Without the tracer showing the ball path? I didn't grow up golfing or watching the sport, but was it awful trying to watch PGA events when you have no clue where the ball is going?

AggieDruggist89 said:

---

Camera usually followed the ball. We really didn't need to know the flight rather where it ended up.

---

And that camera technology suuuucked compared to today. I guess you had to rely on the announcer giving you the in flight color commentary and then watch to see if the ball lands.

Man ……..the thought of having to wait 2 seconds to figure out where the ball landed……the stuff of nightmares. How did we survive?

Well maybe not that bad, but extra boring to watch. Like hockey on tv.

safety guy said:

---

We watched on a 13 inch black and white TV. Saw the swing, ball in flight, and where the ball landed. But we did not know any different. It's like watching a football game from the 80's. There is no continuous score or first down yellow line.

---

And when the yellow line first showed up, a lot of people wondered how they placed that on the field that quickly.

jja79 said:

---

We didn't need shot tracer to show us where Julius Boros ball went because Chris Schenkel told us where it went.

---

.

Of course back in those days the average drive was 280 yards or less. Pretty easy to keep track of balls that
that don't go very far.

And for several years we got to see the play only on holes 16-18. Maybe the putts on the 15th green.

I was watching on a 19 inch black and white TV. My dad was 6'4, 230# and was a Division 1 athlete but he had to call at least one other grown man to help move the TV.

I've watched quite a few replays of tournaments from the 60's and 70's on the golf channel. I was pretty impressed with how good of a job they did back then with the cameras. They would show shot angles that you don't really see much of today.

Watching golf live was amazing for the first time. Seeing the shot shape those guys could do was unreal. Now we can see high draws, low stingers etc with the shot tracer.

jja79 said:

---

I was watching on a 19 inch black and white TV. My dad was 6'4, 230# and was a Division 1 athlete but he had to call at least one other grown man to help move the TV.

---

My first flat screen was like a 50" Visio with the 3" glass. I couldn't move it on my own. Now I can sling a 65" tv around like a feather.

Yesterday said:

---

Watching golf live was amazing for the first time. Seeing the shot shape those guys could do was unreal. Now we can see high draws, low stingers etc with the shot tracer.

---

I wonder the role AI has (or will have) in looking at the swing and the tracer and immediately spitting out real time analysis and predicting exactly where the ball will land.

Like a lot of things, you didn't realize how bad it sucked until it was gone.

Kansas Kid said:

---

safety guy said:

---

We watched on a 13 inch black and white TV. Saw the swing, ball in flight, and where the ball landed. But we did not know any different. It's like watching a football game from the 80's. There is no continuous score or first down yellow line.

---

And when the yellow line first showed up, a lot of people wondered how they placed that on the field that quickly.

---

I remember being at a tu game in Austin one year in the 90s. Girl in front of me straining to see if they got the first down says "I wish college had the yellow line like they have in the NFL".

Our 19 inch TV was in a 50 inch solid wood cabinet and weighed probably 900 pounds.

Truthfully, back in the 70's -80's the biggest issue was picture quality. My 13in Zenith I had in the dorm in the early-mid 80's always looked like it was snowing.

I'm still amazed at todays tv's. It's gotten to the point that the recent improvements in quality are beyond my ability to notice. And nothing has benefited more from this than sports coverage.

$275 TVs are remarkable. I don't know why anyone pays big money for a TV nowdays.