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Virtual Reality Comes To The PGA Tour

Starting in the Waste Management Open at TPC Scottsboro in Phoenix last week the PGA Tour launched some virtual reality (VR) content that puts viewers in control of their own viewing experience with 360 degree viewing capability. Want to see to the left of your current view? Just tilt your smartphone left and watch what happens.

Partnering with spherical storytellers IM360 the tour has released 4 initial videos available on Samsung’s Gear VR, the Oculus store and YouTube. IM360 has launched an accompanying PGA Tour VR app via the Oculus, a VR platform.  The app is downloadable through the Samsung S5, S6, Note 4, Note 5 and the Edges as well. Using 360 degree video capture viewers are taken to the green for actual tournament action as well as tutorials by pros. You can’t get any closer to Patrick Rodgers as he shows you how to set up a putt all while it feels like you’re on the green yourself in one of the 4 initial videos released.

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Samsung is gearing up to push out their VR product heavily to consumers. The more success they have bodes well for the partnership with PGA.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the PGA Tour as they continue to bring the beautiful game to fans in more intimate ways. As you might remember PGA Tour also made news at this same tournament last week for partnering with GoPro and Skratch TV to bring first person vantage points from the players.  The tour is making a concerted effort to engage and attract new viewers rolling out both of these partnerships simultaneously.

Whether these efforts will catch on isn’t immediately clear, the 2 videos I watched had just shy of 20k views combined. Take a couple minutes and check one of the videos out, or all of them, you’ll be impressed.
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