Golf World Furious as U.S. Open Becomes ‘Unwatchable’ With Past Woes Returning at Oakmont

Remember when the viewing guide for the 125th U.S. Open was announced? NBC promised 300 hours of live coverage across NBC, USA Network, GOLF Channel, and Peacock. Notably, it promised 21 of the 47 broadcast airing hours on NBC, providing the highest network exposure for any major golf championship. Additionally, NBC announced it would utilize Emmy Award-winning ARL Drone Tracing Technology in partnership with Rolex for all coverage. Pretty loud announcement by the U.S. Open and its partners? Yes. However, considering the quality of the coverage of the opening round at Oakmont, all these promises seem to fall flat once again.

During the 2024 U.S. Open, fans encountered several issues with NBC and Peacock’s coverage, causing widespread frustration. On moving day, the broadcast suffered significant breakdowns, including a disconnection of the golf course audio due to AV truck issues, and viewers were disappointed by the lack of graphics and leaderboards for extended periods. It has happened again.

The USA Network coverage of the opening round is facing several issues. It’s prioritizing commercials, leading to an overload of ads. Viewers also express frustration with the poor camera angles that lack proper reference. The broadcast relies heavily on tower shots and awkward close-ups, and the minimal use of tracer technology has made the coverage feel unwatchable. And, hey, it looks like the U.S. Open hasn’t learnt anything from the 2024 controversies surrounding poor event coverage.

In fact, other majors have faced similar coverage issues. At the 2024 Open Championship, NBC’s broadcast for American viewers was plagued by back-to-back commercials, frustrating golf fans who noted there were more “commercials than golf shots” during the Sentry event. The old rage is back in the golf world, given the latest issues.

Golf fans are ready to throw hands at the poor U.S. Open coverage

No Laying Up’s latest post on the issue, saying, “Maybe they’re just front loading commercials,” has unsurprisingly caught fans’ attention for a single reason: they are facing the same issues. One fan said, “The camera angles have been so bad too. No frame of reference. Do they not have any on course cameras? Everything is a tower shot or a weird closeup. Hardly any tracers…NBC is laughing at us,” while another fan said, “No tracers either…..” 

Here’s how NBC tracks the flight of balls: At tee boxes, ShotLink staff set up cameras for NBC in collaboration with Trackman and Bolt6. These cameras utilize radar, optical sensors, and high-speed mechanics to track golf balls. Trackman, known for its golf simulators, gathers similar data to predict how far a ball will travel and where it will land on a real course. That is clearly not working!

One fan compared NBC with CBS and said, “cbs coverage is miles better than nbc.” In fact, CBS introduced a new series of changes in the 2025 coverage. Under new leadership from David Berson, the network expanded its use of drone tracers, allowing for dynamic shot tracking and data presentation. At Pebble Beach, it utilized a crane camera, providing unique angles on tee shots. However, even CBS has faced criticism in the past for showing favoritism.

At the 2025 Masters, Rory McIlroy secured his first win at Augusta National in a dramatic playoff, but CBS faced sharp criticism from fans for sidelining LIV Golf players (including Bryson DeChambeau!) and focusing too much on McIlroy’s story.

One fan pointed out the number of commercials during the opening round’s coverage and angrily said, “This is unwatchable. I never fully understood NLU for the commercial load. Now moving to Australia and we get the US feed. I get adverts – but this is torture. And the same advert over and over. This can’t be legal😂😂,” while another said, “Classic @NBCSports putting the first 4+ hours of the broadcast behind a pay wall and still showing more commercials than golf.” Let’s take the commercials issue first.

The surge in sports TV rights has transformed golf into a multi-billion-dollar industry over the past two decades. However, this financial growth has led to an influx of advertisements, with interruptions becoming increasingly burdensome. During the 2022 U.S. Open, viewers faced numerous coverage issues, including excessive commercial breaks, missed shots by key players, and irrelevant feature stories. And then there’s the pay wall issue.

In the 2024 U.S. Open coverage, NBC placed part of the broadcast behind a paywall, requiring viewers to subscribe to Peacock to watch the afternoon wave. This frustrated fans, especially since top players still had several holes left to play. Clearly, the U.S. Open and its partners need to do better!