PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Before he was a golf analyst, Peter Kostis was a golf teacher.
He made the slow-mo swing analysis on CBS – officially the Konika-Minolta Biz Hub Swing Vision camera – a staple of the TV coverage but he was only able to let that shine because of his background as a golf instructor. Years of working with a variety of tour pros sharpened his eye and that proved invaluable on the air when you needed to make quick decisions.
“What he did was, when you’re teaching live, you gotta pick something out that that guy just did in a nanosecond,” said longtime CBS colleague and friend Gary McCord. “Then they throw it right back to you and you’re communicating now with the guys in truck and it’s like ‘Watch this, this is what he’s doing, this is why he’s hanging it to the right’, and you gotta do it (snaps fingers) that fast. You gotta do it succinctly. Your picture’s gotta be painted in two seconds and he was brilliant at that, brilliant at reading a guy’s golf swing and finding out why he’s going good or why he’s going bad.”
The duo were both let go by CBS near the end of 2019, their contracts not renewed by the network. They have since started their own YouTube channel called Kostis and McCord: Off their rockers.
The 2023 Arizona Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Paradise Valley Country Club. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)
Kostis, 76, was one of four people inducted into the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2023 earlier this week at Paradise Valley Country Club.
Prior to the shindig, he chatted with Golfweek. Here’s the Q&A.