The All Day Golf Schedule

Today is just a reminder that GC is showing solid golf from morning till night. All times are ET

• 5am: European Tour
  BMW PGA Championship
• 1pm: Champions Tour
  KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
• 4pm: PGA Tour
  Fort Worth Invitational
• 7pm: LPGA
  LPGA Volvik Championship

Golf Central is listed for 9pm. And that should keep you from missing your favorite tour today. Happy viewing!

A Murderer's Row of Golf Broadcasts Starting Today

Look, there is A LOT of golf starting this afternoon, so I'm going to list the GC schedule for today and tomorrow with all the new stuff -- which includes Tiger's first official tournament back (the Farmers), of course.



Please note that all times are ET.

WEDNESDAY

• 1:30pm-2pm Golf Central Pre Game
• 2pm-5pm Web.com Tour Bahamas Great Abaco Classic-Final Round
• 5pm-6pm Golf Central
• 6pm-8pm (Web.com Tour replay)
• 8pm-8:30pm Champions Tour Learning Center
• 8:30pm-9pm Inside the PGA Tour
• 9pm-11pm (Last year's Farmers Insurance Open-Final Round)
• 11pm-midnight Omega Dubai Desert Classic

THURSDAY

• midnight-8:30am Omega Dubai Desert Classic
• 8:30am-11:30am  Morning Drive PGA Merchandise Show
• 11:30am-2:30pm Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic
• 2:30pm-3pm Golf Central Pre Game
• 3pm-7pm PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open

That's a lot of new tournament coverage --  the Web.com Tour finishes up while the European Tour, LPGA and PGA Tours all start up. Sergio defends at Dubai, Brittany Lincicome defends in the Bahamas and Jon Rahm defends at Torrey. In addition, Rahm will become #1 in the OWGR if he does manage to defend.

PLEASE NOTE that the ET coverage starts tonight and continues into tomorrow. Likewise, the GC schedule isn't clear if all of that ET coverage is live or includes some re-aired stuff.

And for those of you who are interested, the Vegas bookmakers don't think Tiger is going to make the cut at Torrey BUT they think don't think he'll withdraw.

At any rate, from Tiger to the LPGA, there's something here for every fan this week.

Let Me Get the TV Times Right

I have quoted times in previous posts that were apparently wrong. (Wow, me wrong. What a shock.) So this post is simply to make sure you aren't using my incorrect times and missing something you wanted to see.

This is from golfchannel.com's schedule page. All times are ET.

• 5:30am -- European Tour, HNA Open de France - Round 1
• 11:30am -- Golf Central Pre Game
• NOONpm -- LPGA, KPMG Women's PGA Championship - Round 1
• 3pm -- PGA Tour, Quicken Loans National - Round 1
• 6pm -- Golf Central
• 7pm -- LPGA, KPMG Women's PGA Championship - Round 1
• 10pm -- PGA Tour, Quicken Loans National - Round 1

Those last two listings are probably re-airs of the earlier broadcasts.

So much golf... isn't it great?

What Are the Keys to DJ's Chipping? (Video)

With all the Golf Channel coverage from the US Open, many of you may have missed this little piece from ESPN's Sport Science. Host John Brenkus tested Dustin Johnson's chipping prowess with a carnival-style game gallery, complete with scientific measurements of his performance.



A few interesting facts about DJ's technique may be of help to you:

• DJ says there is no conscious difference between a 10-yard chip and a 20-yard chip. When Brenkus explains how DJ adjusts his swing to chip the ball farther, you'll note that DJ doesn't try to speed up his swing in any way. He changes the distance purely by lengthening his swing, which he learns through repetition. And given that his swing speed increases by a mere 1mph to chip the ball an extra five yards, you can see why.
• When DJ tries to pick off the ducks -- demonstrating trajectory control -- note that he doesn't try to manipulate the clubface to lower his trajectory. Rather, he changes his club and lets the loft of the club create the lower ball flight. He doesn't change his hand action, which is part of the reason he's so consistent with his ball contact and ball flight.
• With the fishbowl test -- demonstrating distance control -- Brenkus says that he has to "calibrate the necessary launch conditions." This isn't explained (shame on you, John!) but given how DJ keeps checking the face of his club, I'd guess that he's going through a process he would normally use around the green. (The leading edge of the wedge can't possibly be digging into the artificial turf.) Why would he keep checking the face? If it's digging in, then the ball is too far back in his stance.
• As for the dunk tank... forget about that "half-a-millimeter margin of error" stuff. As DJ hints at early on, you can't consciously control things that accurately. Under normal circumstances out on the course, you wouldn't need to be that accurate anyway. The thing to note here is that DJ's trajectory continues to be consistent, which means he's not trying to manipulate the club. DJ has a very quiet technique; he's letting the club do the work.

All-in-all, it's a very impressive demonstration of why Dustin Johnson continues to put up good numbers, even when his game seems to be a bit off. And given all the chipping areas around the greens at Erin Hills, it helps you understand why DJ will be a favorite to defend his title this week.

Joe Buck on Golf Digest's Podcast

FOX's Joe Buck gets a lot of criticism as a sportscaster, but I've always thought he was pretty good. At least in the broadcasts I've watched, he always seems to be prepared and usually has a pretty good idea about what needs to be emphasized at an event.

But when he landed the post of anchorman for the US Open broadcasts, he had a steep learning curve ahead of him. And so Golf Digest had Buck on their podcast to talk about what he's learned over the first couple of years and what he expects this year.



Whether you love him or hate him -- there doesn't seem to be much in-between for most listeners --  Joe Buck is going to be heading up FOX's golf coverage for the foreseeable future. And that's why I'm posting links to the podcast. You might as well get used to him, and learning how he's going to approach the broadcast this year is a good start.

You can read the Golf Digest article (and listen to the podcast) at the above link or you can listen to the podcast at this Soundcloud link.

Just a Reminder -- Zurich Tee Times Moved Up

Just a reminder that they're expecting storms in New Orleans today, so the PGA Tour has moved the tee times up. Groups will tee off -- if all goes well -- between 7:40am and 9:20am ET.

GC's coverage should begin around 9am ET. I suppose the CBS coverage later in the day will be time-delayed.

Don't Forget Lexi at the Shootout

Today is just a reminder that we've got some history going on today. No woman has played in the Franklin Templeton Shootout since Annika played with Fred Couples back in 2006.

Today Lexi Thompson becomes only the second woman to do so.



Lexi tees off with Bryson DeChambeau, and the two will be the youngest team in the event. Also, while I'm unsure whether Annika played from the men's tees, Lexi will. I'm looking forward to seeing how she does, since that will make it a level playing field.

I'm betting she'll do pretty well, given that she grew up competing with her brothers.

According to GC's TV schedule, there will be a Pre-Game Show at 1:30pm ET with the official coverage beginning at 2pm ET. It should be a lot of fun!

Tee Times for Tiger & Co.

Let's face it: Tiger's tee time is probably the biggest news today. And in case you didn't hear, he tees off at noon.



But he's not the only player in the Hero World Challenge, so here are the tee times for all 18 players in the field. All times should be ET.

• 11:10 am: Bubba Watson & Rickie Fowler
• 11:20 am: Jimmy Walker & Brandt Snedeker
• 11:30 am: J.B. Holmes & Zach Johnson
• 11:40 am: Justin Rose & Henrik Stenson
• 11:50 am: Jordan Spieth & Matt Kuchar
• 12:00 pm: Patrick Reed & Tiger Woods
• 12:10 pm: Dustin Johnson & Brooks Koepka
• 12:20 pm: Hideki Matsuyama & Louis Oosthuizen
• 12:30 pm: Emiliano Grillo & Russell Knox

Initial analyst reaction to Tiger's swing (during the pro-am) was favorable. If he can just play all four rounds without either pain or glaring swing faults for the analysts to nitpick, I'll be happy.

Tiger Is on Morning Drive at 8:30am ET

This is just a head's-up for you Tiger fans. GC announced that Tiger is going to be on Morning Drive this morning at 8:30am ET. And that means that, if GC follows their normal routine, the interview from the Hero World Challenge will repeat at 10:30am ET.



And if you're interested, GC is also reporting that Tiger will be paired with Patrick Reed for the first round, and that he'll be playing a Bridgestone ball and (most likely) a TaylorMade driver.

One thing you can count on: We'll be hearing every little detail of Tiger's first tournament this week. I actually feel a bit sorry for Tiger. I know I wouldn't want my first time back to be put under such a microscope!

Keeping Track of Today's Golf

There's so much golf on GC today (Thursday) that I thought you might want a quick guide you can read at a glance, rather than scrolling through the GC listings.

All times are Eastern Standard Time (ET).

• 6am: Golf Central
• 7am: Senior OPEN Championship, 1st Round (CHAMPIONS)
• 9am: Morning Drive
• 10am: Senior OPEN Championship, 1st Round (CHAMPIONS)
• Noon: UL International Crown, 1st Round (LPGA)
• 4pm: RBC Canadian Open, 1st Round (PGA)
• 7pm: Utah Championship, 1st Round (WEB.COM)
• 9pm: Golf Central

And at 9:30pm the re-airs begin with the RBC Canadian Open.

One other note: The 10am broadcast of the Senior OPEN is live afternoon coverage. Remember, it stays light until almost 10pm at night at Carnoustie this time of year.

That's a lot of golf to keep up with! I hope this helps you make sure you see the events that interest you most.

The Full NBC/Golf Channel Open Schedule

Geoff Shackelford did an article for Golf Digest about how GC and NBC are planning to make sure their first year of Open coverage is really solid. The article makes for interesting reading, as it gives you all the dirt on who will do the production work, the announcing and even the music.

But the most important part is the complete broadcast schedule for the event, starting this morning (Wednesday). I've reprinted that schedule below. Please note that GC is going to broadcast 14.5 STRAIGHT HOURS OF ACTUAL OPEN GOLF COVERAGE on both Thursday and Friday, in addition to the standard before and after wrap-up shows. And that's not including the 10.5 STRAIGHT HOURS of combined GC and NBC coverage on both Saturday and Sunday.

THAT'S 50 HOURS OF JUST PURE OPEN GOLF. YES!!!

NBC/Golf Channel Programming at the 145TH Open
(All Times EST)

• Wednesday, July 13
• Golf Central Live From The Open -- 8 AM -- 1 PM / 7-9 PM
• Morning Drive -- 11:30 PM -- 1:30 AM
• Thursday & Friday, July 14-15
• 1:30 AM -- 4 PM (Golf Channel)
• Golf Central Live 4 PM -- 5 PM
• Saturday, July 16
• 4 AM -- 7 AM (Golf Channel)
• 7 AM -- 2:30 PM (NBC)
• Golf Central Live 8 PM -- 9 PM
• Sunday, July 17
• 4 AM -- 7 AM (Golf Channel)
• 7 AM -- 2 PM (NBC)
• Golf Central Live 6 PM -- 7 PM

Given that GC and NBC already have decades of experience doing this kind of live coverage -- as opposed to FOX, who are still feeling their way through their first couple of years -- this has the potential to be one of the best-televised majors ever. I'm really looking forward to this!

US Open Coverage Begins at 7am ET

Just a quick note this morning:

FOXSports1 will be broadcasting the rest of Round 3 starting at 7am ET Sunday morning. There are 25 players who still have to finish their rounds, and the final pairing has five holes left.

At some point during the day -- I don't know exactly when -- the coverage will move from FOXSports1 to the regular FOX Network. I suspect it will be around 10am or so, as that's been the routine so far.

A Quick Reminder of the US Open TV Schedule

The reason for this post is simple: The US Open is being broadcast on the FOX Network these days, and that means some of the coverage won't be available for everybody.



First, here are the hours for FOX's TV coverage. All the times are ET.

• THURSDAY:
• FOXSPORTS1 10am-5pm
• FOX Network 5pm-8pm
• FRIDAY:
• FOXSPORTS1 10am-5pm
• FOX Network 5pm-8pm
• SATURDAY: FOX Network 11am-7pm
• SUNDAY: FOX Network 11am-7pm

But there's more coverage available with online simulcasts from 10am-8pm ET on FoxSportsGO.com (or 11am-7pm ET if you go by golfdigest.com's listing).

And various feature groups will be covered on USOpen.com. You can find all the details for those in this CBS Sports post.

And just in case you're worried that the FOX will be as awkward as they were last year, youi might want to check out this golfdigest.com article about the changes FOX made for this year. It's called 9 Reasons to Be Optimistic That FOX's U.S. Open Coverage Will Be Better at Oakmont. Part of the reason is that FOX raided ESPN's golf crew for this year so lead man Joe Buck will have a better team around him. (And just for the record, I thought Joe Buck did a pretty good job last year, especially for his first time.)

Sara Brown Returns to GC

In case you hadn't heard, Sara Brown is back from her maternity leave and will be back on School of Golf tonight. GCA tweeted it last Wednesday and I missed it, but figured she was back after the new SoG promos featured Sara and not Blair, who had been standing in for her.



At this point I haven't heard what Blair's going to do. Even if she doesn't have any LPGA, LET or mini-tour events lined up, I doubt that she has any problems finding enough pro-ams, instructional videos and promotional work to keep her busy.

Did You Watch Altered Course?

Monday night was the debut of GC's new golf competition show called Altered Course. If you didn't watch it, you missed something very interesting...

I'd describe the show as extreme team golf -- that is, golf played on a "course" that includes the kind of terrain that most golfers try to avoid -- and the two-player teams are timed, with penalties dealt out if a team takes too long. That means players are running between shots, and doing it over some pretty rough terrain. Even the host, Kristen Kenney, has to run during the show to keep up with the teams!

The "hole" for the first episode was a par-4. It started on the tee of the first hole and finished on the green of the second hole. There was a 100-foot drop from the tee to the fairway, and teams played alternate shot (both teammates were allowed to hit a tee shot to try and get one in play). They had to get a ball inside a predetermined checkpoint area, regardless of how many strokes it took, then play a blind shot over a rise with some trees on it to a green with a bunker on the left and a pond on the right.

There are eight teams and Monday's episode "seeded" them according to the number of strokes and time they took playing the first hole, with ties broken by physical competitions determined by a skills challenge. How do they do that, you ask? Well, one teammate tried to hit a ball as close to a specific distance as possible -- it had to go at least that far but they tried to get as close to that distance as possible. (Failing to reach that distance resulted in automatically being the low seed.) After each team had done so -- and yes, the balls went different distances for each team -- the other teammates had to run to the ball, pick it up and run back. Ties were broken by order of finish.

The team pictured above, Shepherd Archie and Wesley Yates, are "The Georgia Boys" and they are the top seed after being the only team to score 5 on the hole.

I think this show has the potential to be a real hit. It's a really interesting blend of match play and extreme sports, and it's worth watching at least once to see if you like it.

You can find the Altered Course info page on golfchannel.com at this link.