War by the Shore on The Golf Channel

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

The new documentary, "The War By the Shore" just started on The Golf Channel.  It's quite good.  I highly recommend it...

I'm sure they'll be repeating it often...

[jim_lewis]

Anyone who refers to a game as "war", has probably never seen a real war.

[Chris DeNigris]

Just finished watching...it was pretty good.  Some great player insights. It's the one Ryder Cup in the last 25 years that I wasn't able to watch and I forgot how badly Calc crashed at the end of his singles match. Watching him talk about it 20 years later was gut wrenching. What a likeable guy.

[Josh Tarble]

Really good program....wish I could have watched live.

Was the shot making as great/awful as portrayed? Seemed like an incredible amount of amazing shots and horrible shots.

[BigEdSC]

I caught it last night also.  I volunteered there working in the practice area for the tournament.  It kind of blows me away that it happened 21 years ago.  Hugo blew through Charleston two years earlier, and the locals were just getting back on their feet.

One thing I caught in the program was Roger Maltbie's description of Calc's finish in his singles match.  One thing the show didn't say and it was in Deane Beman's book, NBC was adamant about Roger going over to Calc and interview him after his match.  Maltbie pretty much told his higher ups to pound sand, seeing the condition that Calc was in.

It was an incredible week.

[PCCraig]

I watched it last night as well. It wasn't bad (hard to be with all the great Seve/Jose highlights), but it seemed like an almost brief overview.

There is a great write-up in, I believe, the Sept 2012 issue of Golf Digest which really details the event and is very much worth reading.

[Tim Gavrich]

I watched it last night as well. It wasn't bad (hard to be with all the great Seve/Jose highlights), but it seemed like an almost brief overview.

There is a great write-up in, I believe, the Sept 2012 issue of Golf Digest which really details the event and is very much worth reading.

I too thought it felt a bit rushed. I'd have been happy with 90-120 minutes that gave a little bit more scene-setting background and maybe a little more "in conclusion.../so what?" exposition at the end. Gotta love Peter Coyote's narration at any length, though.

[Terry Lavin]

There were some pretty good stories told, like Calc wandering the beach crying after puking away a four up with four to play lead against the hated Monty, like the Hale Irwin drive on the final, crucial hole allegedly hitting an employee of the PGA, allowing the ball to miraculously bounce into the fairway when it looked like it was pulled so bad that it would have been in a waste area.  Was it "too short"?  Maybe, if you're a golf addict and need to replay every single moment from the weekend, but let's face it, an hour long show is pretty good treatment.  The other observation I had is how much more raw, unforgiving and unplayable the golf course was, especially when compared to the current iteration, which is still plenty hard, but nothing like the beast from '91.

[Michael George]

Watched the program.  Enjoyed it.  Love when touring pros complain about playability --- welcome to the normal golfer's world.

My only problem with the program was its over-dramatization.  As Azinger properly said, it was a "golf match".   Honestly, you would have thought that some of these golf pro's thought they had just been to war.   So they played a tough golf course in a match play event.  Honestly, no one's lives were changed as a result.  As Snedetker said after his win on Sunday -- seeing his friend and his wife in the hospital praying that their son survives certainly put golf in the proper perspective.

  

[Terry Lavin]

MG:

Maybe no lives were changed, but the organizing bodies surely have gotten hundreds of millions more because of the drama of that weekend.  The event has been magnified hundred fold.

[Terry Lavin]

It also reminded me, once again, of how freaking brilliant Seve was. I need to get a framed picture of that image of Jose Maria using Seve's shoulders as he jumps up to see a pin....tres cool.

I've never been a fan of Hale Irwin. Ever. That said, the way he reacted after WINNING the 18th hole and simultaneously, the RC, was very dignified. The tapes showed a guy who was more concerned about his opponent's well being than a match.

David,

Great points.  It's interesting to me to read some people complaining about all of the focus on Seve for this Ryder Cup.  I just don't get it.  He was brilliant, a magician and a competitor and a plotter extraordianaire.

[Rich Goodale]

One of the unsung heroes of that "war" was Wayne Levi, who once he was drawn with Seve in the singles, followed Stockton's instructions and grinded/slow played him to perfection so that when Seve finally and inevitably won he had little time or space to go out onto the course and inspire the rest of his team.

[noonan]

The Euros came off like a bunch of girls complaining about all the films without Euros and USA flags being displayed

[Tom ORourke]

My wife and I were lucky enough to be there as it was our 10th wedding anniversary (today makes 31) and we enjoyed it. The fan interaction between Euros and Americans was great - loud but in good spirit, with a lot of joking between the groups. During the last round we were walking up the 4th fairway with the Wadkins - James match when Lanny's wife came over to ask us how the board looked and who was winning. My question to her was if this was fun for Lanny to be involved in. She looked at me like I had 3 heads and said "God no. We haven't slept in days." Once you got to the 14th hole you were going to struggle if you could not hit a draw. The wind was in, but from the left, like from 11:00. If you started a shot to the right, the left wind hit it and it was gone. But if you started it too far left the "into" part of the wind would push it left. Irwin and Calc were not able to play their usual fade. Langer and Lanny were drawers and had a chance. I thought the film last night was good but would have liked to hear more from more players. I have a tape of that final day and what strikes me is that after Langer missed the putt the camera had a brief shot of Ray Floyd.  Floyd looked upset where almost everyone was jumping around. I think he understood what Langer just went through, and would have been okay with him making the putt. He did not wish that on anyone. At least that is my take on it. That is a question I would have liked asked and answered on the show. The show is worth watching if you have not seen the replays of the event.

[Phil Benedict]

The course looked better in 1991.  More natural and untamed.

[Michael George]

MG:

Maybe no lives were changed, but the organizing bodies surely have gotten hundreds of millions more because of the drama of that weekend.  The event has been magnified hundred fold.

Terry:

True.   And clearly this event was important to the Ryder Cup and even golf.
I was more talking about the players and how they acted like they had just been in Desert Storm, rather than a golf match.

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

I highly recommend Curt Sampson's new book, the "War by the Shore."  I read it and it goes into far more detail than this hour-long documentary.  A lot of the people he mentions in the book, still work at the resort and have some great stories about the event....
http://www.amazon.com/The-War-Shore-Incomparable-ebook/dp/B007FEFJAU

[Mark Steffey]

i love Seve.

one thing we should always remember with him is when he captained the euros at valderrama when they won, the winning point came down to monty's match and they needed only a half point.  i believe monty's singles record is some ridiculous 20-0-1 (hyperbole, yes).  but the 'and one' was that match.  monty was all set to win the hole and keep his record in tact, but seve walked onto the green and kept waving monty to concede the american's putt to halve the hole and just win the cup.  monty paused at first, as he knew what he wanted... but Seve only had one thing in mind and monty acquiesced (much to this i'll bet still to this day regret!!!).

[BigEdSC]

To add to David's comment, all of the baseball caps that were sold there had sewn on the side "the Cup belongs in the USA, " or something to that effect.  I think that it frosted many of the Euros, and didn't help diffuse the atmosphere.  My volunteer cap only had the Ryder Cup logo on the front, and many of the Euros wanted to buy my hat.  At the time, I should of sold it to them.