Golf Tech is Hidden in Plain Sight!

Summary

This video explores the advanced technology behind golf broadcasting, highlighting how it enhances the viewing experience. From the Shot Tracer system using radar and cameras to track balls in flight, to real-time updates on the PGA Tour website, and the Apple Vision Pro app with detailed drone-mapped course views, the video uncovers the intricate tech that makes golf more accessible and exciting for viewers, both at home and on-site.

Takeaways

• 🏌️‍♂️ Sports technology is pervasive, with various sports utilizing tech like tennis replays, American football's digital line, and golf's shot tracer.
• 🌐 The speaker is a golf enthusiast who has been golfing for a long time and has a keen interest in the technological aspects of sports broadcasting.
• 🤖 The amount of technology used in golf broadcasting is extensive, including cameras, lasers, radar, LiDAR, optical fiber cables, and even volunteers with custom apps on Samsung phones.
• 🎥 Golf is challenging to broadcast due to its spread-out nature and the difficulty of tracking a small, fast-moving golf ball.
• 📺 The TV broadcast of golf uses shot tracer technology, which is created by strategically placed towers with cameras, TrackMan radar systems, and wireless transmitters to track the ball's trajectory.
• 📊 The TrackMan system measures the launch speed, angle, and spin rates of the golf ball, allowing computers to predict the ball's flight path with high accuracy.
• 🌐 The PGA Tour website offers a real-time play-by-play portal, where every shot is updated as it happens, facilitated by on-course cameras, volunteers with laser range finders, and tablets.
• 📲 Volunteers on the course use Samsung Galaxy XCover6 phones to keep official scores and manage real-time betting windows for online gamblers.
• 🚁 The PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app provides an immersive viewing experience with a detailed, real-time mini map of the course, stitched together from drone footage.
• 📱 The app combines broadcast feeds, leaderboards, and an overhead view of any hole, allowing viewers to track shots and see the course in detail.
• 🔋 The technology used in golf broadcasting, such as the TrackMan towers, is self-sufficient, with battery power and solar panels to ensure uninterrupted operation during tournaments.

Q & A

What is the primary reason for using technology in golf broadcasts?

The primary reason for using technology in golf broadcasts is to make the game easier to watch, especially because the action is spread across a large area with a small ball that is hard to follow.

What is the function of the 'shot tracer' in golf broadcasts?

The shot tracer is a technology that projects a trace of the golf ball's trajectory after it's hit, making it easier for viewers to follow the ball's flight on TV.

How is the shot tracer technology implemented on a golf course?

The shot tracer technology is implemented using strategically placed towers around the golf course, each equipped with a camera, a TrackMan radar system, and a wireless transmitter to measure the ball's launch speed, angle, and spin rates.

What is the purpose of the TrackMan radar system in the shot tracer towers?

The TrackMan radar system is used to measure the exact launch speed, angle, and spin rates of the golf ball the instant it's contacted by the club, allowing the system to predict the ball's flight path.

How do the towers that support the shot tracer technology function without external power sources?

The towers are battery-powered and can last for an entire day of a tournament. Additionally, they have solar panels around the bottom that help keep them powered throughout the day.

What is the purpose of the real-time play-by-play portal on the PGA Tour website?

The real-time play-by-play portal allows users to jump around to any hole and see exactly what's happening as it happens, keeping them updated on the tournament even when they can't watch the TV broadcast.

How do volunteers contribute to the real-time updates on the PGA Tour website?

Volunteers stationed alongside every hole use laser range finders and tablets to quickly tag a ball's exact location as soon as it lands and upload the data, which is then immediately reflected on the Tour website.

What role do the Samsung Galaxy XCover6 phones play in the tournament?

The Samsung Galaxy XCover6 phones are used by individuals following each group of golfers to keep official scores for the online scorecard and to close betting windows in real time for online gambling on specific shots.

How does the PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app enhance the viewing experience?

The PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app provides a combination of the leaderboard, broadcast feed, and an overhead view of any hole on the course with real-time updates, allowing viewers to watch the shot flying through the air and see the actual shot shapes.

What technology is used to create the detailed mini maps of the golf course in the Vision Pro app?

An entire team of drones flies over the course a couple of days before the tournament to map it out, creating detailed mini maps that are then stitched together for use in the Vision Pro app.

What logistical challenges does the PGA Tour face in setting up technology for each tournament?

The PGA Tour faces challenges such as bringing in dozens of trailers, running 10 to 20 miles of fiber over the golf course, mapping every hole with drone footage, and setting up grandstands, scoreboards, TrackMan towers, and TV towers.

Outlines

00:00

🏌️‍♂️ The Integration of Technology in Golf Broadcasting

The script discusses the prevalence of technology in various sports broadcasts, with a focus on golf. It highlights the use of tech such as shot tracers, which are not AI predictions but precisely measured using radar systems like TrackMan. The towers placed around the golf course are equipped with cameras, TrackMan radars, and wireless transmitters to capture launch data of the golf ball, enabling the creation of a trace that is overlaid on the broadcast. The script also touches on the challenges of golf broadcasting due to the sport's dispersed nature and the small size of the golf ball, which shot tracers help to address.

05:02

📊 Real-Time Golf Tracking and Scoring Systems

This paragraph delves into the real-time tracking systems used on golf courses, including on-fairway cameras and volunteers with laser range finders and tablets to tag and upload the exact location of a golf ball. The radar trackers compute the trajectory of the ball post-impact, projecting its landing spot on a course map. The system accounts for various factors like wind, temperature, and humidity to predict the ball's landing area. The volunteers confirm the ball's location, updating the PGA Tour website within seconds. Additionally, the paragraph mentions the use of ruggedized smartphones by volunteers to keep official scores and manage real-time betting windows during tournaments.

10:05

📱 PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro App and Drone Mapping

The final paragraph introduces the PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app, which offers a futuristic way to watch golf with a combination of broadcast, scoreboard updates, and an overhead view of any hole on the course. The app features a detailed, accurate mini map of each hole, created by stitching together drone footage taken pre-tournament. This technology allows viewers to see shot shapes and trajectories in real-time, providing a comprehensive and interactive viewing experience. The paragraph also acknowledges the logistical challenges of setting up such technology at each tournament location and the importance of broadcasting in making the sport accessible to a wider audience.

Keywords

💡Shot Tracer

The 'Shot Tracer' is a technology used in golf broadcasting to visually track the trajectory of a golf ball after it's hit. It's crucial for viewers to follow the flight of the ball, which can be challenging due to its small size and the vastness of the golf course. In the script, it's mentioned that the Shot Tracer is not a computer drawing or AI prediction but is based on precise measurements taken by radar systems at the golf course.

💡TrackMan

The 'TrackMan' is a radar-based system that measures the exact launch speed, angle, and spin rates of a golf ball at the moment of impact with the club. It plays a central role in the Shot Tracer technology, providing the initial data needed to project the ball's flight path. The script describes how these systems are strategically placed around the golf course to capture data from various shots.

💡Broadcast Technology

The term 'Broadcast Technology' encompasses the various tools and systems used to transmit the golf game to viewers through television or online platforms. The script highlights how technologies like the Shot Tracer, cameras, and lasers are integrated to enhance the viewing experience and make following the game easier for remote audiences.

💡Laser Range Finders

In the context of the video, 'Laser Range Finders' are devices used by volunteers on the golf course to measure the exact location of a golf ball once it lands. This technology is vital for updating the real-time play-by-play portal on the PGA Tour website, ensuring that viewers get the most accurate and up-to-date information about the game's progress.

💡PGA Tour

The 'PGA Tour' refers to the professional golf organization that hosts the main professional golf tours in the United States. The script discusses the technological advancements implemented by the PGA Tour to improve the broadcast and viewer experience of golf tournaments, such as the real-time updates on their website and the use of advanced tracking systems.

💡Real-time Updates

The concept of 'Real-time Updates' refers to the immediate reflection of events as they occur, without any significant delay. The script explains how the PGA Tour's website features a real-time play-by-play portal that allows viewers to follow the game live, with every shot updated within seconds of it landing.

💡Drones

The use of 'Drones' in the script is to capture detailed overhead imagery of the golf course. This footage is then stitched together to create highly accurate maps of each hole, which are used in the PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app to provide viewers with a comprehensive view of the course and the game's progress.

💡Vision Pro

The 'Vision Pro' is an advanced app by the PGA Tour that offers an immersive and interactive way to watch golf. As described in the script, it includes features like a live leaderboard, broadcast feed, and a mini map of any hole on the course, providing a futuristic and engaging viewing experience.

💡Fiber Optic Cables

The script mentions 'Fiber Optic Cables' as part of the extensive infrastructure needed to support the broadcasting of golf tournaments. These cables are used to transmit data and video signals across the golf course to ensure high-quality broadcasts and real-time updates.

💡Golf Course Infrastructure

The 'Golf Course Infrastructure' includes all the physical components set up to facilitate the broadcasting of golf tournaments. The script describes various elements such as cameras, TrackMan towers, laser range finders, and fiber optic cables, which are strategically placed to capture and transmit data for an enhanced viewer experience.

💡FedEx Cup

The 'FedEx Cup' is the end-of-season championship in men's professional golf on the PGA Tour. The script uses the FedEx Cup as an example of the pinnacle of the competitive season, where the technologies and broadcasts discussed are all aimed at enhancing the competition and the viewing experience for fans.

Highlights

Sports have increasingly incorporated technology for enhanced viewing experiences, such as tennis replay graphics and American football's digital line of scrimmage.

Golf has adopted various technologies including shot tracer, which is not a computer drawing but a precise measurement system.

The speaker is a golfer and has been golfing longer than any other activity, including tech videos.

Golf courses use a significant amount of technology, including cameras, lasers, radar, LiDAR, and optical fiber cables, to support broadcasts.

Golf is challenging to watch due to its spread-out nature and the difficulty in tracking the small golf ball.

There are three main ways to watch golf, each requiring increasing levels of technology: TV broadcast, website portal, and Vision Pro.

Shot tracer technology uses strategically placed towers with cameras, TrackMan radar systems, and wireless transmitters to track the ball's trajectory.

TrackMan measures launch speed, angle, and spin rates of the golf ball, allowing computers to predict its flight path.

Towers on the golf course are battery-powered with solar panels, ensuring continuous operation throughout the day.

The PGA Tour website features a real-time play-by-play portal that updates with every shot as it happens.

Volunteers with laser range finders and tablets tag the ball's location after it lands, updating the website within seconds.

The Shotlink system predicts the ball's landing area before it lands, taking into account various environmental factors.

During tournaments, one person in each group holds a ruggedized phone to keep official scores and manage real-time betting windows.

The PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app offers a futuristic way to watch golf, combining broadcast, scoreboard, and an overhead view of the course.

Drones are used to create highly detailed maps of the golf course for the Vision Pro app, providing an accurate representation of the holes.

The PGA Tour's efforts in technology aim to create a great broadcast and followable experience for viewers.

Technological advancements in sports broadcasting have come a long way from the NHL's glowing puck experiment in the 90s.

The speaker had the opportunity to see behind-the-scenes technology at a golf event and appreciates the PGA Tour's efforts in making this video.

Transcripts

(bouncy upbeat music)

- So every sport has some sort

of tech involved in the show somewhere now, right?

Like tennis has the famous replay in or out graphic.

American football has the digital line

of scrimmage we all know.

And football, football has this sweet new offsides graphic

and golf has this,

the shot tracer.

So some of you who've been subscribed

for a long time already know this,

but many of you also don't.

I am a golfer. I've been golfing for a long time.

Longer than I've been doing like anything else.

My first ever YouTube upload,

before any other tech videos,

was a couple of golf videos, believe it or not.

- [Speaker] Come back, nice ball, good drive.

- But I do still watch golf all the time.

And of course, after doing that Formula 1 video,

my brain is in tech in sports mode

and I'm realizing the amount

of technology hidden in plain sight on a golf course

that makes a broadcast possible

is actually insane.

There's cameras, there's also lasers, there's radar,

LiDAR, optical fiber cables,

there's volunteers carrying Samsung phones

with a custom app installed on them.

There's so much happening here. But why?

And when you think about it, there's really one good reason

for all this stuff going on,

which is golf is hard to watch,

for a lot of the same reasons

that Formula 1 is hard to watch.

Like this sport, it's not just like,

it's not one basketball court,

where all the action is happening in the same place

at the same time.

It's 18 different courts all spread around,

hundreds of yards away from each other,

all with different action happening on them at the same time

with a tiny little white ball flying through the air

that's impossible to see.

So when you're not physically at the golf course,

there's basically three ways to watch golf,

each requiring more technology than the last.

There's the TV broadcast, there's the website portal,

and then there's the Vision Pro.

(upbeat music)

So the TV broadcast, it's the most simple, right?

But there's still this flagship problem

of the golf ball being tiny

and basically invisible as soon as it gets hit.

And so that problem was solved with the shot tracer.

Now a lot of people don't actually know how this gets made.

Like it's not a computer drawing a trace

of where it kind of sees the golf ball going.

It's not an AI prediction of anything.

It's actually very precisely measured accurately.

So if you've ever been around a golf course

or looking at a broadcast during a tournament,

you'll notice there are a ton of these,

these little towers here.

Well, they're not so little towers sometimes too.

But these towers are strategically placed

all the way around the golf course, behind the tee boxes,

around the fairways,

and behind the greens so that they're covering

the entire golf course.

And every single one of these towers has three things,

a camera, a TrackMan, and a wireless transmitter.

So this TrackMan right here, this is the special thing.

This is the radar system used

to measure the exact launch speed and angle

and spin rates of the golf ball

the instant it's contacted by a golf club.

And then here's the thing,

once that gets measured,

instantly the computers know everything about how

that golf ball is going to fly through the air,

as soon as it touch the ball,

how high it'll go, how far it'll go, how much it'll turn.

And all of that will be even more useful in the next level.

But for this TV broadcast, from the launch data,

they can immediately project a shot shape line

overlaid onto the hole using the angle from the fixed camera

that's sitting right behind the tee box

and immediately get that data back to the broadcast trucks.

Now the crazy part is,

if you look around enough,

you will see these things all over the golf course,

they're hidden in plain sight basically.

Some of them are right next to the golfers at the tee box.

Some of 'em are actually strapped up to TV towers.

And it's not just the tee boxes.

The TrackMan launch monitors actually face backwards

from behind the green too,

so they can pick up launch data from all kinds of shots,

shots from the fairway.

It's super impressive.

And then all of these towers that I got to check out,

turns out they're all completely battery powered

and can last for an entire day of a tournament.

And then also this skirt around the bottom

is actually covered in solar panels too.

So they're basically feeding into themselves

and they never run out of power during the day.

All of this is to just give us the shot tracer

that makes golf on TV dramatically easier to watch.

(upbeat music)

Now sometimes, you can't always watch golf on TV.

You know, maybe you're at work

or maybe you're somewhere else where you can't be in front

of a TV, but you got another tab open

just so you can keep an eye on the PGA Tour website,

so you can see what's happening.

Lucky for you, they have built this thing out.

So the website now has this entire real time

play-by-play portal where you can jump around to any hole

and see exactly what's happening when it happens.

And then when the tournament is happening,

every shot is updated in real time.

But what I didn't realize until seeing it in person

is just how far they go to deliver all of these shots

as soon as possible.

So check this out.

So there's a few more pieces

of tech on the golf course that you should know about.

First of all, there are these on fairway cameras

covering the whole course.

And basically they're like that tower

that I showed you on the tee box earlier,

but it doesn't need any TrackMan on it.

It's just cameras and they're pointed everywhere.

And then there are also

volunteers stationed alongside every hole

with laser range finders and tablets.

So they've got this nice little setup to be able

to quickly tag a ball as soon as it lands

and then upload its exact location.

So here's how it all works. Ready?

So a golfer's up on the tee box,

they're about to hit their first shot.

You've loaded up the website.

Remember how I said those radar trackers can compute exactly

what the ball is going to do

the second the club impacts the ball?

Well, okay perfect, so that data is shot over

to the Shotlink trailer in the parking lot

where they have the feeds from all the cameras

all over the golf course.

And this is the crazy part.

The second the shot gets hit,

that system is already projecting a polygon on the course

where it thinks the ball is going to end up.

You can actually see it right here, outlined in yellow.

Then a few seconds later, boom, the ball lands

and rolls right into that box.

It's so sick.

So then, the volunteer with the laser

and the tablet will laser the ball

and get its exact location just to confirm that,

upload it, boom, it immediately shows up

on the Tour website.

Literally within three seconds of the ball coming to rest,

it is updated.

It's pretty impressive.

And the craziest part to me was seeing this system at work,

like predicting where the ball is going to land.

Again, before it even lands, as soon as they hit the ball,

it is accounting for obviously the launch angle, the spin,

the speed, but also things like the wind, the temperature,

the humidity, your elevation,

and all of that stuff to give you that polygon

for probability for where the ball's probably gonna end up.

Now, obviously it won't be perfect,

especially if the ball does something unexpected,

like hits a tree or a bird or something.

But that's why you have the volunteer down on the course

with the laser just to finalize everything and hit submit.

And they told me it actually calibrates itself

over time, this system.

So every 10 shots, it dials in even more,

and I actually saw that happen in real time.

I watched more shots during the course of the day.

Some of the earlier shots would be just slightly off

and then some of the shots later in the day would be fixed

and they'd be nearly perfect.

And then there's actually one more piece

of tech out there on the golf course

that I haven't even mentioned yet,

and that is following every single group of golfers

as they're playing in the tournament,

you'll be able to spot one person holding a phone.

And at this tournament, the travelers,

they were pretty easy to find

'cause they were all wearing pink shirts.

So what are they doing exactly, you might be asking.

Well, I got my hands on exactly what they're doing.

Turns out, every single one

of them is holding the same phone.

It's a Samsung Galaxy XCover6,

a pretty ruggedized phone, which makes sense for outdoors.

But what they're doing is keeping official scores

for the online scorecard

and their fingerprint is in charge

of closing the betting windows

for people who are online gambling basically in real time

on specific shots.

So they literally hold their fingerprint down on this screen

until the moment a player starts their backswing.

Then they release it to close the betting window.

Here you can see them doing exactly that,

wait for the player to hit, wait patiently,

and then there it goes.

The shot gets hit,

and then whoever's betting on that specific shot,

whether it's hitting the fairway or hitting the green

or whatever, that's the moment it's locked in.

(upbeat music)

So you remember when the Vision Pro first came out

and there were all those mock ups of all these cool apps

and experiences that people wanted to happen?

I talked about how the ideas for the apps were ahead

of the apps themselves.

One of 'em was Formula 1.

Somebody built this whole dream F1 watching setup

with the broadcast up top and then this little mini map

of the cars on the track down below.

It looked so sick, but it turns out that wasn't real.

It was just a mock up that no one had actually made yet,

except for the PGA Tour, it turns out,

because the PGA Tour's Apple Vision Pro app,

it's insane, it's the same idea and it actually works.

So they've got the leaderboard up top,

a broadcast feed and some other things if you want,

but then at the bottom, in real time,

you can have a mini map of any hole on the course

with an extremely accurate map

of the hole that's stitched together from,

yes, an entire team of drones that fly over the course

and map it out a couple of days before the tournament.

All right, so once they've got

all the drone footage imported and stitched it all together,

this is the result.

So this is literally on their computer,

but this is a flyover of, this is the 10th hole,

456 yard par four,

and right away you can see tons of details.

There's all the other houses on the property,

there's all the obvious things, like the tee boxes

and the fairway.

But you see every single tree,

there's the iconic tree in the middle of the fairway.

You keep going, you can see the cart path,

you can see where the hole is on the green.

You can see even things like the TV tower

and you flip it around, you can see where the stands are,

I'm behind a tree, you can see everything.

So this is as close of representation of that hole

as you can possibly get for all 18 holes.

And since it's so detailed, you can look at the green

and see how tilted it is.

This is a pretty flat green, so there's not a whole lot

of elevation change, but they've got these little,

I mean this looks like 2K, you can see the little

rolling meters for where it rolls off.

It's extremely accurate. So 18 of those.

So yeah, as this tournament is actually happening,

this is what it looks like.

It's basically a combination

of all the technologies we've seen

through this whole experience,

level one, two, and now three.

You see the broadcast in all its glory,

you see the scoreboard getting updated in real time,

and then you have this full overhead view

of any hole on the course that you can actually look around

and watch the shot flying through the air.

And these are the actual shot shapes.

Like if a player hits a low shot,

it will be a low shot in this visual.

If they hit a draw or a fade or a high shot,

it shows all of that too,

because the launch monitor knows all of this stuff.

So this feels like a really futuristic way

to watch golf.

I thought it was super cool.

Now, again, similar to Formula 1,

they're at a new location every single week

for every new tournament.

So it is a massive logistical challenge

to put all of this stuff

onto the course and get it all together.

Matter of fact, just seeing everything they have

to bring in from the dozens of trailers

to the 10 to 20 miles of fiber,

running all over the golf course,

to the drone footage, mapping out every hole,

and of course, the grandstands and the scoreboards

and the TrackMan towers

and the TV towers all over the golf course.

Like they can't do this for every single tournament,

but they do try for as many

of the larger, high profile events as possible.

So it was sick to watch this event in person

and then go back and see how golfers hit certain shots

and how it looks on the broadcast

and then in the Vision Pro

and just to get to see how it's represented

for people who aren't there.

Because for every sport, the broadcast is so important.

It's really only 1%

or less of the people actually watching

are the ones there in person.

But basically for everyone else,

they get to know the sport through the broadcast,

through the media,

and that's what's so cool about it.

And that's always evolving over time.

I dunno if you remember, maybe 30 years ago,

the NHL tried something interesting with a glowing puck.

This was like the mid-90s.

They tried to make it easier for people

to watch the broadcast and follow the puck around.

It was well intentioned,

but obviously pretty tough execution,

even though it's still kind of cool for 30 years ago.

Nowadays, the tech is so refined

and so precise that you can track

a tiny white ball through the air

over three football fields at a time

within a couple yards of margin of error.

And it is definitely an improvement.

All this, of course, at the end of the day,

is to put on a great show,

make a great followable broadcast,

and for the golfers to go out and compete

and to try to win the tournament,

and at the end of the season, to try to win this,

the FedEx Cup, the precious end of the year prize.

And I touched it, I touched the FedEx Cup. Pretty sick.

So yeah, shout out again to the PGA Tour

for making this video possible, for pulling back the rope,

and letting us see the behind the scenes.

Nobody gets to see this stuff, but now you have.

Thanks for watching.

Catch you in the next one.

Peace. (upbeat music)