Live from the PLAYERS Championship: PGA TOUR Embraces Cloud for All Access; Unreal Engine Drives Next-Gen Virtual Hole Flyovers The production operation is 100% reliant on data' By Ken Kerschbaumer
Friday, March 10, 2023 - 1:41 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The PLAYERS Championship is increasingly a collaboration between PGA TOUR Entertainment and NBC Sports, and it's part of a bigger effort to give international rightsholders and golf fans what they want and need: access to more-personalized content, data- and graphics-driven storytelling, and a better understanding of the game and its players.
PGA TOUR's Mike Raimondo and the team continue to improve the fan and rightsholder experience.
When the new TV-rights deal began in 2022, we started sharing on-course and TV-compound equipment with our network partners, says Mike Raimondo, VP, broadcast technology, PGA TOUR. With the TOUR's expansion of coverage with PGA TOUR Live, we've been sharing cameras, microphones, and data like Trackman with them.
As an example, Vox Media Studios, which produced the Netflix show Full Swing, is on hand this week, working on season two and operating a Hawk-Eye system out of the PGA TOUR Live truck in the PLAYERS compound. The TOUR put a couple of replay outputs on it and have made it available to others. As a result, rightsholders have access to additional camera feeds and replay signals, providing more opportunities to deliver what golf fans want.
Says Raimondo, Those are the types of things that we're moving more towards with shared resources.
The biggest improvement that viewers will notice in the coverage will be course flyovers, whereby the announcers take the viewer from tee to green, discussing the hole and its layout. The PGA TOUR invested in two drones to make the flyovers even more detailed: one drone capturing topology, the other outfitted with LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to create more-accurate 3D course surveys. LIDAR enables more-accurate capture of the bumps and dips that make TPC Sawgrass such a challenge. The data from the drones is sent to an Unreal Engine managed by augmented-reality-graphics specialist ARL to create the new experience.
According to Alex Turnbull, senior director, broadcast production, PGA TOUR, use of Unreal Engine 5 has been the primary focus of the TOUR's work with NBC and Golf Channel.
We now have a complete 3D representation of TPC Sawgrass rendered out using Unreal Engine, he explains. It is absolutely beautiful as we are integrating it through ARL's engine. We're taking all the bells and whistles that ARL brings to the table and putting Unreal on top of it.
PGA TOUR's Alex Turnbull at the PLAYERS TV compound
Undulations of the greens, for example, or the moguls on the right of the 18th hole will be displayed, Turnbull notes. The Unreal-powered graphics expected to be used this weekend range from flyover slab inserts with TrackMan tracing to custom animations telling stories via Stadium Stats.
Another important aspect of the technology is camera matching, with the end shot of the virtual flyover matched up with the POV camera on each tee box. During recent tournaments, viewers at home have been treated to a virtual fireworks-like display with all the tee shots to that point exploding off the tee at once. It has been great in terms of showing how many shots landed on the green.
Going forward, Turnbull says, we're going to try to visualize the data in a meaningful way and parse the data and trajectories and tell stories associated with the shots.
All the new graphic efforts are going to be driven by a newly formed dedicated art team that will allow new ideas to be realized more quickly.
All Access Embraces the Cloud One of the biggest initiatives at PGA TOUR Entertainment in recent years has been All Access, a production effort giving rightsholders and fans complete (every shot) coverage of every group teeing off over all four rounds. Launched in 2020, it required mezzanine-compressed camera and audio signals to be sent to the UK, where Hawk-Eye operators would remotely cut the high-resolution material, which existed at PGA TOUR Entertainment's facility in St. Augustine, FL. At that time, every piece of equipment was located in the TV compound in six racks of equipment, including the Hawk-Eye servers, Trackman, and AWS Elemental encoders.
This year, All Access is vastly different from where it was at launch.
We are now 100% live in the cloud, Raimondo explains. This year, the only thing in the truck are the AWS Elemental encoders. We are taking 80 camera feeds and sending all of them up into AWS, and the entire production is done in AWS. We've spun up Hawk-Eye servers in AWS, and now we've spun up TrackMan graphics servers in AWS, which provides traces of every tee shot. And we can take in our data from ShotLink powered by CDW and use Singular Live graphics to create elements.
At a Hawk-Eye facility in Atlanta, 32 operators log in via laptop, connect to AWS, and begin cutting their Featured Group. They work in morning and afternoon sessions, allowing 32 people to create a stream for each of the 48 groups on the course.
The move to the cloud provides a number of benefits. One of the biggest is the ability to get ready for the show without having to wait until all systems are at the course.
It allows us to test a month before, notes Raimondo, spinning up a whole bunch of instances in AWS, feeding in raw data, testing it out, and making sure everyone can connect. Then we can spin it back down and spin it back up like we did here on Monday.
Also new this year is that virtually all the graphics for Every Shot Live are automated. ShotLink data is connected to the API, automating entry of such information as who is playing and what their score
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
Live from the PLAYERS Championship: PGA TOUR Embraces Cloud for All Access; Unreal Engine Drives Next-Gen Virtual Hole Flyovers The production operation is 100% reliant on data' By Ken Kerschbaumer 
