With all the information available during televised golf, is there any reason they don’t put which club the golfer is using on the graphics? Often times the announcer will mention that the golfer is using a particular club.
I admit, I was about to be snarky and unhelpful and comment “why would it matter if they display the club? It’s not like a pro using a 5-iron to hit 210 yards is going to mean I gain any insight on how I need to hit 210 yards (a fairway wood and short iron/wedge).”
But you’re absolutely right. For all of the information of various levels of usefulness that get splashed up on screen in any pro sport (the Masters being a notable exception, by Augusta National’s decree), there is no broadcast reason that they couldn’t.
My guess is that, for every shot where the announcer knows what club is being used, there are two or three that they just don’t know, though they could speculate with a fairly high degree of certainty. It’s not like the golfers must announce their club, and it’s not like a 7-iron and 8-iron in a set look drastically different, especially from a 10-foot-distant camera zoom. It would leave a lot of gaps in the infoblurb displaying.
There is actually some potential controversy over the issue of the TV people knowing what club is being used. To do that, the caddie has to tell the TV people, or signal them, what club is being used. They used to do that.
However, the Rules of Golf preclude a golfer, or his caddie, from providing helpful information to competitors. This includes a statement about which club is being used. You can’t ask, and you can’t tell. A few years ago, the USGA and the PGA were interpreting the hand singnals to the TV crews as violating this rule, since the signal often could be seen by the opposing player or his caddie.
I don’t know what the eventual resolution was (there was a time that the TV people weren’t told what club was being used). I know that somehow, that info is being relayed in many cases again.
Just a couple of tournaments back there was an interesting little exchange. IIRC the player in second place was 250-ish out on the final hole. The on-course announcer said he is going with 3-iron, which no one thought enough club. Instead, he was laying up with a mid-iron. The on-course guy explained that the hand signals the caddies use to tell which club they were using is the same for 3-iron and whatever mid-iron (6?7?) the player was using.
I always find it interesting to read “what’s in the bag” type articles. The players vary greatly in terms of the makeup of their 14-clubs. I wonder if some advertising interests/restrictions come into play?
They don’t need to overdo it by announcing the brand every shot. But I would like to hear especially about putter and wedge makes and models. A lot of it would be confusing for most golfers, tho, because our needs are so different from the pros’.
If the PGA wanted to solve the problem they could easily provide a one-way private communicator device to the caddies so that they could communicate the club to the TV folks who then could put the club choice on TV. But it seems to me that they don’t believe this is something golf watchers are clamoring for.
But if the golfer has an on-course reporter following them, I’ve generally seen the reporter usually tells the viewers the club, especially when on the tee or if they are in a tricky “in-between” spot on the course, although you often see them qualifying their ID “I think Tiger’s got the 7 iron here…”
I guess I misunderstood the OP as asking about the specific makes and models of clubs being used. Don’t they usually announce the number club being used for most shots? Especially on par-3s? Always seems I’m being humbled by hearing how some journeyman pro is using an 8-iron from 180 yds or so… 
I wasn’t aware of the dispute DSY describes, but in the incident I mentioned earlier this year they were discussing the use of hand signals in a manner suggesting it was commonplace.
I remember that one. The caddie flashed two fingers to the announcers, which is the agreed-upon signal for both a 2-iron and a 7-iron. (I believe the system is modulo-5 so that the caddie can signal using only one hand.)
And I believe the reason why they don’t add the club used to the on-air graphics is that they simply don’t have enough time to get the signal from the caddie to the announcers to the TV graphic. Especially since it’s not unusual for the player to delay his decision about which club to use until the last minute.
Actually, I think displaying the type of clubs used by a golfer could be a handy way for the networks to make a little ad money. Sort of like how on the PGA Tour website, if you look at the standings, the list indicates all the players who use Titleists.
This is one of the rules gray area. There is a basically a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” rule between competitors, but a player and/or caddy can tell spectators. A player can look in another players bag to see what club is NOT in the bag so by the process of elimination but that many players think that violates “the spirit” of the rule. ugh, there is that phrase again.
Dinsdale, I think the incident that you are thinking about happened in last weeks tournament. Michael Sim had 240 yds to the 18th at Torrey Pines. the caddy flashed “two fingers” to the on-course reporter. Feherty thought he meant 2-iron, when he fact he was laying with a 7-iron. When a caddy flashes his fingers, it either means the number of fingers or the “number of fingers + 5” for the club.
Thanks guys - that was it. And the +5 system makes sense.
Have you heard anything to suggest that was frowned upon?