EDIT: I modified the poll so you could vote against only one guy in case you somehow like the other two.



I consider them to be the worst group of commentators maybe in golf history.

Johnny Miller: All he ever does is try to belittle the players claiming wrongly that they're really nervous and "shaking in their boots", he says this because that was really his problem. And he tries to promote himself the entire telecast as well. He sees something happen and then after the fact talks about how he's a genius for knowing that would happen when that is a total lie. The guy is totally annoying and crazy.

Gary Koch: Everything he says, with no exceptions, is said with a disapproving tone of voice, like "IIIIII donnn't knoooowww, bettterr be caaareefullll." As if tour players are playing golf soley to meet his lofty approval. Like Miller, annoying and crazy.

Roger Maltbie: While not as bad as the other two he's still bad. Basically adds nothing except for hardy and obnoxious laughs over nothing.


I have talked to a lot of people and basically everybody dislikes them, I am surprised they're still on air. Maybe some people like them, I have no idea why, but I would like to know. I am interested to find out what the percentages will be in this poll.

Gary Koch is the only one that bothers me because at least Johnny Miller did something in his career. Koch is nothing but totally condescending.

What, no choice for Dan Hicks??

Haha, yeah imagine Dan Hicks in there too I guess. He's just a dime a dozen talking head who knows and says nothing so I didn't mention him.

I agree...Hicks needs to go before the other dolts.

I agree,Miller is the worst,all he does is pick apart players and their mistakes I mean let it go they know and we know when they screw up a shot.

Johnny Miller- I use to hate him but I've come around. He really knows his stuff. Is he egotistical? Yes, I'm over it. I think the way he notices certain nuances is pretty cool.

Gary Koch- Totally agree. His whinny doubt infested voice annoys the crap out of me.

Maltbie- Is straight gangster.


I give them a thumbs up.

Johnny Miller does not know his stuff. He just makes stuff up as if he knows it in an effort to appear smart. I know my stuff well enough to shoot under par and know Johnny Miller is clearly full of crap. He's wrong about way more than he's right about. Don't let him trick you.

Doubt infested is a good way to describe Koch's voice haha.

I enjoyed them today...they made me laugh on several occasions even when they were not tryin to be funny. Oh, LOVED Gary Koch wearing the Cleveland/Srixon hat today.

agree 100%.

figure, i might try and pimp my fledgling blog a little bit in the process. wrote about this awhile ago, as i'm in the anti-NBC camp when it comes to golf coverage.

anyways...check it out if you feel like it.

http://tunagolf.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/t...ally-bugged-me/

it's really aimed at hicks, but i'm in agreement with most of the above posters as it stands.

they're my favorite announcing team. Johnny, like all very good athletes is a confident guy and obviously has a bit of an ego, but so do most guys who were succesful at sports. His opinions sometimes aren't what the players want to hear but he calls the game very honestly and doesn't bow down to any of the them, even the top ranked guys. If they play a poor shot he'll say it, if they end up on the wrong side of the hole he'll say it. Personally i think that's great for the average fan, as it may help him understand the game a bit better. Johnny is my favorite guy to listen to

Koch, he's OK...or should i say "he's better than most...better than most"

Interesting read- for the life of me I don't have the slightest clue how Hicks keeps his job. Quite possibly the most irrelevant of announcers in all of sport...

I've always enjoyed the NBC team, especially Miller and Maltbie. Been watching them for years.

I'll be glad to sign off on Koch getting the axe @ NBC if somebody will second the nomination to replace Jim Nance @ CBS.

Miller makes me laugh. Like today when he said about us non-pros "aim at the bunker in the middle you never hit it where you're aiming anyway." I've had days like that....and hit the fairway.

They all can't be David Feherty.

I would have to agre about Hicks. He could go get a sandwich/take a leak and we would not know the difference.
Johnny said something about nobody beating the "new" Phil. And Roger asked if he meant nobody meaning Tiger
and Johnny said yes.

Johnny says some things I don't agree with but, if I agreed with everything he said or he said nothing that mattered
(Hicks) I wouldn't want him on the show.

I think the NBC crew is good and after the comments about the GC and CBS crews earlier in the season, nobody is perfect.

Johnny Miller is like finger nails on a chalkboard to me. Has he forgotten towards the end of his career that he couldn't putt it in a crisco can? I think he is way too critical of the players...well, except for the chosen one.

We go through this every week.......

Here's the problem with American golf commentators: They think that no one in the audience knows the game. For many Miller overstates the obvious and he always predicts the worst outcome. He does that over and over and that's what makes him annoying. He, and his colleagues, think that THEY are creating the drama. All I want to know from them is the lie, the club, the hole location. Instead, we get dumb remarks like "he's dead" or "he'll probably bail out right on that one".

Contrast that with the broadcasters on the Euro PGA Tour. They assume the viewer knows golf. They know the players and the situation create the drama. That's why I love watching the European Tour.

I couldn't agree more with that jimb. The NBC crew and many others like them have the main goal of promoting themselves as if they are the show and the golf is secondary. So stupidly pompous of them. Watching EuropeanTour event is really enjoyable after having to listen to all of Johnny Miller and Gary Koch's bullsh*t on every single shot.

I agree that Nantz is also in the same category as these guys or I guess more accurately Dan Hicks. He knows nothing and always tries to make it about something other than golf. Not to mention his cheesy infomercial voice. He and Ken Venturi used to make me puke. KV: "Ho down, HO DOWN", JN: "mmmmm smells like Augusta"

Please Gary Koch has to go. His constant doubting about every little thing is so annoying, does this guy play like this himself.???Good Grief, I would want to shoot myself after and before every shot during a round if my brain functioned like that.

Miller to me is kinda of funny, I do not take anything he says seriously.

Maltbie, I would like to get him really drunk and take his money in a putting contest.

Hicks and Jimmy Roberts, whatever but if I had dinner with them and Nantz I think I would puke.

Throw Kelly Tilghman in there to . Is she gay? Faldo is full of himself but, he has been ther done that for sure

At that puke dinner I would like for Jim Huber to join you as well. Oh, and Inga Hammond.

On a scale of 1-10 of being full of themself. I would rank Faldo a 5 and Miller a 137. Faldo never tries to talk down to the players, which Miller and Koch do constantly. And Faldo rarely promotes himself, which Miller does constantly.

i'm not going to bash the announcers. but i thought nbc's coverage was weak. i would have liked to see some other players. nbc's coverage was rather...limited.

At that dinner I could include the entire ESPN network, but that's another story. Sorry I think Faldo is way more into himself than Miller. Faldo is starting to get more and more annoying, Miller to me is just kind of a goof ball, all that talk of hitting a shot 2 grooves high or whatever, that shot was flippy, etc., only a nut would talk like this. And I like nuts.

"I have talked to a lot of people and basically everybody dislikes them..."

You didn't talk to me or my friends about it, so you don't know that "basically everybody dislikes them".

When you get down the que to me and my friends just send me a PM, I talk to everyone else for you....

JOHNNY MILLER IS TERRIBLE!!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!!

It's just gotten out of hand.. his shameless self promotion and utter idiotic comments just need to stop.. i actually get more important and relevant facts from FALDO! At least Faldo socializes and knows a lot of the players and gives personal insights into some of them, also explains how to hit certain shots.. not:

"well im really flattered that _____ said he modeled his stroke after mine.. back to you Jim"

Another highlight was on 16 i think when Phil and Watney were in the fairway.. Johnny called Phil the "alpha male" and described Watney as "submissive"

My friend and I looked at eachother and were like WTF is he talking about and what does that even have to do with anything that's going on right now on the course????!?

VOTE NO ON MILLER 09

people, they are not as bad as you guys make them out as. are we watching different broadcasts or something.

miller is that bad.. the others.. theyre fine to me.

+1

Really, that is amazing to me. What does Faldo do that makes him more full of himself than Johnny Miller?

I agree that Johnny Miller's wacky antics can be entertaining, like, I don't know, a crazy guy on the subway. But I don't want to sit next to the crazy guy on the subway for 5 hours while I watch golf, it's gets really old.

that "submissive" comment was hilarious. made me wonder what kind of movies Johnny was watching at his hotel...LOL

but as i said above i like Johnny, he is entertaining for sure

^^^^^^^^^^ LOL i think Faldos gonna regret that. I think CBS has good coverage. NBC is decent, really the only announcer that irks me is Kelly U know who..

No one is fooling me. I to have the game to shoot under par. Yes sometimes he makes some stuff up like "I think he hit that one groove low on the face, maybe two," but I still believe he provides insight. Plus I like him because he is fair about my favorite players(Phil) game compared to Faldo who seems to love talking sh*t about Phil.

NBC's team is horrible, IMO. Give me Faldo, McCord, and Feherty!

Basically everyone I've talked to dislikes them. I did not mean to imply that I have talked to everyone on earth.

You and you're friends like Johnny Miller and Gary Koch?...........Why?

When you and you're friends play golf together does it sound like this:

"I don't know if you should park your cart there, pretty risky"

"Looks like he's going to go with a 4 iron, I don't think that's the right club, I don't approve"

"gee whiz I bet he's peein in his pants right now standin over this shot, gosh, look at him he's shakin like a leaf haha, oh man"

"This 4 par is a dogleg left, you should just take a lob wedge off the tee and take the water out of play, hitting a driver is so stupid. But don't be a chicken and bail out to the right. I remember when I played this hole last year I birdied it every time."

the best they've had recently on any network was lanny wadkins. he was smart, tough, articulate and a very good player in his day so he wasn't intimidated by the players. unfortunately they let him go in favor of a mumbling bumbling faldo. 2nd best is miller but his sloppiness makes him not as good as wadkins. id rank feherty 3rd because he's extremely witty (better than jimmy buffet impersonator mccord.) and after 3rd place there's no one i really care about.

Exactly.

Those three put golf first, having fun second, selfish bullsh#t last or not at all.

Miller and Koch put selfish bullsh#t first, golf second.

I for one feel Gary Koch is a very good analyst. Lots of interesting insight into the mind of pro golfers IMHO.

So who are you going to replace them with?

And when will the same old topics stop appearing on GolfWRX?!?!

I just truen the volume down.

I don't needs to hear:

"This is right at it!"
"OH, this is headed right guys."
"Sounded fat, this one is headed for the bunker!"

STFU, we can wait a few seconds to see the outcome you clowns!

I presume this will be first of about 20 threads this golfing season about this same topic .... it WAY PAST being old , you all have volume controls on your remote .. please start using them

I think they are all bad, but mainly Johnny Miller, I usually turn doen the volume when NBC does the broadcast. Anyone who plays golf or loves it just as much has to hate his little quick fixes for anything. Example: On Saturday he noted someones "low" follow through and how it aides in weight shift. I bet there are 30000 players out there this week stabbing the club in the ground trying to get a low follow through.

What, no one likes the same quotes every week? They putts break toward the water, the putts break toward the setting sun, I shot 63 in the open, etc.

Ha Ha. He is an idiot.

I have the stats here, and its official 92.37% of all words spoken by Johnny Miller on Saturday and Sunday involved the word "grain".

As bad as US announcers are they look like Oscar winners compared to European PGA coverage. There's the bald guy that knows absolutely nothing about golf, but what's really bad he doesn't even try to hide it. Then the other guy that's supposed to have a clue shows up in short sleeve oxford shirts ... LOL. all he needs is the pencil set in the breast pocket to complete the look. they provide no background on the players in contention and what a win would mean to them. and the cameramen spend more time on birds and plants than they do on golf.

I don't mind Miller. He's good for some comic relief. Koch & Maltbie I don't mind or don't care about what they say.
On another note, Kelly Tilghman is just plain boring and Faldo is full of himself I agree. But he's been there. He's pretty good for some comic relief also.

just my 2c.

I assume you made that comment because you thought it was "cute and witty." How about asinine and has nothing to do with the discussion in point? She's just bad; does too much on the soft side of the telecast (I assume because she's not into the playing part of the game) and is unabashedly a "Tiger can do no wrong" apologist. Miller - just should think twice before opening his mouth on some of his comments, which is obvious he can't do. Foldo (I couldn't help that ), is entertaining and does have credentials to back him up. I'd listen to him and take him seriously, more so than a bunch of the others.

fire them all with the exception of dottie pepper.

When Gary Koch goes into his "well...." , it makes my skin crawl. Seems all he's got at is kiss'n up to Johnny.

I guess I'm in the minority but I like the commentators,both on NBC and TGC it's nice to have people who have knowedge based on having been in the situations that the current players are in. I respect thier opinins and have a chuckle every once in a while over the side barbs, but I don't hate any of them. I just don't get all the BS nonsense whinning comming from alot of the comments. It's just tv.....
Living in a city and province that only has a 6-7 month golf season it's just nice to watch the telecasts and dream of when our season opens.

Turbs

Miller was astute and observant, as always. One of the first things I noticed on Thursday at Doral was the grass was shaved closer to the banks of the water hazards. Several balls tumbled into the water on #3 and #4 that would have stayed dry in recent years. "That will make Johnny Miller happy," I said to my dad.

Sure enough, he quickly emphasized on Saturday, after a ball rolled into the lake on #4, that the grass was cut lower on those holes and needed to be, since the water only comes into play for the pros on 6 holes.

It still wasn't perfect. Stewart Cink had no reason to stay dry on #18 on Thursday. His ball landed on the slope left of the front pin and stayed there after moving briefly toward the water. I'd make those banks like 10 on the meter.

Miller also correctly pointed out that #15 and #18 have perplexing greens. I played Doral often decades ago and those greens stood out as baffling, particularly #18 atop the slope.

NBC deserves credit for showing a graphic listing the extreme putting success the pros have at Doral, leading in several categories of highest percentage of successful putts from short to mid range distances. The greens look like a carpet up close. For some reason the bermuda greens appear patchy with dark and light colors from the high angle shots they use on TV. On site they look incredible. This year with so little rain the past few months I guess the greenskeepers had to supply all their own moisture but could regulate it perfectly, since Mother Nature was not interfering.

Miller respects Gary Koch. You can always sense it. Like this week with the tees moved up Miller obviously wasn't crazy about it. He remembers Doral being a bear in the '70s and is miffed the tournament is content to let -17 or lower win every year. I followed Miller often at Doral during his prime and he'd always be shaking his head, the normally deadly irons not rewarded with greenside applause. Every year he suggests changes to restore the course to more difficult. But Koch applauded the forward tees, saying it makes play more exciting on the weekend. I definitely think #16 should be modified, playing closer to the 305 they used on Sunday. At 350ish some pros take aim over the left trees but they can't get there and eventually play more conservative as the week wears on. I see it every year on site. It ends up being a parade of short wedges. They need to keep the trees on the left in play but shorten the hole to classic short par 4 status, and maybe tinker with the entrance to the green so it has some great angles like the famous hole at Riviera.

NBC commentators do their homework. I saw them at the range interviewing players before the round all week.