Televised golf coverage in general sucks in the US. It sucks because over the years it's become a competition to see who can sound the smartest and talk the most.

I miss Renton Laidlaw and his cohost when they would do European Tour events back in the day. He had the gift of knowing when to talk, when not to, and get this - he was never on the European Tour's order of merit list. He was a recreational player who struggled to get into the single digits in his handicap. But he was well respected by the many players he covered, so well respected that he played numerous rounds with some of the top players in the game during his career.

One would've never known that about him during a telecast, because he wasn't more important than the game he covered for a living.

I sometimes got sick of hearing McCord, but overall thought he did a decent job. Same of Kostis as I thought his swing analysis was always pretty good. I've heard Immelman a bit and I'm not impressed yet. Most of the time I'll watch with the sound off though so what do I know.

    swinnea Is Konica-Minolta out too? 😀

    Good question. Was it a package deal?

      2 months later

      Kostis loves taking shots at the PGA...

      • KCee replied to this.

        Toulon I agree with him about the past names of tournaments. That's a part of history. Just because you sponsor a tournament in 2020 doesn't mean you change the name of it from 1990.

          He's been around long enough to have valid opinions on a few things.

          The Tour's website has always seemed sorely outdated and cluttered appearance-wise. Some players' bios and pics are ancient and not up to date, and the website navigation is clumsy and littered with broken links that no longer work. It's obviously not a priority to them.

          But while I get the point about the namesake tournaments like Hogan, Nelson, Palmer, Nicklaus, etc. and how they should be preserved and honored, it's not like the corporate sponsors are only kicking in free hotdogs and cokes to sponsor these events. Hogan Invitational @ Riviera = $9.3 million purse. Nelson = $8.1 million. Palmer = $9.3 million. Nicklaus = $9.3 million. If I'm forking over close to $10 million, I want my company name up there in the header too. Otherwise, they can be like the Masters, fund their own show, and perhaps even not have their tournaments whored out to the highest bidder in exchange for 10 sponsor commercials per hour of coverage.

          Finchem got a lot of grief for a number of things during his reign and some of them were certainly understandable. But one thing he figured out pretty quick is not slapping away the hand that feeds him. One thing these guys, including the execs, can't complain about is salaries and purses. All they need to do is take a peek at the Women's purses/payouts and that gratitude would come back pretty quick.

          Johnny Miller drove me to watching golf with the sound muted. All the graphics on screen tell me everything I need to know.

            sdandrea1

            I tolerated Miller. Mostly because he took 5 minutes of his life to share a golf tip with my (then) 10-yr-old daughter who was just learning how to play.

            So we're standing in line at a booth at the Women's US Open, and I'm trying to explain to her how the guy we were waiting to get an autograph from shot the lowest final round in US Open history to win. She didn't seem nearly as impressed by that as I was. LOL... Anyway, we finally get up to him and he says, "Hey there! So young lady, are you taking lessons? Does she play golf too, dad?" I nod and tell him she's just started going to the range with me. "So dad's giving you some lessons. Is he a good teacher?" Johnny asks her.

            My daughter: "Well, yeah. Duh. He's a scratch golfer. I'm pretty sure he knows everything."

            I rolled my eyes and Johnny chuckled. "Wow! Is that true, dad? Well, if I were you I would listen to him too! Sounds like he knows what he's talking about!" He then wasted 5 minutes of her life by grabbing a sheet of paper and drawing a circle, and then a line underneath the circle. "So this is the ball. That line is the ground the ball is lying on. Here's the most important thing about hitting the golf ball. You want to hit the ball first, right here, and then the divot comes after the ball, right here. A divot is that little chunk of grass that the club swipes away after you make contact with the ball."

            My daughter: "Yeah, he's already taught me that."

            I just shook my head laughing and thanked him for his time. He shook my hand, winked at me, told me to keep up the good work.

            Yeah, he was always known to be critical and sometimes arrogant, but that day he made me look like the greatest golfer in the world in front of my daughter. I'll never forget that. 😉

                PA-PLAYA

                Great story, Scott! I have no idea if JM is a decent person, I just grew nauseous of his "all about me" commentary.

                    sdandrea1

                    Funny, but as we were waiting for the person in line ahead of us, I overheard Johnny say, “Well, Jack has often gone on record saying that he thought I was the greatest wedge player he ever saw.”

                    LOL

                        PA-PLAYA Funny, but as we were waiting for the person in line ahead of us, I overheard Johnny say, “Well, Jack has often gone on record saying that he thought I was the greatest wedge player he ever saw.”

                        I rest my case..........

                          I’d kind of like the idea of being able to give the business that put me out to pasture a little crap if anyone would actually listen! Go get ‘em Gary and Peter. 🗣