Over the past few months, golf broadcasts have entered an exciting new era—one that’s transforming how fans experience the game from their screens. Thanks to cutting-edge technology and fresh production ideas, network broadcasters are enhancing both the live action and pre-tournament coverage in truly captivating ways. The result? A more immersive, insightful, and dynamic viewing experience that’s earned widespread praise from fans. But while several networks have stepped up, one broadcaster in particular has been leading the charge when it comes to technological innovation

No Laying Up Podcast’s Soly was joined by Josh Carpenter as the two discussed the same about the leading networks in golf, CBS and NBC. During the segment, Carpenter said, “As technology keeps getting better, CBS, specifically talking about them, you’re going to keep seeing them innovate and do bigger things.” He shared an apt example of how they introduced the drone tracer last year in the Travelers Championship and how it was still not as efficient back then. However, today, it is absolutely fantastic and delivers accurate live data in conjunction with the stroke being played live.

As both individuals agreed, such innovations keep the viewers hooked on the action and make golf a lot more interesting. Even though there were debates about the PGA Tour copying the technology from LIV Golf. At the end of the day, what matters is that every fan, no matter which Tour they follow, is benefiting from its usage. Speaking about such technological integrations from CBS, Soly added, “I feel like they brought Sedgefield to life this past week with the green slopes around the greens and the lower camera angles in a way that I had not fully ever appreciated.”

This time around, CBS introduced a new perspective to the fans to help them understand the variations of the greens in the first playoffs. In the ongoing FedEx St Jude Championship 2025, they have shared visuals from a lower angle of the short grass surface, a perspective that pro golfers see when they are reading the green. This helps the viewers imagine what the players are thinking when they play a shot. It helps them understand why they make certain decisions on the course.

Comparing all the amazing work CBS is doing to their competitors, Soly had something to share about NBC as well. The expert said, “It feels like NBC is due for one of the overhauls in terms of… I don’t just mean Tommy Roy (Golf Executive Producer) out. I just mean in some way, I need to feel like they are making an attempt to modernize their broadcast.” Soly mentioned how even CBS had gotten stale at one point, and they took the necessary steps to refresh it. NBC also needs to do the same.

While the analyst can’t determine the exact timeframe when NBC got stale, it is evident that they are lacking compared to the CBS network. Soly questioned Carpenter if he foresaw NBC changing its product strategy. Josh replied, “Changes and overhaul, I don’t know. How are they going to work with the Tour? Is the Tour really going to push them to make some of these changes? It’s not just talent overhauls or anything. NBC had a fair amount of talent overhaul in the last few years, with Johnny (Miller) leaving, now (Paul) Azinger, (Roger) Maltbie, and Cope, and those guys aren’t there anymore.”

As Carpenter stated, NBC has seen a lot of great analysts leave its lineup recently. All the names he mentioned had been with NBC for many decades. They added a lot of value to the broadcast and made it a lot more intriguing for the fans. Their departure has left a hole in the network. However, Carpenter commended those who are still there at NBC. He said, “I love Smiley (Kaufman) on a broadcast; he’s great. I think (Dan) Hicks is really good still, too. I think they have some decent talent there. What Tommy is going to do from a production standpoint, I don’t know.”

Kaufman and Hicks bring in a great perspective to the game and have gained a lot of popularity for their work. However, as Josh stated, it all depends on how Roy manages them. And at the end of the day, if the Executive Producer is not pushing better ideas, then the network will not be able to compete in the industry. However, it also depends on how open the PGA Tour is to giving more opportunities to NBC to cover the events better.

Carpenter suggested, “What does the Tour do to help them, provide to them… Like we’ve seen with some of the drone tracing and that sort of thing. But in terms of the wholesale changes, I don’t know. I tend to think CBS has some of the better events, just from a pure scheduling standpoint. So, that’s another question mark of when this schedule shifts around. We think it’s going to shift around in a couple of years. Is NBC a benefactor of that? We can go 5 years down the road to when the Tour’s media deals are up, and what does that future look like?”

CBS covers twice as the PGA Tour events every season as NBC, according to the current media deals with both production houses. This gives the former a considerable advantage over its competitor. Hence, it’s understandable why CBS gets access to better technology for broadcast from the Tour more often than NBC. However, Carpenter and Soly did commend NBC for their excellent coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship 2025. That showed that when given the opportunity, Tommy and his team don’t shy away from presenting the best product.

But when it comes to that, what other bit tournaments did NBC cover in 2025? Let’s take a look at their broadcast PGA Tour schedule for the season.

How many PGA Tour events does NBC Network cover in 2025?

In total, NBC Sports had 11 tournaments lined up for broadcast this season. One of them was a major, The Open 2025 at Royal Portrush. Apart from the last major of the year and THE PLAYERS Championship, they also covered the Arnold Palmer Invitational. All three tournaments drew in great coverage and viewership. That comes as a surprise considering how often the PGA Tour and Jay Monahan have had to face the heat due to broadcast issues all throughout the season.

NBC has also covered other tournaments like the Mexico Open, the Cognizant Classic, the Valspar Championship, and the Texas Children’s Houston Open. With a schedule change and new broadcast deals coming up in a few years, it will be interesting to see if NBC changes its broadcast strategy to strike a better deal with the PGA Tour and gain more events next term.