PGA Championship readies 125-camera plan

Golf on TV keeps turning into a bigger engineering project, and the 2026 PGA Championship is the latest example. Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, is getting a full-scale major-championship treatment — 125 cameras, 150 microphones, live drones, six ESPN app streams, and the usual CBS weekend network push. The tournament itself starts with practice days on May 11-13 and championship rounds on May 14-17. But the real point of this setup is simple: make one course feel huge, legible, and dramatic from a couch. ### Why is the camera count the headline? Because 125 cameras is not just a nerdy production stat — it tells you how aggressively broadcasters want to cover every angle of a major. Golf is hard to televise well. The ball disappears. The field spreads across acres. Pressure builds quietly, then all at once. More cameras mean fewer blind spots on tee shots, more looks at green contours, cleaner replays, and better tracking when the tournament gets chaotic on Sunday. Golf Digest’s viewing guide also pairs that number with 150 microphones, which means the sound design is part of the pitch too. (golfdigest.com) ### Who is actually showing the tournament? It’s the usual split, but scaled up. ESPN handles the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, plus morning coverage on Saturday and Sunday. CBS takes over the main weekend windows from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern on May 16 and 17, with Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman on the lead call. Streaming stretches beyond that — ESPN+ and the ESPN App carry early coverage and alternate feeds, while Paramount+ carries the CBS telecasts. (golfdigest.com) ### What does ESPN mean by 235 hours? Basically, wall-to-wall golf week. ESPN says its coverage starts Tuesday, May 12, with preview shows, then expands into four days of live championship coverage. The app setup includes a main feed, four featured-group streams, and a featured-holes feed. On the weekend, those streams start before the TV window, so viewers can follow the course before CBS takes the big national stage. That is how golf broadcasters now sell “first tee to last putt” — not one channel, but a stack of simultaneous feeds. (golfdigest.com) ### What is CBS adding besides the main telecast? A few things that are meant to make the coverage feel more modern. CBS says it is using live drones and is also pushing a post-round show called “Scorecard” across CBS Sports HQ, Paramount+, and the Golf on CBS YouTube channel after all four rounds. That matters because the old model was simple live coverage, then highlights later. The new model is continuous conversation — live round, instant recap, clips everywhere. (espnpressroom.com) ### Why does Aronimink fit this kind of broadcast? Because it gives TV something to show. The PGA Championship’s official course guide leans hard into bunkering, angled greens, semi-blind landing areas, and a long run of demanding par 4s. That kind of architecture rewards overhead shots, tracer tech, and replay-heavy coverage, since viewers need help seeing where the trouble actually is. A flat, simple course can look anonymous on television. Aronimink should not. (golfdigest.com) ### Is this only about TV spectacle? No — but spectacle is part of the business now. A major championship is still about the Wanamaker Trophy, yet the event also has to function as a streaming product, a social-video factory, and a weeklong ad for the sport. The more complete the coverage is, the easier it is to keep casual fans watching and give serious fans every shot they want. That is why camera counts, mic counts, and alternate feeds keep getting their own billing. (pgachampionship.com) ### What’s the bottom line? The 2026 PGA Championship is not just bringing golf to Aronimink for the first time since 1962. It is bringing a very 2026 version of sports TV with it — bigger, louder, more layered, and built so you almost never lose sight of the shot that matters. (espnpressroom.com) (golfdigest.com)