Sky Sports Golf

ForeRight · 10-02-2014 03:58PM #1

They have secured the contract for the PGA tour until 2022 now.

I enjoy the sky coverage immensely especially on lazy Sunday late nights.

The_Kew_Tour · 10-02-2014 04:04PM

I enjoy watching both tours.

If they could get rid of one person it would be Bruce Critchley. I know its mostly European but still.

Cant stand him.

dar_cool · 10-02-2014 04:19PM

Yeah i would cancel my sky sports subscription because BT seem to have all the good football matches but i love watching the golf too much!!! Its great!!

charlieIRL · 10-02-2014 04:25PM

dar_cool wrote: »

Yeah i would cancel my sky sports subscription because BT seem to have all the good football matches but i love watching the golf too much!!! Its great!!

same here, only have it for the golf and the odd soccer match. When the moto GP went to BT i was very tempted to cancel it.

ForeRight · 10-02-2014 05:08PM

I'm the exact same. Golf is the only thing keeping me with sky at the moment.

Dbu · 10-02-2014 05:30PM

One thing that drives me mad about sky and their coverage of the European tour is that the keep referring to the prizemoney in £ sterling.

Someone please tell them the official prizemoney on both the normal and seniors tour is calculated in €'s not pounds:D

PARlance · 10-02-2014 05:48PM

Hadn't thought about it before but that's another 400 quid to add to my yearly golf bill.
Would easily survive without Sky Sports if it wasn't for the golf.

Great coverage by them in fairness. Love the shot centre.
Only request would be to have more of John E Morgan and his terrible suits on the panel... The lad brings a different angle to it, the closest to the golfing "dude" (behind Jimenez obv)

Slicemeister · 10-02-2014 08:30PM

The longer Monty stays out flapping his manboobs on faraway courses the better, lest he drop in having missed another cut..

Tin_Cup · 10-02-2014 08:48PM

Would love to see them setup a Sky Sports Golf Channel similar to the F1. Certainly enough content to fill it. Be great to have golf on 24/7 like the Golf Channel in the States.

sydneybound · 10-02-2014 09:04PM

The golf channel in the US does very well and they said when it started it would never work out.

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/10/08/Media/Golf-Channel.aspx?

If sky showed a few more seniors and challenge tour prerecorded events it would add up a few hours Monday/Tuesday etc. Plus they should have lots more material to fill the hours.

First Up · 10-02-2014 10:23PM

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I enjoy watching both tours.

If they could get rid of one person it would be Bruce Critchley. I know its mostly European but still.

Cant stand him.

What's so bad about Critchley? I find him OK - knowledgeable and low key. In fact it's the rest of the Sky team with the over-hyping of everything that put me off. And I find Ewan Murray a bit of a creep actually.
But there will never be anyone to compare to Peter Allis.

Wombatman · 10-02-2014 10:57PM

Do like the shot centre particularly when the guest pros are in. Jamie Donaldson did a good one.

Can be a bit of a laugh when the make a balls of it...........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsgXYSTasgQ

Senecio · 10-02-2014 11:42PM

I just wish they would play more of the golf on channels 1 & 2 instead of 3 & 4. I'm with UPC and only get the first two Sky Sports channels in HD.

golf is a televised sport that really benefits from HD coverage.

redhill · 10-02-2014 11:54PM

ForeRight wrote: »

They have secured the contract for the PGA tour until 2022 now.

I enjoy the sky coverage immensely especially on lazy Sunday late nights.

Be interesting to know if this contract is for Uk only or Europe wide,I heard yesterday that the golf channel are in talks with BT sport to bring their product to Europe, indeed some new business offices in Belfast are going to have the GC on 24/7

RikkFlair · 10-02-2014 11:57PM

Senecio wrote: »

I just wish they would play more of the golf on channels 1 & 2 instead of 3 & 4. I'm with UPC and only get the first two Sky Sports channels in HD.

golf is a televised sport that really benefits from HD coverage.

Sky Sports 4 is pretty much the dedicated golf channel now on Sky, you won't see it covered on 1, 2 or 3.

Seve OB · 11-02-2014 12:04AM

Agree with the comments that Sky is great for the golf coverage. It is a rip off though.

What I mean is this. Sky used to have all the football, so that was it, you signed up to Sky and got all the football, now because the competition authority or whatever deem it unfair that Sky get it all and it has to be shared around, you now have to have 3 subscriptions to watch all the football. And you are paying for a load of stations that you never even bother turning on.

We are lucky that we just have to have Sky for the golf, but I'm sure the day will come when some of it goes to BT or ESPN or whoever, then we will be like the soccer heads and have to subscribe to loads of stations if we want it all.

Wouldn't it be much fairer if there was a dedicated channel a la Sky F1 station for Golf, one for soccer, Rugby, cricket etc. Then BT, SKY, ESPN etc could bid for the rights to host that channel.

Then for the armchair general sports fan there could be just basic sports channels which would cover a broad range of sports, including the odd football game, golf or whatever from the dedicated stations, but not it all, maybe golf Thursday and Friday or soccer highlights.

Much fairer on the paying public in my opinion, and I think that it would probably generate just as much in subscriptions, if not more...... but hey, it'll never happen so I may shut up now!

e.r · 11-02-2014 12:08AM

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I enjoy watching both tours.

If they could get rid of one person it would be Bruce Critchley. I know its mostly European but still.

Cant stand him.

Not Bruce ( state the fcuking obvious) critchley !

SnowDrifts · 11-02-2014 12:08AM

Wombatman wrote: »

Do like the shot centre particularly when the guest pros are in. Jamie Donaldson did a good one.

Can be a bit of a laugh when the make a balls of it...........

Rob Lee trying to stop himself laughing when Simon is hitting his 2nd is hilarious!

idle · 11-02-2014 12:42AM

I enjoy the studio panel for the PGA coverage but I think the commentary on the European Tour events is a bit sh!t.

I know golf isn't the easiest sport to commentate on but it seems to be directed at retired gentlemen with their feet up in front of the telly waiting for their butler to bring them their tea.

PARlance · 11-02-2014 01:00AM

RikkFlair wrote: »

Sky Sports 4 is pretty much the dedicated golf channel now on Sky, you won't see it covered on 1, 2 or 3.

Yip, they were running promos for it a few weeks ago... Sky "Fore"/4 angle with some of the Pros featuring in the promo for it ... They've nailed their colours for this season anyway (that said, I think they've switched it to the other 3 on the odd occasion)

Speaking of angling... It seems to be golf and fishing! Golf may be looked on by some as boring but how could you sit through watching someone fish.

Seve OB · 11-02-2014 01:03AM

PARlance wrote: »

Speaking of angling... It seems to be golf and fishing! Golf may be looked on by some as boring but how could you sit through watching someone fish.

arm wrestling on now!!! wtf

Dossy · 11-02-2014 02:23AM

I think Sky Sports 4 should be changed to Sky Sports Golf

Im gonna ring them tomorrow about this

Dossy · 11-02-2014 02:25AM

idle wrote: »

I enjoy the studio panel for the PGA coverage but I think the commentary on the European Tour events is a bit sh!t.

I know golf isn't the easiest sport to commentate on but it seems to be directed at retired gentlemen with their feet up in front of the telly waiting for their butler to bring them their tea.

"Morgan......turn on the Heating"

who_ru · 11-02-2014 05:00AM

wish you could subscribe to golf only for a tenner a month or something like that - just cant bring myself to pay 36 a month to watch golf.

m r c · 11-02-2014 10:10AM

I'm wondering if the people praising sky for their golf studio coverage including the cringefest shot centre have ever actually seen it???
It's horrific, the last shot centre done on the Pebble event was Jimmy Walker with his head circled to highlight his course management as he missed the green left when there was water/beach right.

The first time the Golf channel becomes available over here on subscription I'm dropping sky sports and getting it.
No offence to Denis Pugh but he's no Kostis.

PARlance · 11-02-2014 10:55AM

m r c wrote: »

I'm wondering if the people praising sky for their golf studio coverage including the cringefest shot centre have ever actually seen it???
It's horrific, the last shot centre done on the Pebble event was Jimmy Walker with his head circled to highlight his course management as he missed the green left when there was water/beach right.

The first time the Golf channel becomes available over here on subscription I'm dropping sky sports and getting it.
No offence to Denis Pugh but he's no Kostis.

I didn't see that, surely it's the other way around though (Water/Beach is left on 18 @ PB)

Overall, I think it's pretty good, and yes I watch it... a lot

Do the other channels do anything like this?
Slow motion analysis is about all I see from CBS.
What do the Golf Channel do that sets them apart? (Haven't see much/any of their coverage of events)

Wasn't a fan of Pugh's at the start at all, but he's growing on me ever so slighty.

alxmorgan · 11-02-2014 11:08AM

stevieob wrote: »

Agree with the comments that Sky is great for the golf coverage. It is a rip off though.

What I mean is this. Sky used to have all the football, so that was it, you signed up to Sky and got all the football, now because the competition authority or whatever deem it unfair that Sky get it all and it has to be shared around, you now have to have 3 subscriptions to watch all the football. And you are paying for a load of stations that you never even bother turning on.

We are lucky that we just have to have Sky for the golf, but I'm sure the day will come when some of it goes to BT or ESPN or whoever, then we will be like the soccer heads and have to subscribe to loads of stations if we want it all.

Wouldn't it be much fairer if there was a dedicated channel a la Sky F1 station for Golf, one for soccer, Rugby, cricket etc. Then BT, SKY, ESPN etc could bid for the rights to host that channel.

Then for the armchair general sports fan there could be just basic sports channels which would cover a broad range of sports, including the odd football game, golf or whatever from the dedicated stations, but not it all, maybe golf Thursday and Friday or soccer highlights.

Much fairer on the paying public in my opinion, and I think that it would probably generate just as much in subscriptions, if not more...... but hey, it'll never happen so I may shut up now!

+1 to this. Competition good for the consumer my hole. It would be if they dropped their prices when they lost part of what they offer but they don't so you just end up paying more for the same thing.

First Up · 11-02-2014 11:14AM

Here we go again. Expect the temperature to rise even higher as the Ryder Cup approaches.

Can I ask those complaining about Sky etc. do they remember how many golf tournaments A YEAR they saw on good old free TV?

Of course I would like it cheaper and I would prefer the commentators and studio pundits to shut up from time to time. But get real.

And by the way, when BBC do get the rights to a tournament, Irish viewers be prepared to miss a chunk of the final round while they switch to covering Armagh V Tyrone or something.

Arsenium · 11-02-2014 11:26AM

PARlance wrote: »

I didn't see that, surely it's the other way around though (Water/Beach is left on 18 @ PB)

Overall, I think it's pretty good, and yes I watch it... a lot
Do the other channels do anything like this?
Slow motion analysis is about all I see from CBS.
What do the Golf Channel do that sets them apart? (Haven't see much/any of their coverage of events)

Wasn't a fan of Pugh's at the start at all, but he's growing on me ever so slighty.

It was around the 10th hole (or maybe 11th). They introduced the section by saying golfers use their bodies in their swings and that Jimmy Walker, in this case, was using his head. By taking the water / beach / cliff out of the equation by baling out left. They were pointing out course management rather than technical ability. Which I actually thought was quite clever.

The shot centre piece a while ago where Simon Holmes bladed the iron / wedge and it ricocheted around the studio was actually very funny. I thought he was very stuffy at first but he's actually entertaining and very knowledgeable.

If there is one commentator that grates me it's that Gary McCord guy on the golf channel. I just dont find him funny in the slightest...and he never ever ever shuts up !! That's just my own opinion of course

I have thought long and hard about reducing my sky subscription but I couldnt do without the sports. Movies and all the other stuff yes but not the sports.

John Divney · 11-02-2014 12:09PM

I actually think Denis Pugh knows far more that is factual about the swing than Kostis, who talks some real nonsense for an alleged coach. At least Pugh had the balls to call Nick Faldo out on his lack of understanding on how a golf club creates a draw or fade, albeit back in the Sky studio.

Webbs · 11-02-2014 12:18PM

First Up wrote: »

Here we go again. Expect the temperature to rise even higher as the Ryder Cup approaches.

Can I ask those complaining about Sky etc. do they remember how many golf tournaments A YEAR they saw on good old free TV?

.

Was that in the good old days when we amateurs didnt try to mimic everything we saw on Sky/Golf channel coverage and end up playing 5 hour rounds and expecting the impossible from greenkeepers.

Sky Sports Golf

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