FOX Sports is once again tapping new technology to enhance its golf broadcast. The company’s coverage of the 117th U.S. Open, one of four annual major championships on the PGA Tour, kicks off next week. FOX will use everything from augmented reality and drones as it tries to provide a better viewing experience for fans watching at home. Zac Fields, senior vice president of graphic tech and integration at FOX Sports, explained that there will be two versions of augmented reality used for the broadcast next week. The first is during live action. Every tee shot will be highlighted by some sort of… Read More
Caddies are trying to make a comeback — albeit in a virtual way. Arccos, a Stamford, Conn.-based startup that builds golf-shot tracking technology, today announced a new product in partnership with Microsoft that aims to help golfers score better on the course. Called Arccos Caddie, the new software is built into Arccos 360, the company’s mobile app that pairs with sensors attached to the butt of a club grip and tracks each shot during a round while providing GPS-powered yardage information. Arccos Caddie takes the app up another level with artificial intelligence and machine learning from Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and Azure Machine Learning. The… Read More
Intel continues to push forward with its virtual reality technology in the sports world. The tech giant today announced a partnership with the PGA Tour to live stream the action from The Players Championship this weekend — specifically, at the famous “Island Green” on hole 17. The company’s “Intel True VR,” its new VR brand that builds off the acquisition of virtual reality startup Voke last year, will power the stream, available to users with Samsung Gear VR headsets and the new PGA Tour VR Live app throughout the 4-day tournament that kicks off Thursday. There will be three cameras — on… Read More
IBM is using new technology to help speed up the highlight reel production process at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. The company, which has provided technology support at the Masters for more than two decades, this year is testing a new platform that utilizes video, audio, and text cognitive recognition software — part of its IBM Watson platform — to extract exciting moments from live video streams. It uses computer vision algorithms to analyze the video content and understand what’s going on — for example, a player pumping his fist — while also converting the audio from commentators to text in… Read More
Bryson DeChambeau is clearly the PGA Tour’s geekiest golfer. The 23-year-old California native who earned a physics degree from Southern Methodist University has brought his data-driven, science-influenced, and exceptionally eccentric philosophy to the world’s top professional golf circuit in a big way. GeekWire had a chance to catch up with DeChambeau last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the PGA Tour pro was helping promote a new smartphone app from Bridgestone that helps golfers find the best golf ball for their game. “I would say I’m at the leading edge of technology in regard to the game… Read More
