Golf Channel’s Nationwide telecast far superior
Kudos to Martin Kaufmann for his piece in Golfweek's August 2 edition. As I have been saying all along here, The Golf Channel's Nationwide Tour crew of Jerry Foltz and Curt Byrum (pictured right) is far superior to the PGA Tour squad. But Kaufmann elaborates on the topic and hits the nail on the head when it comes to production value...
GC's PGA Tour broadcasts have adopted the tedious style of the networks, with cameras lingering on players as they loiter on the tees, greens and fairways. On Friday at the Canadian Open, for example, cameras focused on Mark Calcavecchia on the 15th tee for 57 seconds before he even stuck his peg into the ground and another 46 seconds before he struck his shot. That's an aternity on TV, and it happens too often on PGA Tour broadcasts.
Nationwide viewers, in contrast, see action. And Nationwide anchor Jerry Foltz and analyst Curt Byrum have a comfortable, conversational rapport that's absent on the PGA Tour telecasts.