Part of my problem with the sport of golf is simply that I find watching it on TV pretty boring. I love to get out and play, but have no real interest in watching. Some ask me why and my typical response is that it’s, well…boring. But I guess, when I think about it, that’s not really a good enough answer. So in fairness, I should probably get more into exactly what I don’t like or, to me, what makes it boring.
#1. It’s Too Slow – There’s isn’t much more to say – the game simply moves too slowly. The worst thing is to see a pro taking four or five practice swings, walking away from the ball, wandering around for a bit, walking back to the ball and taking a few more practice swings before finally addressing the ball and taking their shot. And we wonder why there is slow play on the course. Maybe the idea I had a few years ago of a “shot clock” isn’t so bad?
#2. I Can’t Follow a Certain Player – This makes it hard to root for one player. The network has to move between cameras around the course to get a look at everyone since, of course, there are 36 players out there at once. So you never quite know when you’re going to have the opportunity to see your favorite PGA pro.
#3. They Are All Too Good – I know that sounds stupid. However, what I’m trying to say is, there are rarely “bad shots.” Everyone is just consistently good. And there is nothing to prevent a great shot. No “defense” if you will. Watching a pro football game, the best players get dropped for a loss, picked off or miss tackles. The best baseball players make errors or strike out. That stuff needs to be seen. It’s hard to watch a players’ approach shots consistently land on the green. It’s like watching pro bowling – strike, strike, strike, spare, strike, strike…
#4. No Crowd Noise – Spending a Sunday watching football, or being at an actual game, you realize how much the excitement of the crowd increases the intensity of the game, and even has an effect on it. So having a crowd completely silent for most of the round really takes something away from the “excitement” of the game.
#5. All The Players Blend Together – This is really due to a combination of numbers two and three but, for the casual golf fan, it’s hard to care about, or even tell the difference between, any of the players on the tour. Outside of a guy like John Daly, there aren’t a lot of great “personalities” on the tour. Now when I say that, I don’t mean a great personality for a golfer…I mean a great personality in general.
Now, maybe if I was to watch a whole round and try to block out the examples above, I might change my mind. But the problem is, all of the examples above are exactly why I don’t watch a full round. Maybe if the tour was to bring in some form of remedy for problem #1 above, that would be a good start for me.
Swing ’til you’re happy!
I think you’re missing the main point of watching golf on TV… there’s no better weekend couch nap inducer out there, other than maybe early/mid-season baseball.
Even while awake though, I enjoy golf on TV mainly because I realize how hard it is to do what those guys are doing. To the layman, you turn it on and there’s another guy you’ve barely heard of dressed just like the last guy hitting another well-struck approach that lands on the green, just like the last 9 they’ve shown. I look at it and go, “Dang, he’s a natural fader and had to hit a draw off a downhill sidehill slice lie to a sucker pin with a cross-breeze and in danger of fading out of shouting distance of the lead.” If you make the effort to contextualize the shots and the situation rather than just treating it as mindless entertainment like say, hockey, then golf on TV gets more intriguing.
Truth be told I think all of us would rather be on the course instead of watching, but since I have 3 kids I don’t have the time or the disposable income to play nearly as often as I’d like. Watching on TV becomes the sad-but-true substitute.
I’d love to see a simultaneous simulcast on another channel with the commentary done much like Mystery Science Theater. Just the silhouette of a couple of commentators in the corner of the screen just calling it exactly the way they see it. Probably being a tinge off color, subjective, just say whatever comes to mind.
Hey Dan…now that is something I would tune into!
Along those lines, I always thought it would be funny to take a sports video game such as Madden football and add an option or code to swap out Chris Collinsworth and Al Michaels for the Jerky Boys. But that would work great in golf also!
Prior to really getting into golf I probably would have agreed that watching golf on the TV was not great fun. However, after having numerous golf lessons and learning about the game more, I began to enjoy watching the game. I think the reason for this is that with more knowledge, you understand just how talented these guys really are. Not only that, but it is great to see how their swings differ to ours, and maybe even pick up a few tips along the way.
Paula, I totally agree. Tried to watch this afternoon, great time for a nap.