Generative AI Allowed the PGA TOUR To Add Written Descriptions to 30,000 Shots A major goal of the generative-AI effort is more-personalized services for fans By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 - 3:40 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Every week, there is more clarity about how generative AI and the cloud offer new ways to create content more efficiently. The most recent example is from the PGA TOUR, which used generative AI to create written narrative copy for the TOURCAST app, allowing fans to not only see 30,000+ shots but also read commentary and details about them.
When the Tour began looking at generative AI, according to Scott Gutterman, SVP, digital and broadcast technologies, PGA TOUR, there was plenty of experimenting, but one question was always asked: what can generative AI do to improve Tour-related content creation and, ultimately, better serve fans, players, and the tournaments themselves?
It's about scaling coverage across the entire event, he says. Typically, our staff can cover 25 or 30 golfers, but, with generative-AI content generation and data collected through ShotLink powered by CDW, we can tell the story of every single player. And it's not in a basic way - like JJ Spaun hit a 300-yard drive and has 125 yards to the hole as we have done for years and years. Now it will add context: he just hit his longest drive of the day or, at 125 yards out, he gets to within 10 ft. of the hole 20% of the time. It effectively generates two things: a fact and the context about each shot. We're excited because it gives us that foundation to tell a story for every single shot.
The use of generative AI allowed the PGA TOUR to add shot descriptions to more than 30,000 shots during THE PLAYERS.
The effort has been two years in the making, and the Tour began working with AI partner AWS, becoming a foundation partner for the AWS Bedrock generative-AI toolset. Bedrock effectively allows you to use almost any generative-AI model and a suite of tools to create these types of experiences, Gutterman explains. We are using Anthropic's Claude models to create these types of experiences. In particular, we're using the Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet and have spent the past year moving away from proofs of concept and instead figuring out to operationalize it.
Moving beyond POCs involved building a set of data-acquisition and context services to take data from ShotLink and apply a rules engine so that the prompt engine knows how to use the data and apply context that makes sense: for example, after a player hits the first tee shot of the day off the first hole, it doesn't write that the player hit the longest drive of the day.
You have the data coming in and the context services that talk to a rules base that includes things like prioritizing what types of things to talk about, he adds. For example, we can tell it to talk about greens in regulations on approach shots every three narratives so that the text doesn't become redundant across all the players. We also teach the model with different ways to talk about a drive so that it isn't described the same way every time or the same way a putt would be described. All of that is fed into the Anthropic cloud model to generate the narratives.
The output narrative from Claude 3.5 Sonnet goes through a validation service to make sure the ShotLink data referred to in the output matches up with what was input into the system (for example, drive distance). The next step is cosine similarity: the system makes sure the text falls within a range of how one would talk about a drive. If it passes those tests, the text is sent to the publishing engine, where additional tests ensure complete accuracy.
During THE PLAYERS Championship, Gutterman says, the accuracy on the 30,000 shots was around 96%, which is where we thought we would be.
The system is currently text-based because the models do not process video, especially live video from an event, Gutterman points out. We are building toward a day when it'll be a combination of live data, live audio, live video and then using a multimodal output to create a video and generate a voice. We are working with AWS on a synthetic voice that can read off the prompts. We'll eventually get there.
Bedrock allows the PGA TOUR to be model-agnostic and find the best model for the task. If future models can do a function at a cheaper cost, the Tour can pivot to it without issues. You'll hear some people talking about a model that can do everything, he notes. What we're seeing is, that is not the case. We want to be able to use Antrophic for this instance but use AWS Nova, which is brand new, for things like image recognition and other work. And there will probably be another model for things like translation.
The Tour continues to build internal tools, such as story-generation tools and the synthetic-voice commentary capabilities. For five years, Gutterman explains, we have not had commentary on the 48 streams of Every Shot Live, It has just been natural sound and stats. Our goal is always to have a human telling the story, but having two commentators across 48 streams all day is cost-prohibitive. With AI, the viewer could turn on commentary the same way they turn on closed captioning. And, if they want it in Spanish, they can have that as well.
Those types of personalized services are the goal for much of the generative-AI effort, he adds. It moves us down the road of hyper-personalization, where a fan can get a story at the end of the day with the best video from their favorite players. And we can start to do things like predictive engagement, where the app already knows what you like and just serves you what you want.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
Generative AI Allowed the PGA TOUR To Add Written Descriptions to 30,000 Shots A major goal of the generative-AI effort is more-personalized services for fans By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
