Learning from The Open on television: what to watch on a links, and what to ignore

A wet Sunday afternoon, The Open or a DP World Tour event on the television, and four hours later you know who won and very little that will help you on Saturday. Most club golfers watch the professional game the way it is edited: as a sequence of great shots. Watched differently, the same coverage is the cheapest coaching in the game.

Broadcasts are built for drama. You see the approach that finished close, the long putt that dropped and the drive that carried the bunker. What you rarely see is the decision behind a shot, the layup, the miss played to the safe side, which is exactly what an amateur can copy. This guide is a way of watching against the edit, with a particular eye on links golf.

Where you can watch in the UK

At The Open, the broadcasters with their own on-site production in the UK are Sky and the BBC, working alongside a production partnership that includes R&A Productions. According to a Sports Video Group report from 2016, more than 170 cameras cover the championship, including cameras set into the faces of pot bunkers. Sky Sports also runs a dedicated golf channel, Sky Sports Golf, and The R&A publishes its own video on R&A TV and in The Open app, which is available all year round.

Whatever you watch, favour coverage that follows one group for a whole round. Featured groups show every shot, including the dull ones, and the dull ones teach the most.

Watch the target, not the flag

The most transferable skill in professional golf is choosing where to aim. When the flag is tucked behind a pot bunker or close to a run-off, count how many of the field aim at the middle of the green and accept a two-putt. Commentators may call it cautious. It is simply correct.

The logic is dispersion. A tour player’s mid-iron shots spread across a relatively narrow area, and even that spread is too wide to attack a pin with sand short-side. Yours is much wider. If the best players in the world will not take on that flag, your decision is easy.

Copy this one thing and you will save shots the very next weekend, without hitting a practice ball.

Watch the ground game on links

The Open is the best televised lesson in playing along the ground. On firm links turf, watch how often players land the ball short of the green and let it run, rather than flying it all the way. Watch how many choose a putter from well off the putting surface, or a low running chip with a mid iron, instead of a lofted wedge.

The principle fits in a sentence: the less time the ball spends in the air, the less can go wrong. That applies to your course too, particularly in a dry summer when fairways and greens firm up.

Look for the phrase “short-sided” from commentators, and notice how rarely it applies to the leaders and how often to players dropping down the board.

Watch how they play in wind

On a windy day at a seaside championship, look at the ball flight. Better players keep the ball lower into the wind, take more club and swing more smoothly. Few try to overpower a headwind. When the wind is across, most start the ball into it and let it drift back.

This is directly usable on almost any British course. When the wind gets up, choose the lower, controlled shot rather than the full swing, and accept a longer club for the same distance.

Time the routine

Pick one player and count the seconds from stepping into the shot to starting the backswing. Do it for five shots. The spread will usually be tiny, even under the pressure of a final round.

Amateurs do the reverse: faster when nervous, slower when undecided. Your routine does not need to look like anyone else’s or take long. It just needs to be the same every time, which you can build in a couple of weeks.

Watch the wedge swings

Driving distance is spectacle, not a lesson. Nobody learns anything useful for their own game from a 320-yard carry.

Wedges are different. On a 60-yard shot, notice that the backswing is nowhere near full. Notice how rarely a full swing appears inside 100 yards. Notice where the ball lands relative to the flag, usually short, and how much it releases. That is a shot you face every round, demonstrated by the best in the world: a shorter swing at a steady pace, and a chosen landing spot.

Watch the misses and the bunkers

When a professional misses a green, look at which side. Most miss on the side that leaves a straightforward next shot. That was decided before the club was chosen, not by luck.

And when a player finds a pot bunker, look at the decision. Out sideways, even backwards, is common when the lip is steep. On television, the bunker shot that gets replayed is the brilliant recovery. The lesson is usually in the ones that are simply played out.

Watch the walk

After a double bogey, watch how a good player walks to the next tee. There is usually no visible difference from the walk after a birdie. That is a professional habit: the hole ends on the green.

For you, make the walk to the next tee the place where the previous hole is finished with. Write the score, then leave it. Club golfers often lose more shots on the hole after a disaster than on the disaster itself.

What not to copy

Do not rebuild your swing from a slow-motion replay. Tour players have coaches, physiotherapists, fitting specialists and thousands of hours of practice. A move copied without that background usually makes an amateur worse.

Two traps in particular. What looks smooth on screen happens at a speed you cannot match, and copying the shape without the speed creates a different swing. And tour clubs are built to each player’s specification, so part of the flight you admire comes from the equipment.

Copy decisions, targets, routines and short-game club choice. They cost nothing and transfer at once.

Where to watch golf live in Britain

A day on the course teaches what television cannot: real ball flight, real green speed, and how often players simply lay up. Our guide to attending a tournament covers the practical side.

The Open. The 155th Open is at St Andrews from 11 to 18 July 2027. The R&A says unreserved grandstand seats are free to ticket holders on a first-come, first-served basis, which makes staying at one green for a morning very easy.

The AIG Women’s Open. Heading to Royal St George’s in 2027. Clubhead speeds and ball flights on the women’s tour are closer to those of good club golfers, which makes the decisions even more relevant.

The Amateur Championship. At Royal Portrush from 14 to 19 June 2027: elite amateur golf on an Open venue, with far smaller crowds.

Your county championship. County unions stage championships every summer on strong local courses. Check your county union’s calendar and ask the host club about spectators.

If you would rather be inside the ropes, see our guide to volunteering at a tournament.

Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with any broadcaster, championship or organisation named here.

Next time it is on

• Pick one player and time five pre-shot routines.
• On the hardest flag of the day, count how many players aim straight at it.
• On a links, count the approaches played along the ground.
• Note how many full wedge swings appear inside 100 yards.
• Watch the walk to the next tee after a bad hole.