CBS Sports will utilize a number of technologies as part of a storytelling tool kit for the 2019 PGA Championship that will see player swings mapped in motion capture and ball paths traced from a blimp.
The adoption of additional technology tools comes as the broadcaster, which is the first ever to televise the first two majors of the year (the Masters and PGA Championship), works to appeal to a broader audience of fans.
“We calculated the best way to improve the broadcast. What’s out there, what can we do to capture more shots or be closer to the game for the viewer?” said Harold Bryant, executive producer and senior vice president of production at CBS. “Each course that we go to [presents] a different challenge and provides us a different opportunity to apply some of these new enhancements in technology.”
After debuting motion capture at The Masters in Augusta last month, CBS is again partnering with Simi to explore human body movements during a golf swing. Eight high-end industrial camera systems will be placed at the 11th tee box and will provide full body analytics.
Data collected at the 11th hole won’t be shared with athletes for, say, swing analysis to improve their games. Rather, it is intended to give viewers an inside look at metrics such as hip and shoulder rotation, arm and knee contortion angles, and the speed of the golf club both pre-and-post impact. This should provide context as CBS analysts break down swings from the best golfers in the world.
“At the moment, we’re not sharing any of it with the golfers,” said CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus on a call with reporters. “The technology we’re using is just for our broadcast and our audience.”
Aerial ball-tracking technology from Toptracer will debut for the first time on a CBS golf broadcast CBS will embed three-dimensional graphics produced by Virtual Eye, based on Toptracer stats, over live video from a blimp to provide shot trajectory for the players from tee to green.
All 18 holes will be covered with Toptracer technology and utilize aerial drone coverage. CBS will also use radar tracking to provide a sense of distance, height, apex, and curvature for each shot. In total, the networks will use nearly 200 cameras and 175 microphones, connected by 41 miles of multi-strand fiber, to cover the events at Bethpage State Park, N.Y.
“Aerial tracing is an excellent tool for us to help tell the story of how these golfers can manipulate their drives or any of their shots,” Bryant said. “It’s just another way to really break down a golfer’s swing, what they’re working on, and how they can get better. We can compare different swing speeds from the top of the swing to when they actually hit the ball.”
For the second-straight year the network will use 4D replay, providing high-quality, 180-degree replays of the 15th tee box. CBS will double the number of cameras for the 4D to 90, allowing for better video coverage of a golfer’s swing.
Other features will include the CBS Putt Predictor, which provides viewers with a digital shaded area of where each ball must travel in order to drop in the hole, SwingVision, CBS’s Emmy Award-winning technology that offers a break down of player swings, and wind analysis of conditions and patterns on tournament days.