then you see all the volunteers to help us and you try and say thanks but
normally you feel like you're too big for them and you don't really want to
acknowledge the fact that they're out helping what we do how y'all doing we've
been invited inside the NBC compound inside their truck here at the KPMG
Women's PGA Championship I'm the captain now we get a camera on area Gitano
garden please we've over 15 leave the camera on seven and we find Mike where's
Mike it's a key to this job this is easy I'm Tommy Roy and lead golf producer for
NBC and Golf Channel I've had the good fortune to be the producer of the
executive producer of the Olympics the Super Bowl the NBA Finals college
football national championship Daytona 500 Wimbledon I've been attached to the
hip Atari for you as we not only do golf we do all the Olympics together so I
started producing our golf coverage in 1993 how much does that have things
changed significantly what's time you'd like to work for unbelievable is he
intense yeah then the other thing has changed significantly of the number of
hours were on the air the number of holes that we cover back then it was you
know from like 14 9 org and now it's basically 18 hole coverage and on the
air for hours and hours you don't want to be that that person on the crew that
lets them down because every time he gets in the chair he wants to do the
perfect show this is program the Center monitor that's what the people at home
see and our cameras start up here and snake their way around here to the 18th
hole then all this area over here is our digital playback machines we call it a
tape room but we haven't used tape and in the television business about 15
years but when we're live in one place we're recording all the other shots that
are taking place on the golf course at the same time so that we
can then integrate the shots into the broadcast you know usually other sports
when you're seeing replays it's one camera being replayed one angle well
we're actually kind of cutting and producing our own secondary show back
here basically I'll see all the cameras I'll make sure they're all recorded I'll
talk to Tommy hey here's the plan if this drops we're going to gamma gamma
real speed red real speed X real speed silver slow back to Elvis slow for the
reaction and it's just a big bang okay well challenge accepted
how does this machine work well that's basically like a big TiVo yeah there's
human only do one or the other that's why it's me oh okay so I am I am
breaking it a little bit then I can slow it down I can
how long have you done this job a long time
25 years what's the biggest challenge of your job not cussing seriously you know
when you and I are gonna sit there and watch golf together we're gonna call it
the way we see it but I'm when I'm on headset literally everybody in the
entire compound can hear what I'm saying as well as back in Orlando keep it real
tight okay yeah you got it yeah you got it mister you got it just
as you want drama Bob we actually have a talkback system where they can hit a
button and talk back to me so say Mark Rolfing who's walking with the last
group if a player hits a shot is in a divot or something he can let me know so
we can get there in time to set that shot up I want to expected a makeup crew
here on sale you know where we do our own you do your own makeup
he needs more makeup year Dan I'm on the headset telling the announcers every
single shot what's coming because as opposed to a typical sporting event
where the announcers can see everything here they can't
has he ever yelled at you oh absolutely no and say you know even Johnny Miller
who was in here for 30 years just say you know there are no exemptions and
that's the beauty of Tommy you know one you get there's no favorites you're not
doing the job he doesn't think you have something that's correct he's gonna call
you out I think that's one of the interesting things is people at home you
know with the golf it's you know if the announcers talk quietly and there's
quite applause and then you come into here and it's pretty crazy pretty loud
what's an example of something he would yell about like the other day we were
talking about our golf game here in the Minneapolis area as you guys that know
laying up would know there's a lot of nice golf courses in the area here so we
had a chance to go play a couple so we were having a little fun with our golf
game on the air and Tommy all of a sudden chimed in all right that's
enough about your golf games so we kind of backed off our golf games and got
back to golf so he kind of makes sure that were on the right track and if you
need Tibbett for a slow period in the
broadcast we actually won the pro-am this year yeah bill can you get a car
back my director raybert sits here he's as I said the director so if we're on
the 18th hole I'll say you know go to 18 Hannah green second shot and then he can
select from cameras 18 and then Chris and and Jeff and camera 38 so he has
four options there plus we'll have a walking a minicam going with him as well
and then he's telling our technical directors it's down here which cameras
are stand by 18 take 18 he pushes the button and that's what goes up on the
air and then behind me Tom Randolph who's our co-producer here he's the one
that's on the headset to all the spotters all over the golf course and
and really is the form that gets us from shot to shot to shot because he knows
what order they're hitting in and so this is the graphics room anything that
you see pop up on the screen that's a superficial not part of the picture it
all comes from this room are you guys prompted to put up like third shot or
are you automatically when you see it go on the screen you guys are in charge of
putting that graphic up there oh absolutely yeah you know we're we're
kind of in charge of making sure it is the third shot and it is the person we
think it is so let's all go on the paper well we got we got sound bites that we
like to use to personalize the contender so we sit them down after the third
round and it never fails we always come up with a little tidbit and also is need
to actually hear from them during the broadcast so I make little notes on the
sheet kind of how to set it up and little tags and thoughts that we have
thought about to kind of make these players come alive
what's your process to get me out on the golf course usually just around you to
the corner there is a portal app that's usually a pregame idea that's you don't
want to miss sometimes takes a little longer than others depends on how
nervous you are kind of like when you're playing at least we can confirm to the
viewers at home you do wear pants underneath it I do wear pants we get
about 40 to 50 a day volunteers and we couldn't do without they all know golf
they all love it they actually pay to be volunteers they can buy their shirts
which I'm baffled by but do you ever plan out your your line for when
somebody's about to win no I don't think you can do that
I think there's thoughts that you kind of let creep into your head you get I
get asked that a lot I think I think Sports is such an unscripted drama that
you got to let it happen and I think you can get into trouble when you kind of
think about it beforehand like what am I gonna say I I will say though that I
kind of developing a feeling is maybe somebody's over a winning putt like
Tiger Woods and Torrey Pines I the hope that the thought that kept coming to my
mind was I think everybody expects them to make this so when he when he made it
it just kind of came pouring out of me expected anything different so I think
you got to kind of let it organically happen
we're a damn man this is where they run all of if you can
kind of pan around if you want all of the RF all the stuff that doesn't have a
wire to it be radios or be if the cameras or what-have-you
it's really intense I got 18,000 month that's JP poking out of the booth
unfortunately the charges were just drops that we got him back this week and
here's our talent packs oh you put that on you make sure it fits you check in
with JP yell at them a little bit tell them how bad it was the day before and
you go out and do your job these things warm on your backs now they're heavy and
for guys like me who have more death than but they always are constantly
sliding down so batteries are really high tech I mean look at these I think
it's for rechargeable D batteries with duct tape Karen is the is the glue one
Pyrenean ask Gary coke because he certainly already nothing I think the
best part is always valuing the team that makes us look good and letting them
know how much how hard they work they don't get paid as much as we do they
work a lot more hours and we do and they're really great people and we
appreciate them do you take a big sigh of relief when you guys go to commercial
no and that's the thing is in football baseball basketball they stopped playing
when you go to commercial in golf they never stop playing so if you're doing on
those other events you actually can catch your breath regroup and then come
out and actually in our trucks during commercials we have to work even harder
to make sure we got everything recorded and then know exactly what we're gonna
do coming out of the breaker we're gonna go live we're gonna be for the tape shot
etc etc what's it like carrying these guys both just tremendous to work with
me that is just awesome Gary works ridiculously hard and has everything
buttoned down and I found it it really quite easy this is only the second time
we've all level we're gonna have to work together and it just seems to work well
like we're never standing on each other or talking on each other over each other
it's it's pretty cool what's the hardest sport in the world to broadcast the golf
is definitely the hardest and I've had the great opportunity to do them all now
the Olympics overall this is the hardest because it's so massive if you read
between the lines you know you can still kick our ass oh we lost you in the
pro-am you okay you guys work yeah really
what's this game play he doesn't play up hence caught the cold run 18 pretty nice
Dave the guy I gave it a go it we never found it but the biggest challenges is
calling it the way you see it being critical when the time is right without
being offensive and being honest to the viewer not being a salesperson for the
product that you're covering because your favorite part of your job travel
yeah it never gets old you know living in a hotel cell from time to time you
think it gets all but never clean up after yourself you never do dishes
rarely do I do laundry although when I do go to a laundry mat it gets quite
eye-opening cuz you know 56 year old guy moderate looks moderate shade but I go
into a laundromat I'm a laundromat Tim I'm just absolutely laundromat 10 so I
enjoy that part is it hard to keep track of what's going on in the golf
tournament when you're at the helm of trying to show people what's going on
well that's again what Tom Randolph is so good at and our entire crew actually
all those people in the graphic area on the other side here and in video tape is
with the golf experience that we have through the years you learn but it is
complicated and again as opposed to football baseball basketball where
there's one ball and you're just following the action around that ball
and then the periphery of the other players here it's not just one field
it's 18 fields and there's up the 70 balls and play at any one time so it is
complicated but that's we're here and do this because we're pretty good at it
well enjoy the show thank you come by and come by anytime we need a little
levity don't talk to be careful with there okay alrighty good
you