There have been a few posts here lately lamenting the coverage that the Golf Channel provides for PGA tournaments. I decided to today to try and quantify "how much actual golf is shown" in a typical hour of coverage. So from 4 PM to 5 PM today I actually measured with the chrono on my running watch how much actual golf was shown for the PGA tournament at Riviera. I did not count commercials, blimp or other scenic shots, or golf central updates.

The total : 34 minutes and 26 seconds of actual golf shown (a player on the course hitting, walking, or contemplating a shot). You can give me a margin of error of +/- 1 minute or so.

I think this just confirms what we already knew, but it was an even smaller amount of actual golf coverage than I would have guessed.

There you have it ....

Yep!

It's getting so that one should say that I'm turing on the Golf to watch the commercials!

I have never gone as far as you did, but I always wondered how they could have 3 min of commercials... then show only 4 shots, two leaderboards, have a mini intierview.... and then air another 3 or 4 min. of commercials again!! That would be 2 min of show for every 8 to 9 minutes of commercials!!!

No wonder I just tape it and watch it later. (I wore out a VCR doing this, too!!!)

The only thing watching "live" golf is good for is taking a nap. Otherwise, it's DVR all the way.

Tomorrow time the amount of Flomax, Avodart, Cialis, Viagra, commercials. I know a lot of older guys watch golf, but I'm 30, I don't need these products just yet.

I don't get why people b**** about something that they get for free. Would you rather the golf channel not exist? Then you wouldn't get to see any 1st/2nd round coverage or any european tour events...yeah that sounds alot better than how it is now...

Not a b**** session, just a statement of fact. It was a lot better when USA did the first and second round coverage, or sometimes TNT did it. Point being that we have significantly downgraded from what we used to have. Thankfully, there is DVR which makes it tolerable. You can watch 3 hours of coverage in 1 hour and 45 minutes

^^^ I totally agree, I would rather have it than not... any golf is better than none.

But.... I do have to say that a TiVO or DVR is at the top of my "next to buy list"

I'm sure I'm you got your little "crono" out for USA/TNT/ESPN golf coverage, it would be exactly the same. Golf coverage is golf coverage for the mnost part. The only difference is The Masters.

Doubt it - but if you enjoy the coverage that's great. It's not like I'm trying to convince you of anything. As for me, I'll only watch it 99% of the time on a DVR. Just thought it would be interesting to insert some facts into the debate.

That's more than I thought. I mean, you have 22 minutes of commercials in 1 hour of TV. So right off the bat, you're down to 38 minutes. So it's really just 3 or 4 minutes of fluff during the hour.

Cable and Direct TV are not free where I live. I get what you guys are saying about B******, but it is not exactly free. I get tired of the commercials, but I understand that is part of the coverage. I would like to see more shots and I don't need the what often seems too "forced" commentary.

Thanks sniper. It ain't free.
But flip it around, what if they only showed parts of a baseball game or football game? You only see the 1st and 2nd batters in an inning? Or 1st down and 3rd down? You get fluff and rambling in other sports but its while they're showing the sport.
I know they can't show every shot of every golfer, but c'mon. Leave out some of the fluff and show the golf.

The European Tour coverage is much better. You see a lot more golf and a lot more players.

I agree 100%

Cant wait for the Masters

Have you never watched Monday Night Football? It should be called Monday Night Fluff. Each week they spend an inordinate amount of time with some lame actor trying to push some lousy TV show while completely ignoring the play on the field.

Man, everytime I flip through the channels and go TGC when a Tour event is on it's a d*mn commercial!! Do they ever wear out the advertising.....but hey that's how they make there money. Still love having the TGC, they do a great job. Gotta love watching The Masters with so few interuptions.

At least we don't have to listen to Kelly this week.

The best coverage, bar none, is the BBC coverage of The Open (that is the 'British' Open). You guys in the US probably get a locally modified version with ads and stuff.

In the UK, BBC coverage on Thurs and Fri starts at 9.30 am, finishes at 7pm, and basically no interruptions. No commercials, no trailers for other programmes AND no misty eyed nostalgia pieces with bagpipe music, thank God. There may be a channel change during the day (BBC1 to BBC2) but that is basically immediate and barely allows a bathroom break!.

And the multiscreen option allows you to choose to watch some specific groups, or a specific hole to watch for a while. Bliss.

I agree !!!!!!

Actually I would like to see more shots off the tee and from the fairway along with swing analysis / launch monitors . The cover the golf channel had during the opening event in Hawaii was great ! Seeing someone trying to make a 3 foot putt isn't that interesting to me unless it's on sunday .

I find the cameramen in European Tour coverage to be horrible. I can't count how many times they lose track of the ball during flight, then when they think the ball has landed, zoom out and we just sit there, clueless as to where the ball ended up.

Good Bad / good / bad /good /bad....
It still seems to be on a tv somewhere in the house all the time.

My question to all is. Is the picture quality very good to you.
Do you notice the blare whitch effect? Dosn't happen on any other channels I watch.
I also get a indication that is only being trasmitted in 420. (directv) others channels 1080i (p)

So true... Watching players sink (or miss) routine putts is about as exciting as watching grass grow, or bowling.

Most of the Euro Tour stuff you see is by a Euro Tour production company. The BBC have their own separate camera crews and they are very good. They are also pretty innovative and you may have seen them riding on the fairways with Segways dueing the last couple of Opens. They provide the feed you see of the Open, but you also get the ads and other fillers that we are spared over here in the UK.

Free, I think not pal. You have to have cable or satellite to get it. That is not free my friend.

AMEN!

I am on the same page as this post, enough of the short putts. I want to see guys make shots!!!