What’s harder than 18 holes of golf in hot, humid weather? How about chasing 156 golfers around a course for 12 hours? That’s what I did last Thursday and Friday in Wichita, KS, covering a Korn Ferry PGA tournament for Getty images. Saturday and Sunday the field was cut to 82, so much easier, right?  Over those four days I walked a total of 25 miles, shooting 9800 images in 90+ degrees. Fun times!

Golf coverage is not new to me. Working in Rochester, NY from 1980 to 2000 I covered an annual LPGA tournament as well as the 1984 US Senior Open, the 1989 US Open, the 1995 PGA Championship, the 1995 Ryder Cup and the 1998 US Amateur. Of course, that means the last tournament I shot was 25 years ago, and I haven’t gotten any younger since then. On the plus side, camera gear HAS changed a lot since then, which meant I could carry less weight and make photos I couldn’t have, or could do much more easily, than in the past.

I photographed Arnold Palmer in 1980, and Ryder Cup misery in 1995.

Here I am kitted up for an LPGA tournament in the 1980s, shot and cleverly captioned by another staffer at the paper. With film, of course, we shot a lot fewer pictures. And note that the camera I have with my long lens doesn’t even have a motor drive. It was one frame at a time.

Today, instead of a heavy, fixed focal length lens (like a 40mm f/3.5, 400mm f/2.8 or 500mm f/4), I could carry the much lighter Nikkor 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens. Being able to zoom was a huge added benefit, and since today’s cameras do such a great job at high ISOs, shooting with an aperture of f/6.3 wasn’t an issue. I used that lens on one camera and carried it mounted to a monopod. The second camera was on a cross-chest strap with the Nikkor 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens attached. Those two lenses gave me a working range of 24-600mm, at 45-megapixels (meaning I could crop in a lot as well, if needed).

With 600mm to work with, I could do extremely tight shots like this, showing the fairway reflected in Chase Johnson’s sunglasses. If you look close, you can also see me off to the side. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/1250 at f/6.3, ISO 720, EV -.3, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 600mm.

And the 24-200mm lens let me quickly grab the occasional wide, scenic shot. Nikon Z 8, Manual exposure, 1/500 at f/8, ISO 100, EV 0.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens at 24mm.

For cameras, I went with the Nikon Z 9 on the long lens, and the smaller and lighter Nikon Z 8 with the shorter lens. Neither of those cameras have a shutter. Why is that important? Covering golf you have to stay still and be quiet when players are about to “strike” the ball. Cameras with shutters make noise. So in the past, we couldn’t take pictures until AFTER the player hit the ball. Now, though, I can shoot any time, since those cameras are silent. And with the fast readout of the Nikon Z 8/9 sensors (due to a “stacked” design), there’s no “rolling shutter” effect. That’s a common problem with mirrorless cameras, and why most still have shutters, to avoid that. So not only could I shoot silently (no shutter), but I also didn’t have to worry about the weird effects that rolling shutter might introduce.

This is a good example of the kind of picture I couldn’t make before. Kevin Velo prepares to tee off on the 17th hole, and because my camera is silent, I can shoot before he hits the ball. Nikon Z 8, Manual exposure, 1/1000 at f/8, ISO 220, EV +.3, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 16mm.

And this is a good example of why the stacked sensor design of the Nikon Z 8 and 9 is so important for action photography. I can shoot silent (remember, there’s no shutter), but the readout of the sensor is so fast that there’s no distortion in the movement of Marcus Byrd’s driver. It’s also a good example of why having the range of the 180-600mm zoom was so important. I was often far from the players and needed 500-600mm. But in this case I was up against some bushes, and so used the shorter end, 180mm. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/1250 at f/6.3, ISO 640, EV -.3, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 180mm.

Finally, both of those cameras are capable of extremely high frame rates, something else I didn’t have in the past when covering golf. But just because they can shoot ridiculously fast doesn’t mean I have to use them that way. After all, I do need to download, sort and send photos throughout the day, and having more photos means that takes more time. I normally shot at six frames-per-second, but could quickly change to 12 fps when necessary. And I’d take advantage of the 15 fps “Pre Release” feature of those cameras when I wasn’t sure when the best moment would happen (like a player hitting out of a sand trap).

For tee shots, I always changed from six frames-per-second to 12, and shot a burst as they hit the ball. In this case Davis Lamb lost his club, and thanks to that burst, this was one of three frames I had of it coming out of his hands. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/1250 at f/6.3, ISO 560, EV 0.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 180mm.

Thanks to the Pre Release feature on the Z 9, I could wait until I saw Taylor Dickson’s ball coming out of the bunker before I pressed the shutter button, and was sure to get several good frames of the action. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/1250 at f/6.3, ISO 400, EV -1.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 490mm.

With those two cameras and lenses, I didn’t need to carry much more. What little bit I did require was stashed in a Thinktank PressPass 10 worn on my waist. In there was a Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 lens, a spare set of batteries and a cotton bandana. Attached to the side of it was a water bottle pouch. In that heat I had to stay hydrated, and to stay as cool as possible I wore long pants and long-sleeved shirts. What, that doesn’t make sense?

This is exactly why I carried that Nikkor 14-30mm lens, so I could get in close yet show a lot. Nikon Z 8, Manual exposure, 1/500 at f/14, ISO 250, EV -1.3 (to hold detail in the sky), Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 lens at 18mm.

In the late 1990s I photographed some adventure races in very hot places (Borneo and Morocco were the worst). It was then that I learned what people who live in the desert have known for millennia – loose-fitting, lightweight clothes (robes for them) that cover your skin do a better job of keeping you cool than shorts and t-shirts. Add to that a wide-brimmed sun hat (not a baseball cap, which won’t save your ears and neck), a little sunscreen for your hands and you’re well protected. So that was my outfit those four days. And there’s one more hot-weather tip I should share: in the early 1980s, covering one of those tournaments in Rochester, a network TV photographer told me how wearing a wet cloth around your neck can help keep you cool. That’s what the bandana in my bag was for. Wet it, wrap it around the neck, re-wet occasionally. Makes a big difference!

Professional golfers, like Quade Cummins, understand the value of sunscreen in a sport that has them outdoors a lot. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/800 at f/6.3, ISO 720, EV 0.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 540mm.

Fortunately, the hardest days of the tournament were the first two, which meant that while those really wore me out, I could ease off a bit the final two because of how the tournament was run.

Thursday and Friday, 156 players were playing, which means the first groups of three started teeing off from both the first and tenth tees at 6:55am, and the last groups at 12:10pm. Each of those days I was on the course by 6:30am and didn’t leave until around 7pm. I also had eighteen specific players to shoot, scattered around the course, either because they were top-ranked or had sponsor requests. Oh, and then eight more were added during the day as scores came in along with a couple more requests. That’s why I walked about eight miles each of those first two days, with Thursday’s temperatures reaching 98-degrees and Friday’s 94-degrees. Ugh.

When I could keep the sweat out of my eyes, I was trying to make pictures like this, of Robert Streb tossing his putter after missing a short putt for birdie on the 13th hole. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, 1/1000 at f/6.3, EV 0.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 240mm.

Or this, of Sam Stevens reacting as his chip on the 17th green stops far short of the cup. Nikon Z 9, Manual exposure, a/1250 at f/6.3, EV +1.0 (white background!), Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 270mm.

Saturday and Sunday the field was cut down to 82 players, teeing off at the first tee only, from 6:30am to 11:35am. Now I could start later and concentrate on the leaders, or anyone having an exceptional round. And that also meant that on Saturday I could often catch a ride with one of the two people shooting video for the PGA (they get golf carts), since we were covering mostly the same people. That meant I only walked four miles Saturday. Sunday, unfortunately, our assignments didn’t match up as well, so I ended up with six miles the final day.

Oh, and on the last day I had to add a flash to my kit in the afternoon, so I could use fill flash on the trophy and celebration photos at the end. Like this pictu of winner Taylor Dickson and his caddie with the championship trophy. Nikon Z 8, Manual exposure, 1/640 at f/6.3, ISO 100, EV 0.0, Natural Auto white balance, Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens at 83mm, Nikon SB-5000 flash at -1.0..

Despite the hardships, I’ve always enjoyed covering golf. It’s a good physical challenge, and a logistical one as well. What golfer do you need to chase down? What hole are they on? How to most efficiently get around the course? where to place yourself for the best photos based on ball placement, and trying to balance that with a good background (not distracting). Do I want to do another tournament in that kind of heat? Give me a few more days to recover before I answer that :).

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