In my opinion as a 30 year veteran of producing, writing and broadcasting sports, we have to step up the way we cover golf on TV. Listening to 4 days of Nick Faldo and Terry Gannon (for example) commentating off a TV is dull, sometimes annoying, certainly not entertaining.
Let Gannon or his ilk, quarterback the team from the truck, let him write his intros and extros, then hand off under the direction of the producer to the rest of the team either on foot with a group or actually watching play from the towers strategically placed on course, the way it was at the Masters under CBS golf producer, pioneer Frank Chirkinian.
Can you imagine Foster Hewitt or Bob Cole or Joe Bowen calling hockey games from the sterility of a CBC studio down on Front Street, instead of amongst the crowd at Boston Garden or wherever? Well that's what golf is doing and it needs much more LIFE, and that includes the players and fans as well.
Putting microphones on curlers has saved the pro game on TV from being nothing more that a niche sport for mainly wealthy white guys and gals. Now it casts a much bigger shadow. The players now take for granted they will be wearing microphones.
It's long past time for golfers to get on with the same.
Tiger's success covers a lot of mediocrity in today's broadcasts. The bosses point to ratings that go up whenever he shows up, but those days are coming to an end.
Let's get these spoiled guys of today out of their suits, get some mud on their shoes, some wind in their face and for goodness sake some life in their coverage.
Bryan Angus
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