Sky’s US Golf Coverage

[Trapdraw]

How bad is the US coverage on Sky now with the announcers and commentators from NBC Golf mixed in. Endless rubbish montages, like tonight’s about Justin Thomas and constant banging on about how much money they are playing for.
No one cares about the FedEx Cup, no one cares if Justin Thomas wins another.

 

[Swinglowandslow]

When the play starts I think it is pretty good. I remember golf coverage from years ago when all you saw was the putting.
I've seen recently the BMW and tge US amateur final . I enjoyed both. Every shot , almost .

 

[Trapdraw]

It’s not the actual footage which is the problem, it’s how they have merged in the US announcers and commentators. They bring nothing to the coverage.
I know before anyone says, it’s part of the new Sky/NBC Golf thing but it actually has made the US golf coverage worse.

 

[Norrin Radd]

You can always turn the sound off .
Works every time, or the off switch works well also.
Why people keep bitching about golf commentators is beyond me ,if everyone did it we wouldn't have any golf to watch.
Suck it it up and I'm sure you will enjoy the golf if not the commentary

 

[HomerJSimpson]

At the moment they are filling airspace as the coverage hasn't started and so they'll use whatever resources are at hand. Once play starts, they are dictated to by the host broadcaster who provide the live feeds of coverage but they usually do a reasonable job covering the golf itself

 

[Jacko_G]

It's still way better than Mark Roe!

 

[Imurg]

It's still way better than Mark Roe!

That's a pretty low bar though......

 

[Grant85]

I think Sky's coverage is generally excellent.

However noticed a change this year in that for more of the smaller American and European events they are using the network commentary.

Even when they do this for the American events (when they'll have the likes of Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz) they still try and show more shots than CBS show and might have quite a lot of periods where studio guys are talking over shots - this is because CBS is showing something other than live golf, or commercials.

Don't have a problem with this, especially the European tour with Dougie Donnelly and Sam Torrance.

Personally think we are lucky to have Sky, who are committed to showing live golf probably something like 47 or 48 weeks of the year. A huge amount of this will be loss making and they could probably cut out a lot of Euro events and just show the bigger events, majors and Ryder Cups etc.

 

[clubchamp98]

I can’t watch us golf live I get bored of the same adverts every couple of mins .
I just tape the first hour then playback cutting out all the crap.
If you time it properly the recorded bit just catches up with the live feed on the last hole.
It’s the only way I can watch it now.

 

[jim8flog]

A lot of the golf coverage is not one of the big channels but now from the Golf Channel and I think it has got a lot better with this change.

It has to be remembered every time we get sky commentators the American Channel is showing adverts.

Any body who watched motor racing and the Indy car series quickly realise how often the Americans go to an ad break and how long it lasts as we still get the motor racing without any commentary.

 

[Orikoru]

I find it hard to get worked up about golf commentators. If I watch it, I watch it to see the golf shots, not really to listen to what anyone's saying about them. I can pretty easily ignore them when they're talking rubbish.

 

[Slab]

All my viewing for PGA, LPGA & ET events is via NBC's Golf Channel (the US feed for PGA & International feed for ET)

Judging by comments, I see far fewer ad breaks than viewers in US/UK, typically just 1 an hour or less. There are no 'local' studio commentators taking over when these other breaks are happening. When the US go to a break it doesnt mean the coverage stops for 30 seconds. Coverage and commentary just continues, cameras keep filming, commentators keep commentating, pundits keep punditing... because the players keep playing