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News

This golf broadcaster’s weekly note cards are a work of art

Pat RalphBy Pat Ralph
July 31, 2019
Twitter/@realWhitWatson

Sports broadcasters do a lot of preparation before calling a game. That frequently includes putting together play-by-play sheets and note cards filled with various factoids and relevant information to reference during the telecast.

Golf Channel anchor and host Whit Watson has gotten into the habit of posting his broadcast cheat sheet on Twitter every week before calling a tournament, and it’s pretty cool to see.

“It’s a fun social media conversation and people seem to enjoy it,” said Watson, who just happened to post it once and has continued since.

Watson uses a variety of markers in order to highlight and represent different things that he might want to mention and discuss on the broadcast. The various colors help the information pop and standout from the sheets. While some broadcasters reference enormous sheets of paper on air, Watson uses small note cards as his well of information during the telecast.

Watson said that his usage of note cards began when he was a play-by-play man for Fox Sports’ regional sports networks in Florida, and he took it with him to Golf Channel.

Some of the reference points that Watson includes on his note cards are the tournament’s history and previous winners, information about the course and where the event is being played, relevant statistics, the PGA Tour schedule and its corresponding winners, and the other broadcasters working alongside Watson for the tournament.

Watson wants his cards to include information relevant to the broadcast and the viewers. They take about half-a-day to create, and it varies as to when Watson puts them together. Sometimes he will do them at home, other times he’ll do them in his hotel room while on the road ahead of the tournament.

These note cards give some good insight into how a broadcaster, in golf or any other sport, gets ready for calling a game. Take a look for yourself, as his most recent one is for the Wyndham Championship this week at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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