Recently, I decided to take my gripe about the televised live golf viewing experience to the next level... by doing an experiment to show how many golf shots are shown in one hour of PGA Tour coverage.
The results were shocking, but the experience got me thinking... is it the same across other tours? I decided to repeat the process again by watching an hour of LIV Golf, at the recent LIV Miami event earlier this month. Once again, I found myself taken back by the results, but for an altogether different reason...
HOW MANY MINUTES ARE ACTUALLY SPENT SHOWING GOLF SHOTS DURING LIV GOLF COVERAGE?
Similarly to my first experiment, I feel it's important to set out the parameters I used to define the coverage of 'golf shots'. The timer started when a player finished their practice swings and stepped up to address the ball.
The timer continued throughout their swing, impact on the ball, and ball flight, until the moment the ball either came to rest or went in the hole. This process was repeated for one hour, using an identical method to that used on the earlier PGA Tour edition.
Clearly, there is more to watching live golf than seeing a nauseating merry-go-round of shot after shot, and the interesting preparations these elite athletes go through is part of what makes the sport exciting.
However, while in the interest of balance I would agree this aspect of live golf coverage is necessary, the PGA Tour experiment clearly evidenced that, in my opinion, this could be refined.
I won't rant on again about my rationale behind that stance, as you can check that out in my previous article, but what I will say is that the LIV Golf coverage left me feeling rejuvenated, with my faith in watching live golf beginning to be restored.
In the 60-minutes of first round coverage that I watched, a total of 19 minutes was spent showing what I have outlined as 'golf shots'. That figure is 30 percent more than the amount shown on the PGA Tour, for the hour of first round coverage that I observed, and that wasn't the only improvement in terms of viewing experience.
With limited adverts (a total of just 5 minutes), and very little time spent needlessly stepping away from the course, the coverage seemed to flow much more seamlessly. In fact, the only two main interruptions from the golf course during the LIV Golf experiment were two small segments to go behind-the-scenes.
One followed Dean Burmester at his home, as he discussed his relationship with his teammates and gave some interesting insights on the golf course, and the other was a short interview with Graeme McDowell. Both mini-breakaways combined to a total of around three minutes, leaving a massive 50 minutes of on-course coverage.
That figure is also higher than the same measure on the PGA Tour, which came in at just over 42 minutes. In my opinion, there is a lot that can be learned from the LIV Golf coverage model, which appears to have a very viewer-first approach.
Subtle nuances like the 'don't blink' cutaways are brilliant to keep the pace of the programme at a crescendo, as you are whisked away to other areas of the golf course for some of the key shots you've missed. This doesn't come as a filler either, but rather is perfectly placed between two live golf shots in order to maximise the amount of players you are able to see.
With the on-going talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, I pray that lessons will be learned and new collaborative avenues can be explored to see how we can get more of this fast-paced, engaging coverage at every live golf event.
