Live From the 151st Open Championship: ACS Leads Specialty-Camera Charge; Car Cam Debuts

Two drones, one focused on the controversial Hole 17, are being deployed

Every Open Championship provides its own opportunities for new ways for EMG and ACS to use specialty cameras, and Royal Liverpool Golf Club this year has been no exception. The biggest on-air addition is the Car Cam, an ATOM One Dream Chip camera that has been mounted inside the courtesy car that drives the players and others from the driving range to the course. It is positioned in the front of the car to capture a wide shot, without audio, of whoever is being transported to the course.

“That’s the newest innovation, and the shot is so good, especially if you have three people in the front seat and two in the back seat,” says Hamish Greig, director, golf operations, EMG. “You have a nice full shot. We’ve had flag cams, hole cams, post cams, and all those kinds of things but never a Car Cam. I think it has been such a success that we’ll keep it.”

Royal Liverpool provides the perfect opportunity for that sort of camera because the driving range is more than a mile from the course.

“It’s a three-minute drive, and, other than a couple of little gaps where you lose it for five seconds, it has worked really well,” says Greig. “Along with that, we have the UHD and HD drones, bunker cams, and high-frame-rate cameras on the 17th hole, which I think is where this tournament is going to be won or lost.”

ACS’s David Whitlock inside the ACS technical cabin at the 2023 Open Championship

ACS Operations Director David Whitlock and his team of about 20 are overseeing operations of many of the other specialty cameras, including two drones because the aircraft that usually captures aerials is grounded by a technical issue with the engine.

“The plan for the second drone came about last Friday,” he explains. “That was difficult to pull together because of all the paperwork associated with it, but, thankfully, we had done most of it already for the other drone, and that helped us tick a lot of the health and safety boxes.”

The two drones have been dubbed Lennon and McCartney. The latter will focus on the famed 17th par-3. The former will be on the other side of the course covering Holes 9, 10, 11, and 12.

“Those holes are out of the way and have a great background of the beach, and it’s a pretty shot,” says Whitlock. “Flight time is still limited to around 15 minutes depending on weather conditions; if it’s windy, they will have to work harder. Their flight path is fairly constrained, but they still have some movement, and the McCartney drone can go out over the water and fly in to reveal the 17th and surrounding holes.”

A wire-cam system, about 120 meters long, is in place on the 18th hole, capturing shots of the 18th green. Because of space limitations, the system is built into the infrastructure surrounding the grandstand, and Whitlock expects it to capture some great shots of the green.

“We just have to move very slowly and carefully because we’re quite close to play,” he says. “It has a GSS gimbal on it with a wide-angle lens and enough zoom so we can push in on the players and spectators for color shots.”

New this year are three small Camball PTZ cameras that have been buried in the turf on the practice range. Located just in front of the hitting area, they provide shots of all the hitting bays. “The guys on the Live From the Range show can pick shots of the players they want to show,” says Whitlock.

The 17th hole is the centerpiece of this year’s Open and, besides the drone, is covered by three bunker cameras, including a high-frame-rate version.

“We had that type of camera in a bunker for the first time last year in the Road Hole bunker at St. Andrews,” says Whitlock. “We replicated that this year in the rear bunker on 17 to give a high-speed replay.”

ACS is also supporting NBC and Golf Channel with a bunker cam on the practice-green chipping area (Sky Sports has one in a bunker on the practice range) and four SMARThead3 robotic camera heads with large lenses positioned on various towers located across the course.

“We also are providing the standard bridge cameras for the players coming on and off the course,” adds Whitlock, “as well as some POV SMARThead cameras on the back of the first tee and on the 18th grandstand.”

It is a busy summer for ACS. The team just finished Wimbledon and had to quickly get kit from AELTC up to Liverpool following last weekend’s Finals. After the Open, it’s straight into the EPL football season and, at the end of September, back to golf for the 2023 Ryder Cup, which will be played in Rome.