Despite working in golf media, I hadn’t watched more than a few minutes of the LIV Golf TV broadcast until the event at Valderrama the week before The Open Championship.
Why? Aside from the moral issues, I have very little interest in no-cut, 54-hole golf, especially given how many players in the PIF-backed circuit’s fields are well past their best.
I watched a couple of minutes of the inaugural broadcast at the Centurion Club in 2022 and I’ve seen the odd highlight on social media, but until the event at Valderrama, that was it. I am, however, becoming increasingly interested in the broadcast quality of men’s professional golf.
My colleague Barry Plummer has penned numerous articles on the subject. He’s written multiple pieces on the number of shots shown per hour on LIV, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour and he’s given his verdict on which circuit boasts the best overall viewing experience. Those articles inspired me to watch a full LIV broadcast and share my views.
So, on the Friday of LIV Golf Andalucia, I sat down for two hours and made notes. Here are my takeaways…
THE POSITIVES
1) The whole product just feels more exciting and engaging than PGA and DPWT events (to be clear, I’m not talking about the Majors here, which are generally covered very well). This is clearly helped by the lack of advert breaks, which will obviously start to be fed in when LIV finds more commercial backing. But even still, there’s no wasted time – after one shot is completed, you’re taken straight off somewhere else. There are no visuals of trees blowing in the wind or water rippling on ponds – it’s non-stop action.
2) You feel like so much is packed into an hour. LIV shows 32 shots per hour more than the PGA Tour and 35 more than the DPWT. Extrapolate that out over the duration of the broadcast and you have comfortably more than 100 additional shots to watch. Even when shots aren’t being shown, you have great audio between players and caddies, candid interviews (the players are allowed to swear) and fast-paced, dynamic hole flyovers that make you feel like you’re there.
3) The whole broadcast makes golf feel like an action sport. There are moving parts aplenty and you don’t feel like you’re watching a staid, slow-moving game. I’d challenge anyone to watch a LIV broadcast and come away thinking it’s boring.
4) Having a constant leaderboard down the left-hand side is a great addition and something that seems like a no-brainer for the other tours to implement. Whenever anyone makes a birdie and infiltrates the top ten, you see that movement. It doesn’t distract from the viewing experience at all.
5) I really enjoyed the quick highlight recaps. If you see movement on the leaderboard, you’ll be shown how it happened pretty quickly. The music that accompanies these visuals is fast-paced and snappy – not dissimilar to the Indian Premier League, which I think is covered very well – and matches the overall theme of the broadcast.
6) My favourite thing about watching LIV was the prevalence and variety of graphics. When someone is on the tee, you’ll either see their scoring average on par 3s or the field scoring average from the fairway, right rough and left rough. On the greens, you see how putts break and ideal starting lines.
Other features include pop-up hole graphics showing wind direction, ball dispersion and hole scores on greens, season scoring averages on par 5s, career stats on certain holes and shaded rings around holes representing 0-5ft, 5-10ft and 10-20ft. There’s always something going on and the graphics are bright and colourful, which feeds into the narrative that what you’re watching is anything but dull and drab.
7) One of the main criticisms of LIV is that it’s ‘exhibition’ golf. During the first round at Valderrama, it didn’t feel like that and I saw multiple people fist-pumping.
8) At LIV Golf Andalucia, the circuit debuted its any shot, any time viewing feature. This means you can select exactly which golfers, group or teams you want to watch and follow every shot real time. It’s really impressive.
THE NEGATIVES
1) The team element is pointless and means nothing in its current guise – it only serves to deepen the pockets of people who need no more money. The commentators are constantly trying to make it a thing, but I’d be surprised if anyone cares. In time, it might develop into something marketable, but at the moment it feels completely forced and irrelevant.
2) As much as I enjoyed watching the broadcast, I didn’t sit down for the final round. With shotgun starts, I imagine LIV could be more prone to damp-squib finishes, with potential winners not ending on the 18th, no one setting the clubhouse target and so on.
3) During the first round, I watched Henrik Stenson – who was five-over-par at the time – miss a par putt. His ball rolled about four feet past the cup, but he casually went to tap it in and missed the return. He didn’t bother to mark it, line it up again and read the putt. There’s no way he would have done that in an event with a cut where he risked not getting paid. When you make $50,000 for coming last, you don’t need to try as hard when things are turning against you. That’s a fact.
4) It might be nice for the people on the ground, but the on-course music – which you can hear on every hole – adds nothing to the broadcast. Again, it feels a little forced to me.
5) During the broadcast, there were a lot of references to the top 24 and the top 48, but the significance of this wasn’t ever explained. This is something that can be easily fixed, but I found myself searching the internet for answers. If you’re not sure, either, let me fill you in: the top 24 keep their place for 2025 and those finishing between 25-48 on the season-long money/points list need to be re-signed by their current team or find another outfit to represent.
I won’t be in a rush to watch more LIV Golf – it just doesn’t interest me in the same way some PGA and DP World Tour events do (emphasis on some) – but I was really impressed with the broadcast. It was colourful, exciting, engaging and interesting. The traditional powerhouse circuits would do well to sit up and take notice.
