The Players golf championship, arguably the PGA TOUR's most important annual event and one considered by many to be a golf major in everything but name, is under way in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. For NBC Sports, the Golf Channel, and their production teams, this year's event kicks off what is arguably their busiest golf slate ever.
NBC Sports will not only have its regular share of PGA TOUR events but will also be at the center of NBC's first-ever production of a British Open Championship (from Royal Troon in Scotland in July), its first-ever production of golf as an Olympic sport from Rio in August, and the return of the Ryder Cup competition to U.S. soil in September. And there are three FedEx Cup events between the Olympics and the Ryder Cup.
NBC is using Pinpoint ultrasound technology to measure wind speed and direction at the Players Championship.
Every one of those has its own challenges, but what makes us strong is the team, says Ken Goss, SVP, remote operations, NBC Sports. That's what I am most proud of: how the team can come together.
There are a couple of noticeable additions to this year's production of the Players, not the least of which is a two-point Cablecam system covering the most famous area of the course: the 16th and 17th holes. It extends from behind the 16th green, over the lake, past the little island in the middle of the lake, and behind the famed 17th island green.
Also new this year are two virtual-graphics enhancements: an overlay on greens will allow viewers to see the undulations within live video coverage, and Pinpoint ultrasound measurement of wind speed and direction is updated four times a second.
We started planning this months and months ahead of time and have well over 200 people onsite, notes Ryan Soucy, senior director, golf operations, NBC Sports.
Also helping in planning this year is that NBC Sports Technical Manager Dan Beard has moved to within driving distance of TPC Sawgrass, making it possible for him to stop by the course during the off-season.
A permanent piece of PVC tubing was put in for the bunker camera on the 17th hole, he says, and I was able to zip down for the day and then get home.
The TV compound is chock-full of NEP production units. ND4 A, B, and C are at the center of the production and supported by SS24, which rolled in from the Kentucky Derby. Two CP Communications trucks are handling more than 20 wireless cameras as well as RF-mic needs for eight on-course reporters. NCP7 is supporting Sky Sports (which brought in its own edit cabin), and NHK is working out of SS20. PGA TOUR Entertainment is using two trucks from LMG.
As usual, NBC is stepping up coverage of the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes. A time-lapse camera located under the 16th-green camera tower offers shots of the massive crowd's descent onto the area throughout the day; a flanker camera between the 16th green and 17th tee offers tight reaction shots of players and a wide shot of the green; a super-slo-mo camera shoots reactions on the island green at 300 fps; a handheld is located behind the 17th for a reverse shot; and a hard camera behind the 18th tee can be turned around to get shots of the crowd around the 17th hole. Added into the mix are shots from a camera in the bunker at 17, the Cablecam, a blimp, five RF handheld cameras, and handheld Inertia Unlimited X-Mo slo-mo systems.
We also have a camera crane that can go 120 ft. in the air and get a look at the second shot on 16 and can also provide a tee-to-green overview of the entire 17th hole that the blimp can't get, says Beard. It shows the whole spectrum of the stadium area.
At the 17th hole, use of the Protracer system, which allows producer Tommy Roy and his team to display the ball's flight path, has been expanded. Three Protracers are in use: one behind the tee, another on the camera tower behind the green, and a third mounted on the scoreboard, located to the left of the green.
Pinpoint (Wind) Accuracy
Another big addition to the Players coverage this year is improved wind-speed and -direction data courtesy of Pinpoint, a UK-based company that takes measurement to the next level with sensors measuring direction and speed ultrasonically.
[The sensors] provide a reading every .25 seconds, explains Simon Roper, visualization director, Pinpoint. That allows us to show genuine real-time wind measurements. The system has been used by the British Olympic sailing team, he adds, so it is state-of-the-art robust technology that we will also have at the [British] Open Championship in July.
The 6-in.-wide ultrasound wind devices have two circles lined up vertically and 3 in. apart. At the bottom of the top circle and at the top of the bottom circle are four nodes that emit an ultrasound wave. As the wind passes between the two circles. the sound waves move depending on the speed and direction of the wind, and that movement is measured and translated into wind direction and speed.
On the 17th hole, says Roper, we have one unit at the tee box and another that is above the hospitality side of the 17th hole, so we can see what the wind is like above the stadium.
The wind data can be matched up with replay video so that, if, for example, the ball is hit long or short of the green and ends in the water, the replay allows viewers to see how the wind impacted ball flight.
The Pinpoint system's advanced technology offers some solid advantages over the traditional wind-cup measurement tool and enable wind averages to be measured over a period of time. For example, with the cup system, if the wind is blowing at 30 mph one second, 10 mph the next, and then back to 20 mph, the 10-mph reading won't register because the cups never had a chance to slow down to 10 mph. The arrow that shows wind direction will also overcorrect compared with the Pinpoint system
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
The Players golf championship, arguably the PGA TOUR's most important annual event and one considered by many to be a golf major in everything but name, is under way in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. For NBC Sports, the Golf Channel, and their production teams, this year's event kicks off what is arguably their busiest golf slate ever.
