimbledon has turned it into a prize giving at the local young offenders facility soundtracked by Dizzee Rascal? Or whatever you fear it will turn into.

Ok let me turn it around

What difference do you believe having Sue Barker introduce the players in the presentation has had on tennis ?

I believe it's made no difference what so ever

It's a 2-5 min segment of little or no value to a spectator and allows the R&A to thank people which is a nice thing to do - as is in the US Open and the US PGA and in the Masters.

It's not about fearing change - it's realising how it has zero effect on anything and it's worrying about changing something which is so meaningless

What more insight does someone need as a tournament finishes ? A few thank you and then congratulating the winner.

Unless of course I have missed something - it's just a presentation - it's not the main attraction.
 
Ok let me turn it around

What difference do you believe having Sue Barker introduce the players in the presentation has had on tennis ?

I believe it's made no difference what so ever

It's a 2-5 min segment of little or no value to a spectator and allows the R&A to thank people which is a nice thing to do - as is in the US Open and the US PGA and in the Masters.

It's not about fearing change - it's realising how it has zero effect on anything and it's worrying about changing something which is so meaningless

What more insight does someone need as a tournament finishes ? A few thank you and then congratulating the winner.

Unless of course I have missed something - it's just a presentation - it's not the main attraction.

The presentation is a big thing. If not why not just do it in the hallowed halls of the clubhouse. It's about the fans seeing the victor getting the claret jug as well as the amateur getting their reward. It's going to attract a global TV audience and I think the site of all these blazered members gives a staid image. There has to be a better way to say the thank you's that need to be said (deservingly so) and present the prize leaving the floor open to the winner to make their speech.

I have no issue with the green jackets at Augusta. That's part of the appeal and I think in that case the audience buys into that. However with the other majors there needs to be a fresher feel to thing (imo)
 
Sexist post warning:

Appeal to the masses, appeal to the youngster, you want a major female celeb which also doubles up as a bit of eye candy, show that to the youngsters and watch the attitudes change,
 
The presentation is a big thing. If not why not just do it in the hallowed halls of the clubhouse. It's about the fans seeing the victor getting the claret jug as well as the amateur getting their reward. It's going to attract a global TV audience and I think the site of all these blazered members gives a staid image. There has to be a better way to say the thank you's that need to be said (deservingly so) and present the prize leaving the floor open to the winner to make their speech.

I have no issue with the green jackets at Augusta. That's part of the appeal and I think in that case the audience buys into that. However with the other majors there needs to be a fresher feel to thing (imo)

The TV audience it attracts are already watching it because of the actual golf

There is no need it change anything

It's a speech then a presentation then a chat with someone with a mic

Of all the things to worry about how they present a trophy doesn't even register.
 
The only people still watching at that point are the ones that care. I turn over quite a bit on a Sunday night once the last putt goes in. I watch the presentations and interviews when its someone worth watching.

I can't imagine there is too many semi-interested in golf folks still watching up to 20 minutes after the competition is finished.

I dunno, I'm getting to that funny age where blazers are starting to attract me, and would like button advice.

Silver or brass coloured, the age old conundrum.:confused:
 
I dunno, I'm getting to that funny age where blazers are starting to attract me, and would like button advice.

Silver or brass coloured, the age old conundrum.:confused:

I am not your man for that advice. Getting me in appropriate footwear is hard enough! that and I'm about half your age :whistle:
 
For the first time in many moons, I think Liverpool Phil is absolutely right.

Hacker Khan - I completely disagree with you. The speeches, whilst they may be dull, overlong and irrelevant, have next to zero effect on golf, the games popularity or the perception of it by the masses. It's five minutes of tedium out of the golfing year that has no discernible effect on anything other than irritating those with a class related chip on the shoulder.

Any casual observer that tunes in by chance to the presentation ceremony in isolation won't be making decisions about whether to take up golf or not based on what they see. It will either reinforce their view or be irrelevant, neither option being the determining factor in taking up or continuing to play, the game of golf.
 
You obviously need a proper fitting! :whistle: :rolleyes:

Yes maybe for the threads, but what colour buttons? Brass,gold,silver, 3button, 4button, or go mad and have one dangling on the end of the thread. Curry stains, gravy stains - just so many choices. What are the John Daly and Poulter boys wearing?
 
Yes maybe for the threads, but what colour buttons? Brass,gold,silver, 3button, 4button, or go mad and have one dangling on the end of the thread. Curry stains, gravy stains - just so many choices. What are the John Daly and Poulter boys wearing?
Call NHS24, you may be having some kind of fit coming on .:whistle: i sincerely hope not.
 
For the first time in many moons, I think Liverpool Phil is absolutely right.

Hacker Khan - I completely disagree with you. The speeches, whilst they may be dull, overlong and irrelevant, have next to zero effect on golf, the games popularity or the perception of it by the masses. It's five minutes of tedium out of the golfing year that has no discernible effect on anything other than irritating those with a class related chip on the shoulder.

Any casual observer that tunes in by chance to the presentation ceremony in isolation won't be making decisions about whether to take up golf or not based on what they see. It will either reinforce their view or be irrelevant, neither option being the determining factor in taking up or continuing to play, the game of golf.

What on earth has it got to do with class?? Is the editor of the European Club Golfers Magazine a left wing agitator? Modernisation is not a class thing.

You call it dull overlong and irrelevant and 5 minutes of tedium, but then say it has no influence on the perception of the game? Where do you think the casual viewers that watch it on telly for possibly the only time do get the perception of the game from if it's not from what they see on TV?

I totally agree it is not the one factor that will make a huge amount of difference, but then again that is true of any change, it happens mostly through small but coordinated actions, not one thing. It's the conclusion/finale of the one tournament that has by far the biggest viewing figures. Why do you think the football finals, rugby finals, cricket matches etc etc have a big song and dance when they do their trophy presentation?

And before people think I'm asking for them to play Robbie Williams or Queen then I'm not, it's just that all those sports have modernised what they do in the context of what is acceptable and relevant in that sport. Football goes all ticker tape and loud music, cricket has a recognized presenter interviewing the players as does Wimbledon. But good old golf is still seems to be stuck in the 1970s.
 
Hacker Khan is quite correct. I posted about this at the time this year, and was quickly slapped down on here. The presentation at the open is a huge anticlimax and the presentation party just reinforces the negative image of golf and is in marked contrast to the excitement of the actual final day's play.
 
Hacker Khan is quite correct. The presentation at the open is a huge anticlimax and the presentation party just reinforces the negative image of golf


I get that you both don't like it but that isn't the same as it being either important or a decisive factor in people taking up or forming an image about the game. The effect of this ceremony in my view is completely neglible. To what extent do you think it reinforces the negative image of golf?
 
I get that you both don't like it but that isn't the same as it being either important or a decisive factor in people taking up or forming an image about the game. The effect of this ceremony in my view is completely neglible. To what extent do you think it reinforces the negative image of golf?

You often hear comment that golf is for old men, that it is stuffy etc. As HK says, the open is the one time golf gets decent coverage on terrestrial TV and for four days it is wonderful. Then the presentation party come out, demonstrating who runs the game and reinforcing all those stereotypes....

Maybe in the grand scheme of things it is a trivial concern but, at the time, I found the contrast quite stark.
 
You often hear comment that golf is for old men, that it is stuffy etc. As HK says, the open is the one time golf gets decent coverage on terrestrial TV and for four days it is wonderful. Then the presentation party come out, demonstrating who runs the game and reinforcing all those stereotypes....

Maybe in the grand scheme of things it is a trivial concern but, at the time, I found the contrast quite stark.


Exactly. golf suffers badly enough from an image problem, without making it worse by wheeling out those old duffers!
 
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