Golf Blog: The Times They Are A Changin
Lewis Pacelli explains in this golf blog why golf's TV coverage has to change
Golf Blog: The Times They Are A Changin
Bob Dylan was renowned for being a revolutionary; realising the economic and global change to adapt his music and voice public concerns.
And golf need someone like him to move the sport forward because even the biggest sports fans can be mystified by golf at times.
They will watch any possible coverage but as soon as it switches to the dulcet tones of David Livingstone, boredom sets in and Top Gear highlights on Dave take over.
Cricket has redefined itself to attract a younger audience and the traditionalists may not like it but there is a sustainable future.
Even though anyone reading this will completely disagree with hateful comments about our beloved sport, I can understand why problems arise.
The Sky Sports coverage can be be appalling sometimes, yet in principle it is not their fault.
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The Americans have complete control over all PGA coverage and this dictation heavily influences the rubbish that we have to endure across the pond on a week-to-week basis.
We cannot ever just watch the golf.
Instead we have to wait for their constant advertisements to finish whilst we listen to the ?insights' of our esteemed pundits.
(The half hour break on Saturday happened to coincide with the most outrageous turnaround at the top of the leaderboard)
If you were just the average sports fan switching over for a bit of golf, you would wander what on earth you were watching.
Saying all this, my biggest gripe is with all viewing on a Thursday and Friday.
We were made to watch every single shot of Tiger Woods and his group as he sulked, swore and scrambled his way round.
This meant we missed out on the likes of Keegan Bradley shooting a remarkable 63 - which shows it is nothing to do with nationalistic pride.
If golf wants to appeal to a wider audience and run away from the negative press it receives from many sports fans, then it has to revolutionise and realise the ?times they are a changin.'
Lewis Pacelli writes for Down the 18th "Golf Betting and Opinions from a young perspective"
Lewis was a freelance writer for Golf Monthly in 2013.