Photographing a major sporting event is very difficult for most photographers, or at least getting the access to all areas to do it is. Professional sport is highly regulated and usually requires photographer accreditation. If you aren’t with a major media outlet, broadcaster or sports agency then this is almost impossible to get. So what can you do as a non-accredited photographer with a passion for sport?
One sport which offers good access as a spectator is golf. The big golf events attract large crowds but within a very large area so you can get close to the action. If you go on the first two days of a four day championship, like the British Open, the access is reasonably good and the players close. It also starts early because there are so many players and you get to see them all. The crowds pack in later in the tournament as we get closer to a winner and the top players are taking centre stage.
The 2024 British Open at Troon
The British Open in Troon, Scotland
Troon, in Dumfries & Galloway, on the west coast of Scotland about 30 miles from Glasgow, or a 40 minute train ride, was host to the 2024 British Open Championships. It’s a links course, meaning the tees and fairways are surrounded by and connected to the fairways by large areas of often very difficult and dense rough. It’s also next to the sea so is subject to all the changeability in weather which that brings. As a result the golf can get somewhat spicy and unpredictable at times!
So it’s day two and the golf starts early, but the first groups of players aren’t the favourites, so the the crowds take time to build. That’s perfect for a photographer doing a reccie, working out where to find the best viewpoints and which lens to use for each. Doing this yields some surprising results. The crowds tend to gather around the tees, the key points where the drives land on the fairways and the greens. The best photo view points are often a little further back and away from these peak crowd points, sometimes a little raised up but still give good framing with a longer lens.
Accredited photographers get access beyond the crowd areas
Accredited photographers have access beyond the ropes limiting the crowds from encroaching onto the playing area. It was interesting how often I unintentionally found myself standing just the other side of that rope from one of these pro photographers. In fact the only real difference, other than a few meters and the occasional straight on viewpoint, was the access they had around the greens.
Planning what to shoot and how to shoot it
The reccie is not the only preparation needed. That is all about viewpoint but to photograph any sport well you need to understand a little about the game and how it unfolds – where it can go right and, for drama, where it can go wrong. Of course it helps if you’ve actually played too, even if you aren’t very good at it! That gives you the nuances which may not necessarily be obvious to an armchair observer.
Starting at the tees, the obvious place to start, it’s surprising how close the spectators get to the players, not just at the sides but in front too! Considering how hard the top pros connect with the ball and how fast it leaves the club, you have to be confident in the golfers’ driving skills. You certainly wouldn’t want to stand in those positions for your average amateur golfer, not if you values your life or your camera and lens anyway.
Moving back a little from the tee, maybe 20 to 30m down towards the fairway, often gives a pretty good, near head-on shot, especially if you manage to find a mound to give a slightly elevated view point. If you don’t the longer grass of the rough around the tee can often obstruct or partly obstruct the ball – and the shot is ruined.
Working out the action
When a golfer swings, the club is raised up high right behind the head in preparation to bring it down to strike the ball. At the top of the swing there is a very brief pause in the motion as the club changes direction. Now, my first thought was that I start shooting, on motor drive, at this point. Wrong! When I did this the first frame was at the top of the swing, the second just before the ball was struck and the third when it had left the club and was already out of the frame. Effective golf photos tend to need the ball in the frame so capturing the ball in mid air just after it leaves the club creates the most impact.
Timing is everything – images has less impact before and after the ball is struck. The shot with the ball still in the frame having left the club face always has more impact
This action all happens very quickly and timing a single shot with the striking of the ball is very much hit or, more often, miss! This is where the motor drive comes in but it’s by no means an instant solution as a degree of control is lost when using it. In no time I realised that I had to start pressing the shutter just a moment later than the top of the swing, as the golfer started his downward swing to meet the ball.
These are fractions of a second that we’re dealing with here, so it takes a few failures to refine. However, this approach produced the first shot in the middle of the down stroke, the second just after impact with the ball, but with it still in the frame and in mid air, and the third at the end of the stroke when the ball was long gone. The second shot was the one which I was after.
Around the greens the action can look quite static unless the ball is being chipped in from off the green
At the other end of each hole is the green. These look great when they are pristine with the flag and pin in the hole. However, as soon the players arrive the flag is removed, so then you end up trying to shoot a small hole from an oblique angle with player and ball often some way away. It doesn’t usually make for great shots! The accredited photographers have the advantage here as they can get lo, close and in line with the put and hole. If a player is just off the green then a chip shot is on with the flag still in the hole, so can be much more dynamic and convey some action.
Stuck in the sand
Bunker action is always dramatic. The steep sides of the bunkers at Troon inevitably means a plume of sand along with the ball as it’s played out
The action in between tee and green is important. Always good for action shots are the bunkers and at Troon these have almost vertical front walls, some as high as 2.5 metres! These are usually strategically place along the fairways and on the approaches to the greens. They are there to challenge golfers. As an amateur golfer you’d want to avoid the bunkers at all costs. As a pro, they mostly take them in their stride but for photography they can provide some drama when it all goes wrong, and sometimes even when it doesn’t.
Always try to make sure the ball is in shot
Most of the spectators move around the course with the players they particularly want to watch and are following. So as soon as the play is up towards the green, the areas around the mid-fairway bunkers often are clear and it’s just a case of waiting patiently for the next unfortunate golfer to find the sand. Usually the wait isn’t too long! With deep bunkers, it’s rare to find a viewpoint where you can see the ball in the bottom of it. That’s the preserve of TV and the seagulls. However the ball in the bottom isn’t really the interesting bit. It’s when it flies out with a plume of sand that the action is captured. Again it’s about timing just as with the tee shots so take the time to position yourself and think through the shot that’s about to happen.
Moving to higher ground
A higher viewpoint changes the perspective and opens up views across the course
For elevated viewpoints, the stands offer a good option. The drawback is that many people just head straight for them and park for the day. So unless you’re there early, you’ll queue for a long time to get in, and it’s probably not worth it for the photography. Another alternative is for anyone who can get access to the corporate hospitality stands. The balconies on these overlook some interest points on the course and I managed an elevated view thanks to the folks from Savannah, Hilton Head Island and Savannah Hilton Head Airport, Georgia, USA (a great golf destination). They invited me to enjoy the view of the 15th green from the balcony overlooking this green. That gave me an interesting and different perspective, with views across the course and out to sea as well.
Shooting the stars and the crowds
There were two other elements of the day which I wanted to capture – the players, particularly the superstars of golf, and the spectator experience around the course. These give a sense of the atmosphere around the event.
The superstars of the game attract the biggest crowds – Woods and McIllroy were the big attractions at Troon
Tee times are all timetabled so it’s easy to predict when some of the star golfers would be at a certain place on the course, then head there to see them pass through. You’ll need to get there early though because the crowds follow them and if you aren’t there first you won’t get to the front. Tiger Woods and Rory McIllroy were the crowd favourites on this occasion and spectators were often three or four deep as they came through. Not great for the photography but with a bit of planning and some patience, the opportunities to photograph them came along. Both had a pretty disastrous day of golf this time though and neither made the cut, so had I been there on days three or four, I wouldn’t have seen them.
Enjoying the spectator experience
At any sporting event, and especially the big ones like this which last all day, people are there to have fun and need to eat and socialise. They also seem to feel the need to shop! So there are plenty of opportunities for social photography. The only shot which I’d pre-visualised, but was able to get, was a sea of umbrellas in the rain. The rain thankfully stayed away on this occasions – but made up for it the next day by all accounts – so I guess I was lucky to have escaped the vagaries of a Scottish summer and miss this shot!
The action extends beyond the golf and it’s important to capture the atmosphere of the event
So can you shoot the golf as a spectator?
I know from experience that photographing a sport like Premier League football is an altogether different proposition. Having jumped through those hoops for accreditation in the past, I wouldn’t advise anyone to try unless you have an awful lot of patience, good connections and a big chunk of luck. My mission was to see if I could still get some decent pictures of a major sporting event as a spectator, rather than an accredited photographer. You can judge for yourself whether I achieved this but, all in all, I think the day was fairly successful with a few stand out shots. It was an interesting experience and well worth trying. Bar a few exceptions, I felt that careful planning was the key and allowed me to get virtually everything I wanted.
Golf is not the most fast moving sport but, if you’re prepared, you can capture important moments of action
The next time I go to photograph golf, I’m certain my hit rate will be higher. I’ve learned some lessons to enhance the photographic experience too. The three main ones; get there for early light; go on two different days for different weather; if you want a shot from a stand, head there first. With a long, slow event like golf you have plenty of time and opportunities to find different viewpoints and to practice different techniques, then get them right by working out how to do it better. It was fun to try and a rewarding day.
All images © Chris Coe
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