“Yes, I am a pirate,.200 years too late”

Jimmy Buffet

It’s been a while. I hope you all have been doing well. I recently celebrated my 70th birthday and it was the perfect time to reflect, again, on my career. Aiding in that reflection was the decision made by the LIV Golf League to end my employment with them after four years.

I received a telephone call in March of 2022 inquiring about my availability for and interest in “producing a couple of events for a start up men’s professional golf league.” After a close to forty year career in television (more specifically golf television) I had been retired for a decade so there was zero question about my “availability”. My “interest” was another matter.

It was a big decision. I had been there at the earliest stages of helping start two television networks. I had won awards. I had helped bring talent and innovations to golf television that set a standard for the broadcast industry. I wrote a book that paid tribute to my amazing, broadcast television pioneering, parents. A book that burned some bridges. Then I wrote five more books. Feel free to check them out at Amazon or keith.hirshland.com. Bottom line was I didn’t need another job.

I was perfectly happy writing, walking the dogs, and supporting my incredibly talented and accomplished wife. After a stretch of reflection and some tossing and turning I said yes in March of 2022. I was interested in producing a couple of events for the LIV Golf League. A “couple” turned into every one of the league’s first 52 televised tournaments. It was an amazing four years working with, and for, forceful, driven, talented, creative, people on a mission to redefine the competition in men’s professional golf. And more important for me, to reimagine the way it was presented on television.

I will be forever grateful to Greg Norman, Steve Beim, James Watson, and Will Staeger for giving me the opportunity to be on another ground floor of a groundbreaking opportunity. And to my bride who reminded me that as long as you’re doing something for the right reasons go do it with everything you have. It was a risk, more for some than me, and it was glorious. We were given the remit and the resources to do things differently. To be creative. To be disruptive. To turn golf on television from what the great sports TV mind, David Hill said was a “lay back on the couch and take a nap” viewer experience into a “lean in and pay attention” one.

As a team of enthusiastic professionals all rowing in the same direction we employed, for the first time in golf, a dynamic, length of the screen, F1/NASCAR style leaderboard pylon. The LIV Golf TV production team was first to incorporate a drone in shot tracing technology. We wondered what it would look like to show the break of the putt, on the green, from a greenside camera instead of a tower camera and then we did it LIVE. Why not take it one step further and show the speed of the ball off the putter while we’re at it? we thought. Then we did that too. There was so much more and many of the things this talented group thought up and put into practice was unapologetically copied by other broadcasters. Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery.

We navigated the choppy waters of golf television in our LIV Golf pirate ship for three years. We, and the league, faced unforeseen headwinds and blockades that would have made other, less committed, crews and captains turn around and head for calmer waters. During those three marvelous years we were constantly thinking about ways to upset the apple cart, things to enhance the viewing experience, to keep those watching “leaning in”. Then in year four, due to circumstances beyond our control our cannons were shuttered, and the Jolly Roger was lowered from the main mast replaced by a bright white flag. To my colleagues on that original “pirate ship LIV Golf” I’ll paraphrase Rick Blaine in Casablanca… “We’ll ALWAYS have Adelaide.”

It’s been the honor of my long and somewhat distinguished career to have worked on hundreds of golf television shows and spend thousands of broadcast hours with David Feherty, Jerry Foltz, Arlo White, Dom Boulet, Su Ann Heng, Pat Perez, Troy Mullins, and Rachel Drummond. It’s been a privilege to be in NEP trucks (engineered, driven, and maintained by the best in the business) with Steve Beim, James Watson, J Bryan Lilley, Ethan Ritz, Eugene du Toit and his entire, incredible, team from Champion Data, Jeff Gershengorn, Barrett Nelson, Daniel Currier, Ross Smith, Jake Hirshland, Sam Goldberg, Tim Turrell, Jon Schwartz, Mark Tomlinson, Glenn Savadski, Mike Principato, Brian Stoll, Dani Bell, Eric Thomas, Leena Hendrickson, Shiya Chao, Todd Green, Eric Saperstein, Kristin Xippolitos, Kristen Mosher, and Michael Mandt and his stupendously talented collaborators. To ALL the pros who manned (and womanned) the cameras, filled edit rooms, and EVS stations, sat behind graphics machines, lit the studios, maintained our golf cars, and cooked for and fed us in cities, and towns, and countries around the world. Thank you. It was a thrill to work alongside the most creative person I’ve ever met, William Newell, and his equally talented wife, Holly who babysat the talent with the patience of a Saint. I know I’ve failed to mention people. Please accept my heartfelt apology and know that I know every single person who worked on one of these shows, in any capacity, made it better. Many of these people took a chance on a new adventure knowing it would mean professional doors slammed behind them.

As a fan, and a colleague, I’ve enjoyed showcasing and spending time with all of the league’s great players including Bryson, Brooks, Phil, Sergio, Joaco. Getting to know Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Dean Burmester and getting reacquainted with Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, Patrick Reed, Charles Howell III, and Cameron Tringale. The league was special. The fan experience unmatched. The concept brilliant. All the stars, at every event, all the time. I’m proud to say the TV product was always a work in progress. A fascinating combination of great people, bringing every ounce of talent, creativity, hard work, and fun each day. What we tried didn’t always work but, by God, we tried. And when it didn’t work, we accepted the criticism and worked even harder to make the product better.

Now I get to go back to my family, my dogs and my imaginary friends. Book 7 is well on its way. A sequel to Song Girl and a Detective Marc Allen mystery. After that my mind is already working on the third book in the Murphy Murphy Series. This time our intrepid detective will team up with the Pun Police. You can check out all my books at Amazon or http://www.keithhirshland.com

Thanks as always for reading what I write.