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Matthew Rose

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TPC Sawgrass evolution
« on: April 22, 2015, 12:13:21 AM »
Broadcast of '82 Players is on Golf Channel tonight. Might be worth having a look at Sawgrass in its early, rawer days.

16 with the giant waste bunker around the green is really different!
« Last Edit: April 22, 2015, 02:28:20 AM by Matthew Rose »
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American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

Matthew Rose

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Re: '82 Players on Golf Channel
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2015, 02:27:05 AM »
Here's a photo someone captured of the 16th in 1982 that I found on Twitter.



I remember the 16th at one point having a bunker between the water and the green, but I don't ever remember it wrapping around the back like this. It almost looks like it could be the 11th hole.

And now....



I remember some people here talking about early photos they had of Sawgrass and how some people today might be shocked at how different the course looked in the early 80s.

I thought it was quite striking at how harsh the course was presented in its infantry. Outside of the playing areas, there's almost no maintenance at all. Even around the 17th hole, you see a lot of unkempt long grass at the tees, a lot of sand and pine straw and rough areas. Certainly not the wall to wall green you see today. In fact the course almost looks unfinished in this footage.

At the end, they showed the famous winning ceremony with Pate throwing Dye and Beman into the lake and then jumping himself. When they interview Dye later, they ask him what he thinks about Pate winning, and he deadpans with "well he gets to come back here and play for the next 10 years", which I thought was beautiful.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2015, 02:29:30 AM by Matthew Rose »
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American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

JESII

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2015, 07:45:43 AM »
Matthew,

I think that may be the 11th green, not the 16th.

On the telecast, the same scruffiness struck me when they showed Lietzke playing from the right waste area on 15 and it was a sandy grassy mess. Waste areas have become very clean by comparison.
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Anthony_Nysse

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2015, 11:35:56 AM »
Matt is right. Look at the pic I found of the waste area for the first event. Also, #11 never had grass between the sand and railroad ties until 10-15 years ago.

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Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

Benjamin Litman

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2015, 11:49:06 AM »
Did anyone else catch the announcement at the end of the replay broadcast that Jerry Pate had won...$90,000 for the victory? An evolution in many ways indeed.
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Steve_ Shaffer

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2015, 11:55:09 AM »
See Geoff Shackelford's piece with links to the original course which Pete Dye likened to Pine Valley:

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2014/5/17/one-last-post-on-tpc-sawgrass-then-and-now.html
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Matthew Rose

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2015, 02:46:22 PM »
$90,000 seems like a low winner's purse even for 1982, considering this was always one of the 2-3 richest events of the year.... I also think it's funny how often CBS showed that graphic. These days they hardly ever show the prize money anymore, but of course you get a comprehensive  FedEx Cup update every 90 seconds.

Anthony's photo is a good illustration of the more rugged look the course had on this broadcast. I don't think I'd realized just how much work Dye had done since then.

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American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

Tom Bagley

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2015, 06:16:16 PM »
Granted, this list is from Wikipedia, but the Players Championship in 1982 was second only to the WSOG for winner's check.  $90k was almost twice as much as most winner's shares.

Jan 10 Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open Arizona United States Craig Stadler (4) 266 (−14) 54,000
Jan 17 Bob Hope Desert Classic California United States Ed Fiori (3) 335 (−25) 50,000
Jan 25 Phoenix Open Arizona United States Lanny Wadkins (8) 263 (−21) 54,000
Jan 31 Wickes-Andy Williams San Diego Open California United States Johnny Miller (22) 270 (−18) 54,000
Feb 7 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am California United States Jim Simons (3) 274 (−14) 54,000
Feb 14 Hawaiian Open Hawaii United States Wayne Levi (4) 277 (−11) 58,500
Feb 21 Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open California United States Tom Watson (29) 271 (−13) 54,000
Feb 28 Doral-Eastern Open Florida United States Andy Bean (8) 278 (−10) 54,000
Mar 7 Bay Hill Classic Florida United States Tom Kite (4) 278 (−6) 54,000
Mar 14 Honda Inverrary Classic Florida United States Hale Irwin (14) 269 (−19) 72,000
Mar 21 Tournament Players Championship Florida United States Jerry Pate (8) 280 (−8) 90,000
Mar 28 Sea Pines Heritage South Carolina United States Tom Watson (30) 280 (−4) 54,000
Apr 5 Greater Greensboro Open North Carolina United States Danny Edwards (3) 285 (−3) 54,000
Apr 11 Masters Tournament Georgia United States Craig Stadler (5) 284 (−4) 64,000
Apr 18 Tallahassee Open Florida Australia Bob Shearer (1) 272 (−16) 18,000
Apr 18 MONY Tournament of Champions California United States Lanny Wadkins (9) 280 (−8) 63,000
Apr 25 USF&G Classic Louisiana United States Scott Hoch (2) 206 (−10) 54,000
May 2 Byron Nelson Golf Classic Texas United States Bob Gilder (3) 266 (−14) 63,000
May 9 Michelob-Houston Open Texas United States Ed Sneed (4) 275 (−9) 63,000
May 16 Colonial National Invitation Texas United States Jack Nicklaus (71) 273 (−7) 63,000
May 23 Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic Georgia United States Keith Fergus (2) 273 (−15) 54,000
May 30 Memorial Tournament Ohio United States Raymond Floyd (16) 281 (−7) 63,000
Jun 6 Kemper Open Maryland United States Craig Stadler (6) 275 (−13) 72,000
Jun 13 Danny Thomas Memphis Classic Tennessee United States Raymond Floyd (17) 271 (−17) 72,000
Jun 20 U.S. Open California United States Tom Watson (31) 282 (−6) 60,000
Jun 27 Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic New York United States Bob Gilder (4) 261 (−19) 72,000
Jul 4 Western Open Illinois United States Tom Weiskopf (16) 276 (−12) 63,000
Jul 11 Greater Milwaukee Open Wisconsin United States Calvin Peete (2) 274 (−14) 45,000
Jul 18 Miller High Life QCO Illinois United States Payne Stewart (1) 268 (−12) 36,000
Jul 18 British Open Scotland United States Tom Watson (32) 284 (−4) 54,400
Jul 25 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic Virginia United States Calvin Peete (3) 203 (−10) 63,000
Aug 1 Canadian Open Canada United States Bruce Lietzke (9) 277 (−7) 76,500
Aug 8 PGA Championship Oklahoma United States Raymond Floyd (18) 272 (−8) 65,000
Aug 15 Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open Connecticut United States Tim Norris (1) 259 (−25) 54,000
Aug 22 Buick Open Michigan United States Lanny Wadkins (10) 273 (−15) 63,000
Aug 26 Southern Open Georgia United States Bobby Clampett (1) 266 (−14) 45,000
Aug 29 World Series of Golf Ohio United States Craig Stadler (7) 278 (−2) 100,000
Sep 5 B.C. Open New York United States Calvin Peete (4) 265 (−19) 49,500
Sep 12 Bank of Boston Classic Massachusetts United States Bob Gilder (5) 271 (−13) 54,000
Sep 19 Hall of Fame North Carolina United States Jay Haas (4) 276 (−8) 45,000
Oct 3 Texas Open Texas United States Jay Haas (5) 262 (−18) 45,000
Oct 10 LaJet Classic Texas United States Wayne Levi (5) 271 (−17) 63,000
Oct 24 Pensacola Open Florida United States Calvin Peete (5) 268 (−16) 36,000
Oct 31 Walt Disney World Golf Classic Florida United States Hal Sutton (1) 269 (−19) 72,000
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Tom_Doak

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2015, 07:54:08 PM »
I was there Friday-Sunday in 1982.  Look for me in the gallery ... I'm the one with the long hair.

The picture Matthew posted is indeed of #16.  The green was redesigned after the second tournament, when one of the players in contention [I think it was Bruce Lietzke, but could be wrong] had his approach shot to 16 bounce off the bank of the bunker and run through the sand into the water.  Everybody thought that was unfair, so the hole was changed so that his ball would've just landed in water to begin with.  :)  I did a drawing for the change for Mr. Dye.

Note, also, in Anthony's picture, the big peninsula spectator mound to the right of #16 green, which was removed after a couple of years, too.  It was a great viewing spot for 16 -- but there were a lot of people on it watching #17, so there was often a lot of unpredictable crowd noise while the players were trying to putt out on #16.  It turned out they had buried a lot of stumps and trash under that mound, so its removal cost quite a bit more than anticipated.   
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Will Lozier

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2015, 09:41:31 PM »
Calvin Peete won 4 events in just over 4 months! Impressive!!
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Matthew Rose

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2015, 02:11:23 AM »
Funny that that comes up, because in this tournament Lieztke actually does hit his second shot into the water during the final round while he is tied with Pate; like Tom describes which is hitting the bank and rolling through the bunker, which is only maybe 24-36 inches wide at that point, and into the lake. It pretty much took him out of the tournament.

It's funny because at the moment this happened, and knowing what little I do know about the course's history, my immediate thought was "that's why there's no bunker there now".
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American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

Robert Kimball

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2015, 01:59:13 PM »
Quote from: Will Lozier on April 22, 2015, 09:41:31 PM
Calvin Peete won 4 events in just over 4 months! Impressive!!


Loved Calvin back in the day! Hell, still love him. I prefer the accuracy off the tee as opposed to the bash and wedge game of today. Also, those guys could play -- balata balls, persimmon woods, shaping shots and good course management. I think I overheard Pate say "I hit a 2-iron 235?" in response to a over

Perhaps Speith is a bit of a throwback? Nice to see.
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Andrew Buck

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2015, 02:30:04 PM »
sorry I missed this telecast, but would love to see more picutures ... 33 years is long enough to embark on a restoration. 
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Matt Kardash

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Re: TPC Sawgrass evolution
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2015, 06:34:59 PM »
Tom,

I remember you saying a few years ago that you had some pictures of TPC from when it first opened that you wanted to share. I'd be curious to see those, if you have a chance to post them.
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