Fresh And Innovative: ESPN's Open Championship Gadgets

Here in The Open media center, the big screens are divided into BBC for the left side of the house (Fleet Street and friends), and ESPN on the right side for the Yanks. Everytime I look up there's a vibrancy on the right and to the left, well, some glorious shots of birds or the estuary. During yesterday's greens-too-fast delay, ESPN appeared to fill the time with urgency and a news-gathering approach.

While we unfortunately can't hear the announcing, the pictures and extras have been eye-opening and innovative. A real standout has been the flyovers shown with light blue shading to delineate between landing areas depending on wind (they probably need to add a red zone for those who can carry it 320).

And anyone who has been to the UK knows the distinctive green contour dashes used in homage to Strokesaver's yardage guides.

Then there was this use of Protracer partnering with ESPN Visual Technology. We saw a version of this at TPC Sawgrass' 17th and while it was fun to look at, the Road Hole is a much better architectural canvas. ESPN has put it to good use:

In a press release the Protracer folks explain how it works:

Some of the Protracer systems on The Old Course are set in permanent locations while others are used to follow featured groups around the course. Due to the vast amount of different shot shapes crafted by the world’s top players when tackling a links course, The Open Championship provides an excellent stage for Protracer.

“We employ multiple Protracer systems which allows us to track shots throughout the golf course and from varying camera angles, including rail mounted robotic cameras, mobile units and camera towers. It all works very well and integrates smoothly into the production.” says Berntsen.

A new addition to this year’s Open Championship coverage on ESPN is a neat camera angle on the famous 17th hole on The Old Course. Set next to the green the camera shows tee shots as they are hit into the fairway, over The Old Course Hotel.

 “The new receive tracking system on 17 is a big value added to the broadcast, showcasing an entirely new perspective on ball flight and strategy.”

ESPN's coverage begins at 7 am ET Sunday and Monday's delayed final round coverage starts at 6 am ET.