PGA Tour Dreaming Of Capturing Every Player, Every Hole With Eye On International Viewers

Evin Priest considers the plight of Australians who are trying to stream golf via GolfTV and watching their native sons.

While the technology is still a ways off, the continued goal of the PGA Tour and GolfTV is to “localise” broadcasts so that fans can watch top stars from their country.

Golf TV executives believe the new platform is performing well in its eight markets but acknowledged the need to localise broadcasts.

Australian fans are able to watch golf's major tours live on Fox Sports as well as on Golf TV through personal devices.

Oh to see those numbers…sorry, go on.

Golf TV's future plans are to capture every shot at PGA Tour events and have a bunker-style facility package of live footage for individual countries.

"The vision for us, which is a number of years away, is every shot, of every player, on every hole," Rick Anderson, the PGA Tour's chief media officer, said.

But with PGA Tour fields ranging from 30 to 156 players, how Golf TV will capture every shot is yet to be determined.

"I want to be clear here ... I can't put an exact timeline on it, but we have identified the need to localise the viewing experience," Kaplan said.

I suppose I could see how some golfers are like teams to a fan, but in an individual sport where only one player in the modern game elicits a desire from fans to see every shot he hits, I’m still having a hard time seeing how this is the best use of resources. But maybe international markets may be a different animal and the approach may sell.