
Bunker Cams, Fly Cam, EyeVision 2.0 Are Top PGA Championship Production Enhancements Innovation Decisions is a collective effort for CBS Sports team By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, May 19, 2022 - 11:10 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2022 PGA Championship is under way at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK, and, for the second time in five weeks, the CBS Sports production team is tackling a golf major, following The Masters April 7-10. And with the help of production enhancements like live drones, three Atlas cams, enhanced AR graphics, and two Fly Cam systems, the ops and engineering team is giving the the production team the tools to tell a better story and give viewers a deeper and richer experience.
All eyes are on Tiger Woods during the opening morning of the 2022 PGA Championship.
At the end of the day, it's about how do we enhance the storytelling and the viewer experience, says Patty Power, EVP, operations and engineering, CBS Sports. The collaboration between production, graphics, and, obviously, ops and engineering figures out what makes the most sense to add technology, as we don't add technology for the sake of adding technology. And our partnership with the PGA of America, ESPN, and everyone else makes that possible. Also, with the enhancements available to essentially all the platforms, we get a lot more utilization out of things.
Key to those efforts, adds Jason Cohen, VP, remote technical operations, CBS Sports, is that trusted partners on the PGA TOUR events - NEP Group, BSI, CES -are also onsite in support of the PGA Championship.
They know how to do golf on a weekly basis, he explains. The collaboration becomes much easier and more seamless because we have the same group together [and] can continue to find efficiencies and improve the overall show.
At the core of the production are trucks from NEP, Game Creek Video, and F&F Productions. NEP Supershooter SSCBS A, B, C and D will handle back-nine production while Game Creek Encore A, B, C, and D handles the front-nine coverage. F&F GTX20 is onsite for broadcast operations, a second graphics unit, audio QC, and video, and GTX19 will handle CBS Sports Network needs and also houses ARL, Hawkeye, RF, Canon, and Sony. Game Creek Celtic A and B will be the center of Featured Groups 1 and 4 production needs; Game Creek Edit 3 will handle Toptracer. A BSI trailer will handle RF course audio and video; a Bexel flypack will be used for transmission and Thumbwar needs.
Taking What the Course Gives You The course dictates what is possible in production, and the layout at Southern Hills Country Club provides some unique opportunities, such as placement of robotic cameras in the bunkers at the par-4 17th hole.
Explains Mike Francis, VP, remote engineering and planning, CBS Sports, On Sunday, the tee box is going to be up, which will make that hole drivable. And, the bunkers protecting the green, the local PGA pro says, will likely get a lot of play as the players go for the green.
Multiple heavy-lift drones from Kaze Aerial Productions will be involved in live coverage. Cohen says it's always a balancing act between getting as close to the action as possible while being mindful of not disturbing the golf play.
We've worked closely with the PGA of America to improve the drone-launch locations in conjunction with our director, Steve Milton, who weighed in with what made sense for him, Cohen explains. It's more than just a flying beauty cam: it's a part of our coverage plan and will definitely capture part of the play.
Two Fly Cam systems are also providing aerial coverage of the practice green as well as the 18th green and surrounding holes.
The one on the 18th is really cool because, the way the course is set up, there are a lot of condensed areas, says Francis. There's the 1st tee, the 10th tee, the 9th green, and the 18th green, and all of that is going to be within that Fly Cam run. And there's also a big grandstand area that will have some cool fan shots.
Cohen notes that three Atlas cameras will be on the course because the production team likes the look and what they bring to the show.
In lower right corner, one of the three Atlas Cams roaming the course at the PGA Championship
We have a Sony HDC-F5500 on a mini with RF and Sony PXW-FX9 on a traditional Steadicam, he says. And we'll have the Sony Alpha One on a gimbal. They're all wireless so they can be anywhere at any time and wherever the production team feels like they can best be utilized.
Those specialty cameras are all part of a camera plan that exceeds 100 cameras, including 20 that will be part of a new EyeVision 2.0 system on the tee box at the 16th hole. The first version of EyeVision captured still images for a matrix-like effect, but the new system offers full-slo-mo video, which will enhance swing analysis.
We've touted swing analysis for quite some time at this event, and this is our next iteration of it, explains Cohen. We're tying together 20 Vision Research Phantom v642 cameras [for 270 degrees of coverage around the tee box] and running them through a mini-switcher with a macro that can do a soft dissolve from all 20 cameras and then sync them.
More enhanced graphics are also part of the offering: wind analysis and Toptracer RF on three RF mini cameras, as well as Toptracer on all 18 holes and on the range during the PGA Championship on the Range show. In addition, putting grids and topography shading will show undulation of the greens and the break points.
We've also worked the last month on creating a mini-map of sorts to help tell the story of where a golfer's shots were on the hole so that the viewer can see how they got up to the green, says Cohen. It sort of extends what we did with Romo Vision [for NFL
North America Stories
19/05/2026
Cisco and the USGA have announced a multiyear extension of their partnership, which began in 2018. Cisco serves as the Official Technology Partner of the USGA, ...
19/05/2026
Urban Edge Network (UEN), a streaming platform for NAIA sports, has announced a partnership with Spiideo to provide streaming and production tools to UEN's ...
19/05/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will provide live coverage of all 900 Roland-Garros matches across its platforms beginning with qualifiers on May 18. In Europe, 21...
19/05/2026
Tubi, Fox Corporation's free streaming service, has announced the launch of the FIFA World Cup 2026 FOX Hub, a dedicated destination for World Cup programmi...
19/05/2026
Telef nica, in collaboration with Sony, has conducted a 5G connectivity trial at the Movistar Arena in Spain using the 26 GHz millimetre wave (mmWave) band. The...
19/05/2026
Ross Production Services (RPS) has installed a Calrec Argo M console into its new Hypermax-1 remote production truck, replacing one of three Argo S consoles pre...
19/05/2026
Panasonic Projector and Display Corporation has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of UK-based media technology company Hive Media Control Ltd. (HI...
19/05/2026
Globecast has announced the completion of a nine-month renovation of its Singapore facility, converting it from a traditional linear broadcast operation into a ...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadc...
19/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Watch Brasil, a streaming platform operating across Brazil and Europe since 2018, has replaced its legacy systems with Bitmovin'...
19/05/2026
Ateme has announced the migration of Dish Home Nepal's Nepal Premier League (NPL) streaming infrastructure to Ateme's TITAN Live solution deployed on Ak...
19/05/2026
CMSI provided workflow, media management, and HDR support for ESPN during coverage of the NCAA Gymnastics Semifinals and Championships. The company supported fi...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
Featuring a fully IP infrastructure, Supershooter 11 is intended for large-scale events. Enabling remote and distributed workflows, Supershooter 65 joins the RE...
19/05/2026
By Jessica Herndon
The line wrapped around the building outside Denver's La...
19/05/2026
When all companies in the market are allowed to compete under the same set of ru...
19/05/2026
Battle-proven technology withstands electronic warfare threats across air, maritime surface and subsea domains....
19/05/2026
WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR systems provide high-precision targeting across domains, including counter-UAS applications...
19/05/2026
Champaign, IL - March 16, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufa...
19/05/2026
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. April 16, 2026 - Cobalt Digital today announced a partnership ...
19/05/2026
Las Vegas - April 18, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufactur...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS April 18, 2026 - Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital are ...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS - May 4, 2026 - Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiativ...
19/05/2026
London - 11 May 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has entered into a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions as the Singapore-based company expands its live production oper...
19/05/2026
Clear-Com supported Musikal Perahu Kertas, a large-scale musical theater production in Indonesia adapted from the acclaimed novel by Dee Lestari, through the d...
19/05/2026
Actus Digital, a LiveU company, and a leading provider of intelligent media monitoring and broadcast compliance platforms, announced today that METEO CONSULT ha...
19/05/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of managed services for the broadcast and media industry, today announced the completion of a major renovation of its Singapore fa...
19/05/2026
Following a major upgrade to its Connecticut remote production centre with the installation of three 60-fader Argo S consoles in 2023, RPS has switched one of t...
19/05/2026
PlayBox Technology today announced the launch of Celebro Play, a browser-based media orchestration platform designed specifically for broadcast facilities and p...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
LYNX Technik, provider of modular signal processing solutions for broadcast, post, and professional AV will showcase its latest signal processing solutions at B...
19/05/2026
Media Links, a leading developer and manufacturer of IP media transport solutions, has announced the integration of its Xscend platform with Skyline Communicat...
19/05/2026
Collaboration expands regional partner ecosystem as Media Links showcases IP media transport solutions on stand 4M4-4 and alongside Clearcast Asia on stand
Me...
19/05/2026
Company Highlights Labor-Saving Control and Custom Branding Opportunities Designed to Increase Integrator Profitability
LynTec, a leading manufacturer of ele...
19/05/2026
Mago Studio Moves AI Video Beyond Prompts with New Production-Focused Tools
Brie Clayton May 18, 2026
0 Comments
New Capabilities Bring Controllable, ...
19/05/2026
It May be Time to Stop and Take an AI Breather
Brie Clayton May 19, 2026
0 Comments
If the rock you stay on starts to roll, jump clean. Or you'll...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for RAFA, the Documentary Series A...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Consumer Products Footprint with Strategic Con...
19/05/2026
Matt Derella Expands Leadership Across LinkedIn Ads and Microsoft Advertising Published on May 19, 2026 Categories: Company News
LinkedIn Corporate Commun...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...