President’s Cup Needs Better Production Values

Posted by John

October 11, 2009

As I’m writing this Saturday afternoon, the U.S. is up 10 to 7, perhaps enroute to another drubbing of the International side. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t great drama and hasn’t been exciting. Cup competitions are great for TV viewers, because every shot and every group is important, unlike the typical strokeplay PGA events. Add to the mix the strategy of match play and you have a very enjoyable viewing experience.

Because every stroke is so important, it’s easy to understand how there’s more pressure in these events than even the majors. The various Cup competitions are the perfect venues for showcasing the sport, particularly the uniquely respectful and cordial relations among competitors. When Jack and Gary were captains a few years back, they created one of the finest moments in golf when they decided to call it a draw late Sunday as darkness was falling and Woods and Els were matching each other stroke for stroke.

This post isn’t just in praise of the competition. Once again I feel compelled to critique the coverage. Golf is missing a golden moment to promote the game and increase audiences the world over because the coverage ends up taking away, instead of adding to the drama in many instances.

The best marketed sport in the U.S. is football. The NFL has done a superb job equalling the playing field for all markets and creating a TV spectacle unmatched by any other sport. It took them decades, but they invented new technology and production techniques that dramatize the action and put the viewer right in the middle.

Golf has yet to figure out how to take tournament coverage to the next level. While HD broadcasts have helped, the basic production values are worse than they were decades ago in some critical ways. Most of the live coverage is of putts. While they are critical, they can get tidious after awhile. Golfers want to see professionals hit shots all over the course. It helps us learn swing fundamentals, how to play different shots, understand professional strategy, but, most importantly, it’s critical to telling the story that is unfolding on the course. Putts are easy to photograph, but in general they are not always very exciting and leave too much of the story buried.

I’ve watched regular tournaments this year where I had to go to my computer to see the standings. Why? Because too often the producers only flash the top five or six leaderboard positions when high drama is unfolding in the next couple of tiers. With all the screen real estate they have you’d think they would have figured out a better way to keep key data in front of the viewers. Baseball, basketball and football all do a pretty good job at this.

My biggest gripe is the commentary. Guys like Faldo, Azinger and Miller know the game and provide wonderful commentary, but the way it’s presented takes away from what is happening on the course instead of adding to it. Yesterday, there was a two minute segment where Roger Maltby and Paul Azinger did what I think they should be doing during the entire telecast. Maltby and Azinger complimented each other beautifully to describe the play of one group. The had great miking on the course so it felt like you were right there. Maltby spoke in hushed tones, because he was right there, but Azinger did so as well which made it seem he was right along side. They merely described the action, didn’t editorialize and let the play speak for itself. Unfortunately it lasted only minutes and never returned.

Golf is a dignified game that oozes it special competitive customs that have persisted over centuries. Where else do players call penalties on themselves? Cut out the superficial music while recapping earlier play. Golf is a game endowed with its own special sounds that define the game more than any awkwardly injected background music.

There need to be some technology breakthroughs to let the viewer feel like they are standing right next to the golfers. Because of forshortening caused by telephoto lenses, 90 yard sandwedge shots look more like 150 yard nine irons. As a viewer and golfer, I want to be right where my own eyes can tell me what kind of shot Tiger just hit.

CBS, NBC and The Golf Channel, you can do a much better job of creating drama and bringing us viewers right next to Tiger on the course. Remember you are storytellers, not just reporters. There are real challenges in covering a sport that takes place over so much acreage and in so many places around the world, but they have to be overcome if the game as spectacle is going to get to the next level.