OT: General OT MEGATHREAD (No Politics) - Read OP before posting

[Calicaps]

Like I said, it had its moments, but really just too brutal--not violent (tho that too) so much as soul-crushing. I love the Coens but Holy Mother of Dog...

 

[hb12xchamps]

Anyone check out the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix? Watched it this weekend and thought it was pretty good. What a crazy story

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Anyone check out the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix? Watched it this weekend and thought it was pretty good. What a crazy story

Need to watch. Heard good things. Too much content not enough time.....

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

A sequel maybe?

Nope. Just a beer commercial.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Enjoy your retirement Johnny Miller. Icon.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

I know that Brandel Chamblee is really unpopular, but I'd love for him to be Johnny's replacement. Gotta have somebody who isn't afraid to say something negative.

Case in point: Nick Faldo on CBS. Insufferable.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Faldo is just soooo full of himself. I do like him at times though.

Azinger is good. Chamblee I also like.

 

[Ajax1995]

Chamblee is good but he doesn’t have the bona fides of a Miller, Faldo, or Azinger.

Miller is great because he has no problem calling out the best in the game when they do something dumb or screw things up and he can say it because he’s Johnny Miller. When Chamblee tries to do the same thing it doesn’t carry anywhere near the same weight IMO because he’s Brandel Chamblee.

 

[g00n]

I respect Miller's playing career but always hated him as a broadcaster. He always seemed to make it about himself and his "frankness" that some enjoy comes off to me as just egotistical barb throwing at players who don't look and play exactly the way he likes. Plus he always attributes everything to "pressure". Sometimes you just miss a putt, Johnny. It's not always pressure keeping the face open.

Chamblee is an elitist, traditionalist turd. I hope he never touches a microphone again. He's a Miller wannabe without the turf cred.

Golf broadcasts are terrible these days. They need to change. It's no longer novel to simply see someone playing golf on TV. I don't need to see 60 seconds of lining up a putt, or even meaningless putts, or TOO MANY putts. I certainly don't need to see guys walking off the green, or shots of the ball against the blue sky with no point of reference, etc.

Much of the broadcast is dedicated to these shots that keep the player static on the screen so you can see the equipment and his logos, and the announcers get free gear so they hype the tech as well. Notice how you only hear what club a guy is hitting when it's some ridiculous number, usually due to the wind/elevation/etc and the lofts are all jacked beyond belief.

There there's all the commercials on top of that.

Worth maybe putting on the background or watching the back 9 of a good tournament with some great players involved, but just bad TV most of the rest of the time if you're looking for somethign to actively watch and engage with. I'd rather just turn on a footie match these days.

 

[Ajax1995]

To each his own I guess. I like the way golf is done on TV these days and am going to miss Miller’s frankness. I don’t need reverence for everything they do and like it when a guy who has been there and done it questions their decisions and play.

I see everything you don’t like but I don’t see any suggestions for improvements, unless it is just eliminating what you don’t like, and I’m not sure what exactly would be left.

I watch plenty of soccer but it is usually over by the time golf comes on, except La Liga.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Miller mellowed out big time as he aged and didn’t throw gas on players as often. He’s an icon. Will be tough to replace.

I’m with Ajax I enjoy today’s golf broadcasts. That said, unless it’s a major, and sometimes even then, golf is mostly one of several things I’m paying attention to at one time. Only for The Masters, Ryder Cup do I really focus on watching a broadcast, or maybe if a favorite is really playing well.

 

[g00n]

To each his own I guess. I like the way golf is done on TV these days and am going to miss Miller’s frankness. I don’t need reverence for everything they do and like it when a guy who has been there and done it questions their decisions and play.

I see everything you don’t like but I don’t see any suggestions for improvements, unless it is just eliminating what you don’t like, and I’m not sure what exactly would be left.

I watch plenty of soccer but it is usually over by the time golf comes on, except La Liga.

I've brainstormed on the topic often just not in this forum or in the previous post, which was long enough.

Golf is boring to most people. It's dying as a sport because casual golfers aren't as interested. It relies on growth spurts from superstars like Arnie and Tiger and it is not resonating with today's youth. You can't wait for generational players, or try to shove robots like Johnson or whoever down the public's throats. Broadcasts do not capture how impressive these guys really are live.

Do: Work on different camera angles. Use more drones and go pros. Try putting a go pro on the cap of a player and let people just watch his/her entire round online, mic'd up, with no commentary over it. Use more technology to show the shots (b0th wide tracer shots and close ups through impact) and the holes like the video game experience many are used to now. Loosen up the stuffy dress codes and encourage the clothing manufacturers to come up with more modern gear that doesn't look like a modified McD's uniform. Keep the player's stats and position up on the screen at all times when he's hitting. Overlay a topographical view of the hole to the side during a shot. Talk more about the early career and college affiliations of the players so people can relate. Show a WITB graphic regularly with pics of the clubs. Mic up more players in general.

DON'TS: Do not show the ball sitting in the fairway for 10 seconds doing nothing, like I just saw with a Fowler tee shot. Don't show 20-30 second pre-shot/putt routines (like they just showed for Grace for a 3 foot putt on 11, 5 shots back, then 20 seconds of him walking off), or guys calling for rulings that take several minutes, or anything for more than 2-3 seconds that has nothing to do with the actual hitting of the ball. Don't show the ball against the sky and then sitting somewhere on some generic piece of turf, which lacks context. Don't worry about stats like apex, which mean nothing to most people. Don't have those annoying "play through" ads that split the screen (do one or the other). Get rid of half these old broadcasters who mean absolutely nothing to golfers today and sound like they're fretting over every blade of grass on the course, like Koch. Hire interesting personalities if you can't get the top retired players to add unique expertise. And for the love of god cut the mic as soon as the ball is hit so we don't hear "MASHED POTATOES!!" or "BABA BOOEYYY!" anymore.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head. Keep in mind, other than the majors this week's tournament is about as lively and rowdy as it gets (other than international competitions). What if every week were more like the 16th hole?

 

[g00n]

What is going on right now? Endless shots of Fowler standing under an umbrella waiting for some walrus with a walkie to waddle over and tell him to take a drop? It's been about 13 minutes since he was contemplating his chip shot that he hit into the water.

If this is boring to me, a golf nut, what does it look like to new golfers or prospective golfers?

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

I only watch golf on TV when it’s a major. Especially The Masters. The unofficial signal it’s my favorite season of the year, spring.

And on a different subject:

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

What is going on right now? Endless shots of Fowler standing under an umbrella waiting for some walrus with a walkie to waddle over and tell him to take a drop? It's been about 13 minutes since he was contemplating his chip shot that he hit into the water.

If this is boring to me, a golf nut, what does it look like to new golfers or prospective golfers?

Wasn’t boring to me. In fact I rewound it and watched the hole over.

 

[g00n]

Wasn’t boring to me. In fact I rewound it and watched the hole over.

You're not a causal fan. You're an avid golfer interested in the situation enough to sit through and see what happens, and/or untangle the ruling. There are less than 9 million avid golfers in a country of less than 230 million adults. 96% of the public doesn't care.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Not a casual fan. I’m guessing their ratings numbers were decent.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Sergio Garcia disqualified for damaging five greens in Saudi


Hey Sergio.....the jerk store called....

 

[g00n]

Not a casual fan. I’m guessing their ratings numbers were decent.

https://www.samford.edu/sports-analytics/fans/2018/The-Tiger-Effect

TV ratings suck without Tiger.

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/12/08/Media/PGA-Tour-viewers.aspx

Plenty of marketing fluff and denial about online viewing and "cumulative hours" in that piece.

People can talk about alternate viewing methods but TV ratings skyrocketed last year when Tiger made his comeback. Tiger is interesting and exciting to people. The current crop of country club graduates is not.

The NGF will also try to massage the industry's position with stat tricks like including driving range use and "desire to take up golf" as metrics. Anyone can say the latter, and Top Golf is what's pushing the former. The NGF also relies on self-reporting which means that there's a very good chance that some facilities with bad numbers decline to participate while emerging markets or newer facilities will exaggerate their business (as with driving range trends).

All of this is happening during a supposed economic boom, too. Golf course usage numbers should be increasing instead of declining or staying flat.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Everyone knows the Tiger impact. I’m talking yesterday.

Without having a source, I bet the final round was the 2nd highest watched of the weekend for US sports behind the Superbowl..

 

[twabby]

All of this is happening during a supposed economic boom, too. Golf course usage numbers should be increasing instead of declining or staying flat.

The economic boom is really only aiding people who are already well-off, [mod] so golf (with a high cost of entry) isn't really accessible to many potential new players.

Of course, as you mentioned it doesn't help that current PGA golfers are all rich white dudes with zero appeal to millenials who are, in large part, tired of rich white dudes.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Until they become rich white dudes...

 

[John Price]

Caps to Host Caps Canines Adoption Day on Sunday, February 10

 

[Silky mitts]

 

[kicksavedave]

All of this is happening during a supposed economic boom, too. Golf course usage numbers should be increasing instead of declining or staying flat.

I have tried to sell technology services to both Callaway and Taylor Made, both of whom are in Carlsbad CA. Both are cutting costs, shrinking revenue, and they both say that is the same story universally across the entire golf industry. The both say that corresponding with Tiger's flameout, the entire golf world is flaming out too. Courses closing, equipment manufacturers struggling, revenues down across the board. About the only thing growing is Top Golf, which is more about the party than actual golf.

Apparently Tiger literally pulled people into the golf world that otherwise would not have participated and those people have since left. No one today captures people's attention like Tiger in his prime did. He had his own gravitational pull.