Live From The Open Championship: SMT Ball-Location Data Makes Open Debut Next goal for SMT is projecting where a ball is going to land By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, July 14, 2022 - 11:44 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
SMT Golf Lead Ryan McDonald and a team of 24 are onsite at the 150th Open Championship with something new for an Open Championship: the resting location for every shot hit.
It's something the R&A has been looking at for a number of years, and we were just trying to find the right time to add it, says McDonald. It improves their digital product, improves their broadcast product, and even improves their rules team and course preparation and planning.
SMT Operations Specialist Mary Grace Venable and Golf Lead Ryan McDonald inside SMT's cabin at the 150th Open Championship
Getting the X, Y, and Z coordinates of a ball's resting location and then mapping it 3D makes it a lot easier to calculate how far the ball has traveled or how many yards are left to reach the pin. And it's a process that involves a mix of manual and automated workflows. It begins with a scorer who walks the entire 18 holes with a group and can send notifications to the spotters on a given hole that a shot is incoming.
Lasers across the Old Course are bringing a new level of accuracy to ball locations.
In the landing areas, there is a team of two, says McDonald, and there is a spotter with a tablet who gives a preliminary estimate on a grid map of where they think the ball is resting. There is a laser operator using a survey-style laser to shoot the actual coordinates and give a more precise location. For the par-5s, there will be three teams.
Within 10-15 seconds of the ball's coming to rest, the data is populated into the SMT system and distributed to various entities, including digital productions, broadcasters, and even the on-course videoboard operations.
We have staff monitoring our wireless network for all those handheld devices, and we have teams validating the data to make sure it's accurate, adds McDonald. We also have part of our team doing the display production on the 17 green-side digital walls and even a team helping the manual scoreboards. There's a traditional and digital aspect of this event as things like the yellow scoreboard are iconic.
According to McDonald, about 90% of the work done at The Open is for the R&A, but some work is also being done for the European Tour Productions (ETP) world feed and NBC, which are managing the telecast.
We have a full-course wind system that we deploy on the golf course for tagging real-time shots with the wind conditions, he says. And there's a graphics interface that we've given ETP for displaying the real-time wind conditions.
The explosion of digital distribution has been a big driver of next-generation statistics.
The mindset has changed from things being done just for the broadcast to being shared across multiple display devices, McDonald explains, and now it's about how do we connect people across the world to their favorite player and give them everything just like they would have if they were onsite. One challenge is to increase the timeliness of the data [coming] in, and that is probably our next evolution.
Handheld digital devices make it easy for spotters on the course to log information related to on-course action.
The use of data on things like ball speed, spin rate, apex, and ball location is becoming a bigger part of the golf-viewing experience, whether on TV or digital devices. McDonald says the biggest challenge is figuring out how to automate the vast number of data points gathered on golf courses, which are all unique and have unique holes as well.
Every hole is like a fingerprint, he notes, and that's the challenge that golf presents more than any other sport when it comes to automating it. It takes a lot more people and a lot more staff to collect the data set than it would for an arena-style sport.
McDonald clearly watches a lot of golf and also sees where the new opportunities lie.
The next evolution, he predicts, will be taking the radar, club speed, and ball speed and projecting where a ball is going to go based on that spin rate and club speed while it is in the air. The impact the wind has on a shot is the X factor that every player talks about. For example, the winds are calm today, and we're seeing some low scores, including a 64. When the wind picks up, it becomes the X factor. How will that wind impact a professional golfer, and how can we have analytics around how difficult a shot is based on the conditions?
As with baseball, basketball, and football, the quality of analytics will continue to improve for golf, especially as more and more data scientists (and coaches, players, and fans) crunch the numbers and begin to fully understand them.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Riedel Communications today announced the expansion of its leadership structure as part of a strategic initiative to strengthen both its operational management ...
06/05/2026
For nearly three decades, Veteran Production Sound Mixer and Five-time Emmy Award Winner Dirk Sciarrotta has helped define the sonic identity of the long-runnin...
06/05/2026
ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing
Brie Clayton May 6, 2026
0 Comments
ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a nove...
06/05/2026
Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Med...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Narrative Entertainment has partnered with Encompass to deliver high-quality subtitling of its Great! network content using the Altitude Intelligence AI assiste...
06/05/2026
SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, is proud to launch a dramatic new approach to AI content creati...
06/05/2026
When the broadband and media industry gathers at ANGA COM in Cologne from May 19 to 21, Big Blue Marble will be at the forefront. The international broadcast an...
06/05/2026
Cinegy GmbH, a leading developer of software-defined television technology, is proud to exhibit at MPTS for the first time. Visitors to the stand will discover ...
06/05/2026
Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award Jeanty, a composer, percussionist, and turntablist, is the fourth Berklee recipient of the prestigious award ...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
When live cycling races and international marathons stretch for miles across cities and countryside, there is no margin for RF failure in live broadcast. As Chi...
06/05/2026
Oberkochen/Germany, May 5, 2026
ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a novel solution for creating physically based cinematic lens looks for visual...
06/05/2026
06 May 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...
06/05/2026
UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy
Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...
06/05/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign launches nationwide, supported by new...
06/05/2026
Wuppertal May 6, 2026
Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engro...
06/05/2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 6, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its latest broadband innovations for ANGA COM 2026, highlighting its vision for a new e...
06/05/2026
Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner&...
06/05/2026
Friday 8 May on RT One and RT Player
Meet the NSPCA team caring for and protecting animals in need in this six-part series
Fly on the wall, six-part series...
06/05/2026
The race to build the world's most powerful AI factories demands networking ...
06/05/2026
How changes to proteins can alter drug interactions for new precision therapies Scripps Research team maps how chemical modifications to proteins affect drug bi...
05/05/2026
Experts from the world of academia, tech, business, politics and media convened for a Thomson Talks at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in April. It's th...
05/05/2026
Three phones were hardwired for power and transmission to the truck; camera feat...
05/05/2026
The creative studio behind campaigns for the NBA, Fanatics Sportsbook & Casino, ...
05/05/2026
Nielsen has announced results from a co-viewing pilot program covering February&...
05/05/2026
viztrick AiDi, an on-device AI solution developed by Nippon TV, delivered global...
05/05/2026
ARRI has announced Omnibar, a battery-powered, IP65-rated multi-color LED linear...
05/05/2026
Imagine Communications has announced that France T l visions is the first broadc...
05/05/2026
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Bell Media today announced a multiyear agreement to broadcast and stream WNBA games in Canada beginni...
Live From The Open Championship: SMT Ball-Location Data Makes Open Debut Next goal for SMT is projecting where a ball is going to land By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
