On Wednesday the PGA Tour and TrackMan announced it would not just expand its partnership, but double the use of the popular tracking system in order to provide tracing capabilities for every golf shot hit during the season and enhance how fans follow the game.
Fans will first experience the new content in 2022 on PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ and the Tour’s digital platforms. A new television agreement begins in 2023.
“We have been working closely with the PGA Tour for more than 15 years, to accurately measure and report data on club delivery, ball launch, ball flight, and tracers for the best players in the world,” said Klaus Eldrup-Jorgensen, co-founder and CEO of TrackMan. “We are proud to be chosen to implement our new solutions with the PGA Tour, which will ultimately include all shots for all players. The future of golf will be told in new and innovative ways, the fan experience will elevate to a new level, and the stories about how good these guys play is just beginning.”
Future of ShotLink: More tours, more stats, more videos and fans in control
Last March the Tour partnered with Amazon Web Services to improve how fans view tournaments. For example, AWS will power Every Shot Live, an app that will provide viewers live access to every shot from every player in a tournament.
Fans won’t just get to see where a shot lands, but they’ll also learn why it landed why it did due to TrackMan’s ability to capture club speed, ball speed, curve, landing spin, launch angle, spin rate, spin axis, apex, carry and more. An advanced aerodynamic model can also determine how wind, weather, and altitude would alter a shot.
“We’re excited to increase the volume and depth of tracking and tracing for every shot on the PGA Tour,” said Ken Lovell, PGA Tour Senior Vice President of Golf Technologies. “TrackMan’s sensors will substantially increase content available for analysis and initiate the development of new insights, while creating the opportunity for us to develop innovative visualizations for fans to view all the incredible shots on Tour.”
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