Pebble Beach in 1963

[Kevin_Reilly]

Occasionally the late night hours on the Golf Channel serve up something of interest (aside from the usual infomercials), and two nights ago it was a Challenge Golf match pitting Arnold Palmer & Gary Player against the team of Ken Venturi & Byron Nelson in a 4-ball at Pebble Beach in 1963.

The play starts at #1, and proceeds hole by hole through the 16th where Venturi's birdie ended the match 3 and 2 (sorry for the spoiler).

Very interesting to see full tee to green play on many of the holes (unfortunate exception...#8, where no play was shown except a brief look at the hole).

GCA favorite #5 played very difficult...I think 2 shots hit the green (club of choice was 5 iron for GP, KV and BN...6 iron for AP).  Palmer was the only member of the group to have a chance to hit #6 in two...he came up 30 yds short.  Both Player and Nelson hit 4 woods out of the bunker on the left.

The green on #7 looked different from today...more irregular shaped green and the bunkers are less-defined.  Venturi's tee shot found the beach.

On the 10th tee the players talk about carrying the bunker on the left which was 210-220 to carry.  Nelson hits a great drive and they all laugh that he had no problem with the carry.

The players all had difficulty with the approach to #14.  Most missed the green.

Fun to look at the course and the absence of mega-homes around it.  Much more rugged-looking.  Also no cart paths.

Too bad the match ended at #16...it would have been fun to see #18.

Most impressive that day was Nelson.  Almost every shot was on the money.  Palmer was in good form too...longer than the rest.  Venturi was off his game a bit, and seemed to be the shortest off the tee even though he hit most of his shots right-to-left.

Just did a Google search and it appears a video of the match is available.  Worth it for any fan of Pebble Beach and/or Byron Nelson.

Challenge Golf Video

[BCrosby]

To go OT a bit, every time you see Nelson play in these TV things, nearly 20 years after he retired, his game impresses you. It's a cliche, but gosh, if Nelson hadn't retired at the age of 34... Would Hogan have emerged as the dominate player he became if Nelson had stuck around?

Was it the year before that Nelson drubbed Littler at PV? Wasn't Littler the reigning US Open champ at the time? And Nelson would have been about 50 years old?

Bob

[Rick Shefchik]

I'm a huge Hogan fan, but the fact is that Nelson had Hogan's number just about every time they went head-to-head. Maybe it went back to the days in the Fort Worth caddie yard when Nelson, the budding star, beat the raw Hogan for the caddy championship. Hogan never seemed to quite catch up.

Hogan's greatest golf happened after Nelson retired, so we'll never know whether he attained that higher level necessary to beat Nelson, or whether it was a mental thing that he would never have quite overcome. Fun to think about, though.

[Steve Pieracci]

Kevin,
I like watching those old videos.  I still have the Nicklaus vs. Miller match at the Olympic Club on my TIVO.  Can't remember the year, 1974?  Seeing those persimmon drivers is cool.  And hitting those long irons into the greens.  However, that one is somewhat the opposite of the Pebble video in that the Olympic Club looks better today from the recent tree cutting/removal than it did for the Nicklaus match.    

[Kevin_Reilly]

Pebble definitely looks better in 1963...there is no doubt about it!