Insiders Debacle

It wasn't that bad, but it sure wasn't very good.  The "it" in this case being Golf Central's Insider's Debate, the new show unveiled by Golf Channel yesterday featuring Tim Rosaforte, Geoff Shackelford and Matt Adams.  My readers need no introduction to those first two names, but the latter was new to me as well.  Adams hosts a SirirusXM morning show called Fairways of Life and has been recently hired by Golf Channel.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way... the set is a complete misfire.  First, it's set in the Gold Channel newsroom, which Shack gamely tries to acknowledge early on as "Where it all happens."  Errr, not so much Geoff, as it mostly happens out on a golf course somewhere...  The network news broadcasts have occasionally used this trick, but it makes sense that the NBC newsroom would be staffed 24/7 to react if a bomb goes off somewhere or somebody important meets their maker.  But golf?  Especially in late December, not so much....

Secondly and more substantively, they have the guys standing around an elevated round table and it just screams, "Awkward."  Rosaforte gets the middle slot and when he's speaking both Shack and Adams have their back to the viewer.  You can watch the video at the link above, from which I grabbed this screen shot of Shack speaking while facing Tim:

Ummmm...we're over here, Geoff.

As for their interactions, they've tried to allocate the moderating duties equally, which also seems a curious choice.  I'd have added a moderator to control the broadcast and pose questions to the three "Insiders".  I also think they were ill-served by kicking the show off with a 2015 year in review show, as there's little new to add about Tiger or Jordan at this late date...  I actually think it will work better on a weekly basis with lower expectations...

As for the Solheim Cup discussion which comes at about the 9:45 mark, it would help if your so-called Insiders got the issue.  Geoff leads this segment positioning it as a debate about whether or not the putt was conceded, and Matt Adams goes off down an unlit path where he argues that the controversy wasn't the trigger for the comeback, but was the fuel....  Boy these guys are nuanced.  But Tim is the guy that drop-kicked the interview with Pettersen and I still await that brave soul that will show Suzann and Charlie Hull the picture of Hull storming off the green and ask what conclusion Allison Lee was to take from that?

The show seems to work best when  looking forward, as that's more fertile terrain for them to keep it fresh.  I do hope they tweak the format, especially as they won't get Shack into the Orlando studio every week, and wish them well.