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How to Add Golf Score Graphics in Premiere Pro

2026-11-05 · Score Graphics

You cut your golf videos in Premiere Pro and you want a score graphic on every shot: the hole, the par, the shot number and the score to par, like the big golf channels have. Premiere can do this very well. The trick is setting it up so that a whole round, 80 to 100 graphics, goes on quickly and stays in sync with your footage.

This guide covers importing a folder of graphics, placing them on the track above your footage, timing them, and using animated clips with transparent backgrounds.

Before you start

The cleanest way to add score graphics in Premiere Pro is as image files with transparent backgrounds, made outside Premiere and laid over your footage. You'll want:

• A transparent PNG for every shot, the same size as your sequence: 1920 × 1080 for an HD timeline, 3840 × 2160 for 4K, or 1080 × 1920 for a vertical Short.
• Files named in order, so they sort correctly. H06_S2.png for hole 6, shot 2 is a good pattern.
• A folder per hole, which makes a big round much easier to find your way around.
• A locked edit, or close to it. Graphics are fastest to add once the shots stop moving.

If you still need to make the graphics, the beginner's guide covers what goes on one and how to build it by hand.

Beginner's guideHow to Make a Golf Score Graphic→

Step 1: set the still image duration

Every image you drop on the timeline comes in at Premiere's default still image length. Before importing, open Premiere's preferences and set the still image default duration to something close to a typical shot, say 4 or 5 seconds. You'll still trim each one, but you'll trim less. The setting only applies to images imported after you change it, so do this first.

While you're in the preferences, check the default media scaling. If your graphics are the same size as your sequence, leave it off. If you're putting 4K graphics on an HD timeline, setting it to set to frame size saves you resizing each one.

Step 2: import the whole folder

Drag the whole folder of graphics from your computer into the Project panel. Premiere keeps the structure, so a folder per hole becomes a bin per hole, with the shots inside in order.

If you import with the import dialog instead, make sure the Image Sequence option is unticked. With numbered file names, Premiere can otherwise join all your graphics into a single flickering clip.

Step 3: place the graphics on V2

Your footage sits on V1. Score graphics go on V2, the track above it, so they show on top. If you also use a scorecard between holes, a lower-third or captions, give each its own track (V3, V4) so they never collide.

1. Move the playhead to just before the swing, about a second before the club hits the ball.
2. Drag the graphic for that shot from its bin onto V2 at the playhead.
3. Trim the end to where the shot finishes, usually when the ball lands or the clip cuts to the next shot.
4. Repeat for the next shot.

A faster way: open a hole's bin, select every graphic in it, and drag them onto V2 together. They land end to end in name order. Then work along the hole, sliding each graphic to its shot and trimming its end. With snapping on, edges lock to your cuts, which helps a lot.

Show the graphic before the shot, not as it happens. Viewers want to know the hole, par and score before the swing so they know what's at stake.

Step 4: animated graphics as transparent .mov clips

Animated score graphics are short video clips with a transparent background: the graphic animates in, then stops. The pattern in Premiere is simple: put the clip down first and the still PNG straight after it, both on V2. The clip plays the entrance, and the PNG holds the finished graphic for the rest of the shot.

The format matters. A .mov in QuickTime Animation keeps its transparency in Premiere Pro (and in After Effects). If you ever see a black box behind a clip, the clip isn't broken: it's in a format whose transparency Premiere can't read, so swap it for the right one. If a clip that should be transparent still looks wrong, right-click it in the Project panel and check its alpha channel settings under Interpret Footage.

Tips that save time

• Nest each animated pair. Select a clip and its still, right-click and nest them. Now the pair moves as one item, so sliding the graphic to an earlier frame doesn't leave a gap between the animation and the hold.
• Keep V2 in sync. If you trim footage after the graphics are on, use sync locks so V2 moves with V1, or make your cuts before adding graphics. A ripple edit on V1 alone leaves every later graphic out of place.
• Use a template sequence. Once your tracks are set up the way you like (footage on V1, score graphics on V2, scorecards on V3), save that empty sequence and start each new video from a copy.
• Watch a few holes at full speed. Scrubbing hides timing problems. Play a few holes through to check every graphic lands before its swing.
• Check vertical separately. For Shorts, TikTok and Reels, make a vertical sequence with 1080 × 1920 graphics rather than cropping the wide edit. The short-form guide below covers where to place them.

Short-form videoGolf Score Graphics for TikTok, Reels and Shorts→

Where the time really goes

Placing graphics in Premiere is quick once you've done it a few times. Making them is the slow part. Every shot needs its own graphic, because the shot number and score change each time, and keeping the score to par right through 18 holes by hand takes hours. One wrong number on the 4th and every graphic after it is wrong too.

The Score Graphics Generator makes them for you. Enter your scorecard once, or on Pro photograph it and the AI scan fills it in. It runs in your browser, so there's nothing to install.

Then it exports a folder per hole with a transparent PNG for every shot, already named in order, ready to drag into your Project panel as bins. Exports come in HD and vertical, and in 4K on Pro, so you can match your sequence.

On Pro, animated designs also export as transparent clips, the length you choose. Pick Premiere Pro / After Effects in the generator's Video format setting and you get .mov (QuickTime Animation), which keeps its transparency in Premiere. Pro also adds a scorecard graphic after every hole, filled in through that hole, with birdies circled and bogeys boxed.

Try it on your next edit

You can make a free account and preview every design with your own name on it before you pay anything, and Starter and Pro both come with a 14-day free trial.