Golf coverage/commentator discussion thread!! Mod note #12

Seve OB

i liked the drone shots but i don't think i saw one which lasted for more than about 3 seconds.
i would have like to see them used more, was plenty of times we could have seen a player hit from the drones eye, would have made for something interesting. fair enough, it might have been sh1te, but it would have been worth trying.
some great camera angles this year, felt i got to see so much more of the course

First Up

The absence of a gallery - sorry patrons - didn't bother me at all. It allowed a full panorama of the course (which we don't usually get) and gave the cameras and drones access to all the angles needed to show what was facing the player.

I know it detracted from the "atmosphere" but from a purely golfing perspective, it was great.

GreeBo

El Sueño wrote: »

Sky have had 3 days to fix the syncing issues with Butch's commentary, the fact that the 3-4 second delay is still there just isn't good enough

How do you fix a delay caused by distance?

GreeBo

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

McGinley obviously has an axe to grind with McIlroy and has the platform on sky. Just gets a bit repetitive, some of the criticism about his professionalism are on the edge, you'd never hear him criticise Lowry or Spieth like that who have been even more disappointing.

Do you put Spieth and Lowry into the same category as McIlroy?
Who do you criticise more for missing a penalty, the Sunday league player or Ronaldo?

Kristina Glamorous Rumba wrote: »

Perhaps but you want a commentator to be somewhat objective.

His silly comment of Rory losing the edge he had with the driver from 7 years ago when in fact one of his most dominant years -if not most dominant- statistically off the tee was 2019.

I don’t mind a little bias for/against a player/style, it’s good for conversation but it can’t be as outlandish as some of the stuff he says about him at times.

McIlroy's SG off the tee:

2020 0.702
2019 1.195
2018 0.761
2017 1.070
2016 1.230
2015 1.097
2014 1.367
2013 0.624

So he certainly was miles better in 2014, or 7 seasons ago...

tyivpc5qjx0f2b

GreeBo wrote: »

McIlroy's SG off the tee:

2020 0.702
2019 1.195
2018 0.761
2017 1.070
2016 1.230
2015 1.097
2014 1.367
2013 0.624

So he certainly was miles better in 2014, or 7 seasons ago...

His point was the McIlroy's "relative edge" off the tee had been diminishing for 7 years not his absolute numbers which is what I said.

2014 vs 2020 there is a substantial gap but in the interim years, it did not diminish significantly as shown in 2019. To give you an example;

In 2014 McIlroy was as you say 1.376 while Bubba was .967 which is 42% better than 2nd place in SG:OTT

In 2019 McIlroy as you again say was 1.195 while Vegas was 0.753 which is 59% better 2nd place in SG:OTT.

As I said McGinleys point that McIlroys relative edge off the tee had diminished throughout the past 7 years just isnt really true.
His absolute number peaked in 2014 but his edge on the field did not.

Miley Byrne

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Yep, loves to get a few sly digs on mcilroy anytime he can, usually questions his bottle, mental strength and focus which are huge things to question a professional player on. He's great at disguising it though. No wonder McIlroy has little time for him.

Apart from that I generally like McGinley, has his homework done, knows his stats and offers good analysis.

McGinley has an axe to grind with Rory for not supporting "HIS" Irish Open in Lahinch and his not-so-subtle gleeful commentary on Rory's demise is childish and very, very obvious.

eagle eye

Miley Byrne wrote:

McGinley has an axe to grind with Rory for not supporting "HIS" Irish Open in Lahinch and his not-so-subtle gleeful commentary on Rory's demise is childish and very, very obvious.

That's rubbish. McGinley is one of the all time nice guys. He doesn't have it in him to hold grudges.
He's been fawning over Rory for years. He only started telling it as it is about Rory very recently. It's refreshing to have somebody be honest about Rory for a change.

zf0wqv9oemuasj

GreeBo wrote: »

How do you fix a delay caused by distance?

Hi, They could delay their broadcast by a few seconds and sync in his voice correctly with the live broadcast when transmitted.

GreeBo

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/golf/rory-mcilroy-paul-mcginley-not-my-job-cheerleader-216738

Paul McGinley wrote:

My job at Sky is not to be a cheerleader for Rory McIlroy

GreeBo

Kai Bewildered Insectivore wrote: »

Hi, They could delay their broadcast by a few seconds and sync in his voice correctly with the live broadcast when transmitted.

But you have multiple commentators in different parts of the world trying to commentate on the same "live" action, its impossible not to have a delay.

If they delay their broadcast then the guys in studio would also be delayed, trying to merge that live action seamlessly just isnt going to happen.

Miley Byrne

eagle eye wrote: »

That's rubbish. McGinley is one of the all time nice guys. He doesn't have it in him to hold grudges.
He's been fawning over Rory for years. He only started telling it as it is about Rory very recently. It's refreshing to have somebody be honest about Rory for a change.

Exactly

GreeBo

https://irishgolfer.ie/latest-golf-news/2020/11/18/murphy-questions-mcilroys-diamond-partnership/

Gary Murphy (again) weighing in on the McIlroy-Diamond partnership

tyivpc5qjx0f2b

GreeBo wrote: »

https://irishgolfer.ie/latest-golf-news/2020/11/18/murphy-questions-mcilroys-diamond-partnership/

Gary Murphy (again) weighing in on the McIlroy-Diamond partnership

I generally hate these articles irrespective of who they're discussing.

It's nothing but complete conjecture based on nothing. He states the "Diamond needs to be stronger" yet provides no examples of when he isn't strong.

It lacks any semblance of substance that it's hardly worth printing.

eagle eye

Well you could at least out up the whole sentence. "From what I can see from watching in and walking around with them, Harry probably needs to be a lot stronger" Murphy told Joe Molloy

hurikane

Been watching a good bit of golf on sky lately. It does my head in when Coltart and Dougherty are on together, constant one upmanship nonsense. I want to hear about the golf, not them. Dougherty on his own is fine. Enjoyed Butch taking the piss out of Coltart during the masters.

Mysterypunter

Funny enough it is the nobody's who critisise more than anyone else. Coltart,Dougherty Gary Murphy. What did they ever do? The only time I ever saw coltart, he was full of drink annoying people, dougherty packed in the game because he wasn't good enough, and Gary Murphy did more or less the same as him. 3 nobody's

IAmTitleist

Ewen Murray was a relative nobody too...but i still take his word as gospel!

tyivpc5qjx0f2b

eagle eye wrote: »

Well you could at least out up the whole sentence. "From what I can see from watching in and walking around with them, Harry probably needs to be a lot stronger" Murphy told Joe Molloy

Ok and where do you think the tangible difference is in quoting him verbatim vs what I said?

Do you feel I misrepresented what he said or left out a piece of information that would have made what he said more insightful?

As I explicitly said, he provided no example of where Harry wasn't strong so it's really nothing but conjecture.

eagle eye

Mysterypunter wrote:

Funny enough it is the nobody's who critisise more than anyone else. Coltart,Dougherty Gary Murphy. What did they ever do? The only time I ever saw coltart, he was full of drink annoying people, dougherty packed in the game because he wasn't good enough, and Gary Murphy did more or less the same as him. 3 nobody's

I don't like Dougherty one bit but I have to take issue with your nobody comment. He won two pretty prestigious tournaments in the BMW International open and the Alfred Dunhill links. He played in all four majors.
He was a very good golfer for a few years before completely losing his form and retiring at a young age.
He's certainly not a nobody.
What are you looking for? Major winners to talk about majors?
You are far less qualified to give the opinion of them as nobodies than they are to discuss Rory McIlroy..

eagle eye

Kristina Glamorous Rumba wrote:

Ok and where do you think the tangible difference is in quoting him verbatim vs what I said?

He explained that his opinion is based off watching and walking along with them. So he's been there listening to their interactions.

tyivpc5qjx0f2b

eagle eye wrote: »

He explained that his opinion is based off watching and walking along with them. So he's been there listening to their interactions.

You do realise the irony in questioning me for not quoting him in full and then subsequently failing to fully quote me?

As I said-for the 3rd time- what he said is nothing but conjecture no matter how close he has stood to him.

He provided no explicit examples verifiable or otherwise, of when Harry failed to pull McIlroy up.
No further insight into the dynamic of their relation and why there is something missing.

His reference to Lowry and how Bo played his role around Portrush could have been used as a comparison to how Harry & Rory interacted during x tournament.

Article wrote: »

“If you look back to Portrush last year on the Saturday with Shane Lowry and his caddie Bo, think how much he jockeyed Shane to be fully committed to understand the decision and be able to execute. The roll of the caddie is enormous,”

Every relationship is different and I just thought it was another bad mundane article on the topic.
I think it is really poor and doesn't really shed any additional light on why Rory getting a new caddy is the answer to his shortcomings.

ligerdub

There has always been a scapegoat for the times when Rory isn't performing to the very best of his abilities.

It used to be the Nike clubs (did he win the majors with these?), the fallout from the change in PR company, the gossip in his family life, not practising enough, he needs to get rid of JP on the bag, he needs to have a proper caddy, he needs to see a psychologist to improve his mental game etc.

Pundits are weighing in because they want to rationalise why he isn't world number 1. The reality is that it's now very, very competitive at the top of the world golf rankings, and it's far from easy. There will be peaks and troughs regardless, and they all go through them.

Mysterypunter

eagle eye wrote: »

I don't like Dougherty one bit but I have to take issue with your nobody comment. He won two pretty prestigious tournaments in the BMW International open and the Alfred Dunhill links. He played in all four majors.
He was a very good golfer for a few years before completely losing his form and retiring at a young age.
He's certainly not a nobody.
What are you looking for? Major winners to talk about majors?
You are far less qualified to give the opinion of them as nobodies than they are to discuss Rory McIlroy..

Doherty was promising 15 years ago, and fell off the map after about 2 years, he was hyped up for while OK, but never lived up to it. He's not the worst by a long shot, but sky analysts are on a gravy train, money for nothing. All the top players are good, and McIlroy gets lots of unwarranted critisism from people who are nowhere near his level.

GreeBo

If we are going to discount any pundits who were never world class, then 90% of pundits across 100% of sports need to be discounted.
(Thank goodness for Gary Neville!)

eagle eye

Mysterypunter wrote:

Doherty was promising 15 years ago, and fell off the map after about 2 years, he was hyped up for while OK, but never lived up to it. He's not the worst by a long shot, but sky analysts are on a gravy train, money for nothing. All the top players are good, and McIlroy gets lots of unwarranted critisism from people who are nowhere near his level.

What you don't seem to get is that Rory McIlroy is undoubtedly the most talented golfer on the planet but he's not performing near that level.
This isn't me being biased towards him, I'm very critical of him of late. I believe he needs a great caddy, I believe he likes his little comforts too much.
I watched him win a West of Ireland at 15 years of age and knew he was good enough to be a pro golfer at that stage.
Imo the guy has been skimping on practice for years. He was getting away with it to a certain extent for a while with his long game being enough to keep him in contention.
His putting was dire for be quite be a while and he has never had a caddy that could help him read greens.
These guys that are talking about his issues now are the same guys that raved about him for years upon years even when he wasn't performing in majors.
I'm hoping this talk gets to him and we see the Rory we should have been seeing all along.

GreeBo

eagle eye wrote: »

What you don't seem to get is that Rory McIlroy is undoubtedly the most talented golfer on the planet but he's not performing near that level.
This isn't me being biased towards him, I'm very critical of him of late. I believe he needs a great caddy, I believe he likes his little comforts too much.
I watched him win a West of Ireland at 15 years of age and knew he was good enough to be a pro golfer at that stage.
Imo the guy has been skimping on practice for years. He was getting away with it to a certain extent for a while with his long game being enough to keep him in contention.
His putting was dire for be quite be a while and he has never had a caddy that could help him read greens.
These guys that are talking about his issues now are the same guys that raved about him for years upon years even when he wasn't performing in majors.
I'm hoping this talk gets to him and we see the Rory we should have been seeing all along.

I don't think you can say he is undoubtedly the most talented golfer on the planet...I mean what's that actually based on?!

Every one of them would win every week if they always played to their peak ability, playing to your ability is 95% of the game at the pro level, they can all got the ball well enough to win

Agree with the rest

eagle eye

GreeBo wrote:

Every one of them would win every week if they always played to their peak ability, playing to your ability is 95% of the game at the pro level, they can all got the ball well enough to win

If Rory is at 90% he wins nearly every time.
DJ is the only one who can take him on when both are in top gear. Maybe Koepka too.

GreeBo

eagle eye wrote: »

If Rory is at 90% he wins nearly every time.
DJ is the only one who can take him on when both are in top gear. Maybe Koepka too.

Again, based on what?
When have we seen this? How can you tell when someone is operating at or above 90%?
You are basically saying that he would/could be the best if he just played better...

tyivpc5qjx0f2b

Perhaps worth officially turning this into a second Rory McIlroy thread.

Deeper Blue

Nick Dougherty is a brutal commentator. Truly atrocious.

Everyone else on the Sky team is very good imo, including Sarah Stirk.