Again, No HD Coverage of the PGA Tour Event this Weekend

Copyright 2007, Robert Weitzel - Regina, Saskatchewan - 01/21/07 - I appreciate winter in Saskatchewan. Mostly I appreciate that it will end and eventually give way to another golf season.

With this being the 3rd weekend of golf on the PGA Tour regular season for 2007, I can't help but note my personal disinterest in watching this televised event. "Why?" No High Definition coverage. At least not in my neck of the woods. For the first time in years I am not glued to the television watching the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Part of a ritual that usually helps peak my anticipation for the upcoming golf season.

You see it is at this time of the year that I begin to smell the grass, feel the club in my hands and visualize the flight of the golf ball, a flight about as far into the right rough as physics will allow. All of these senses heightened of late with, and further stimulated by, High Definition television broadcasts of tour events. Watching these usually helps me forget that I am probably 3 months from playing, and that outside the temperature has dipped to a balmy minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Another part of my pre-season ritual sees me starting to purchase golf magazines so that by the time I get out on the course I'm a complete head-case, I have forgotten all about the basics of swing mechanics, and, taken note of every tip every pro has to offer. This is not a great idea for one who plays golf at the beach... from the sand to the water and then back in the sand.

Part three of my pre-melt pump usually starts with the cleaning of my clubs, again something done in front of the television. For this task I will use a tooth brush (not mine), dish clothes and tea-towels. I will pay particular attention to the areas of the clubs that used to have grooves as this will be their only cleansing this year, outside of utilizing the clubs as ball retrievers in every drink on the course.

Part four consists of warming up my swing in the living-room, not recommended unless you have very high or vaulted ceilings. Even so, my wife strongly objects to this "childish behavior". "Don't play in the house." she will bellow. I will respond with "Come on honey, last year it only cost us a television set." thanks to the professional job I did of re-gripping an 8 iron after the 2005 season. The swing work always pays off, at least once every five years my first drive of the year travels beyond the forward tees.

The last part of my pre-season preparation entails my trying to find people with whom to play my first round. This sounds simple enough but it's not. I usually take applications for about two weeks and my selected playing partners must meet a certain criteria.

First of all, they can't be too good. I don't want to be made look like an idiot. Second, they can't be too bad, there is a slim chance I pull off a good round and don't want to be seen with a duffer. And last but not least, they must have the ability to drown their sorrows after the round without speaking of scores (unless mine is really low) or leaving the score card on the table (unless if I have played particularly well) for passers-by to see and tell taunting stories of. You should be able to sit their with your first round companions and watch only slightly better golfers play on the clubhouse T.V. or, if you are lucky, watch the making of next year's Natalie Gulbis calendar in High Definition.... which brings me back to where I started. This weekends coverage.

Maybe I've grown spoiled but I tried to watch. I just could not stand the sight of that pixelated, colour-flat image on my 53" high definition television. Non-HD signals on larger televisions just don't cut it regardless of the content provider. Thursday through Saturday my T.V. acted as an over-sized radio as I was busy working and hardly had time to look. Today however, I set aside the time, planted my butt on the sofa, cracked open a brown-pop (It was 3pm here.) and with squizzer in hand, took up position for final round coverage.

Well I lasted about ten minutes, the non-HD annoyance amplified by the camera shake caused by gale force winds and the camera operators apparent dislike of mobile tripods left me dizzy. I had really looked forward to this and recalled how exited I was last season when it was announced that PGA events would be covered this season by the Golf Channel and tickled at the prospect of learning from and being entertained by the "new face of golf", Nick Faldo. Well my first viewing did not sit all that well.

Not to be all doom and gloom. NBC and CBS will be airing weekend golf starting at the Buick Invitational next week (likely in HD). I guess I will have to start watching early round coverage in my bedroom on my little old 27" non-HD television. That ought to go over about as well with my wife as practicing my swing in the house. To the executives of the Golf Channel. Please deliver me an HD signal soon.

Oh by the way, I did manage to catch the end of this weekends event which was won in a playoff by a first-time winner on tour. If only I could have had a crisper view of Charley Hoffman's long flowing golden locks blowing in the wind.

(Note: If you don't have an HDTV, you don't know what you are missing, other than you have probably missed the point of this story.)