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Watching golf on TV aided by ball-tracking tech

BY MIKE MCQUADE

Cronkite News

When Rickie Fowler knocked his tee shot just 9 feet short of the pin in the third round of the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open, the rowdy fans at 16 roared their approval.

So did viewers at home, who had a better understanding of the shot’s trajectory than even those in the stands.

That’s because of Toptracer, the balltracking technology that allows television viewers to track ball �light in real time. “Similar to the �irst-and-10 line in American football, it added a new level of insight and understanding around what was being displayed on-screen,” Amanda Lam, the senior brand manager at Toptracer, said about the arcing line the viewer sees.

Toptracer has made itself available to the amateur golfer, too, with its presence at driving ranges. It tracks the �light of a golf shot and displays it on a nearby HD screen.

In Arizona, several ranges offer it, including Valley Golf Center in Avondale, Western Skies Golf Club in Gilbert and Longbow Golf Club in Mesa. Additionally, Topgolf has it at select venues, including the one in Scottsdale.

Toptracer is the brainchild of Swedish entrepreneur Daniel Forsgren, who, while watching golf, longed for the ability to better track ball �light with graphics and a display of the shot shape and trajectory.

The science behind it starts with cameras and sensors that build three-dimensional space. In that space created, any golf ball entering will be tracked.

At driving ranges, “the light waves created by the golf ball allows the software to track the ball �light and show it up on the

live broadcast. “You have to make sure everybody is aware that everything syncs up because they delay the audio to match the video,” he said. While Toptracer changed the production of golf behind the scenes, it affected on-course reporters as well. Dottie Pepper, a CBS reporter and 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour, welcomed its addition. “I think it gave you something automatically to talk about on one particular shot,” Pepper said. It allows for deeper analysis, showing club and ball speed, spin rates, height and even hang time. Tracking equipment like Toptracer has made the TV-viewing experience more enjoyable for fans of professional golf. Toptracer) (Courtesy of It also takes pressure off the broadcasters because screen,” Lam said. “The software can track Channel, CBS and ESPN broadcast the the technology �ills dead air. multiple balls at once and assign it to the sport. “I think you should just let the shot talk correct bay because of the distance apart John DelVecchio, NBC Sports and Golf about it because you really shouldn’t be that the sensors are. Channel Director, was introduced to Toptalking when there’s contact made any

“It breaks the range down into triangles tracer in 2006. He immediately wondered way,” Pepper said. “You can say that the (like an invisible grid) so the ball can be how the new technology would work and shot started to the right and then let the traced back to each bay knowing the anhow much it could enhance a broadcast. technology tell the rest of the story.” gle at which the ball enters and exits each Simply, it paid dividends. In the 2020 Phoenix Open, CBS used triangle.” “A colleague of mine was very instruToptracer throughout the production of

The world has not lost its love for the mental in getting it and he was the one the event. sport. Golf retail sales reach $13.4 billion who said, ‘The British Open, the Open It was particularly effective on hole 16, worldwide in 2018, according to the 2019 Championship is a perfect venue for this which is widely considered the loudest World Golf Report. because when you see the background, on the PGA Tour. It allowed the viewers a Toptracer �irst captured the public’s atit’s nondescript, there’s not as much deeper understanding of the players’ tee tention after its appearance on televised background,’” DelVecchio said. shots and helped explain the crowd reacgolf tournaments. After its introduction in As years passed, DelVecchio used it tions they heard. 2006, it made its broadcast debut in the more and more and it challenged his As challenging as it can be to secure 2008 Masters. production crew. Since a two-thirds of a an in-person spot among fans at 16, for

Toptracer completely changed how second, 20-frame delay exists, DelVecchio many, it has proven to be a welcome altelevision networks including NBC, Golf has to match changes on the �ly during a ternative. 

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Contact Zach Alvira at zalvira@timespublications.com and follow him on Twitter @ZachAlvira.