(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Golf has always been known as a traditionalist sport. The fact that many of its principles have remained the same since its inception is what keeps many coming back. Still, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some interesting changes to the way we’re able to watch the game. CBS Sports has beefed up their coverage in 2018 with some robust technological advancements.
The network’s coverage of 21 PGA Tour events in 2018 will make use of tools like Toptracer, SmartCart, Virtual Eye and many others.
“The basic pictures of the golf course from our cameras and the basic announcer commentary is the foundation of our coverage,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus told Sports Video Group. “The new technology just has a different way of showing what’s happening on the golf course and is something that viewers are becoming more and more used to seeing.”
Toptracer is a Topgolf ball-tracking product that might be the most significant enhancement. It was used in 2017, but its deployment will be upped to 10 holes per tournament as opposed to four. Normally ball-tracking tech is exclusive to tee shots but Toptracer allows wireless tracking of second and third shots as well.
Virtual Eye will create 3D hole models to show shots while highlighting analytics like ball speed, arc and distance. Smartcart will provide similar data and content.
“I think, as the technology has evolved, all the networks have creatively tried to figure out how it can improve the understanding of the way the shots are being hit and how they’re playing out,” McManus continued. “On certain holes, the blimp does a really good job of that, and Toptracer is a new and improved way of doing that, [too]. You see exactly where the ball is in the fairway; you see exactly where it is with respect to the hazard on the specific hole and exactly where it is in relation to what the next shot is going to be.”
Plans are in place to experiment with technology around the greens as well as bunker cams, drones and enhanced audio.
