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Jason Thurman

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Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« on: January 23, 2016, 11:08:09 PM »

My wife and I were walking the dog a few weeks ago while lamenting an '80s party we had been invited to attend. We were both born in the middle of the decade and feel little nostalgia for it. We spent a long time talking about the idea that things come back in style every 20 or 30 years, and how the '80s are the one exception to this rule. Crimped hair, Glamour Shots, scrunchies around shirttails, Flock of Seagulls hair, the music of The Police, and pastel socks over leggings are never coming back in style. As Scott Weersing's recent post in the PGA West (stadium) thread made me realize: neither are the golf courses of that era.

So I ask, what are the courses you love that were built in the 1980s? And will they ever come back in style, or will they always be overshadowed by the eras that preceded and followed them?
« Last Edit: January 23, 2016, 11:25:44 PM by Jason Thurman »
"There will always be haters. That’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids." - Evan Turner

Some of y'all have never been called out in bold green font and it really shows.

Matt_Cohn

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2016, 11:12:56 PM »
[fixed]
« Last Edit: January 24, 2016, 03:53:47 AM by Matt_Cohn »

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2016, 11:26:16 PM »
Long Cove
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Nigel Islam

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2016, 12:31:13 AM »
Bird's Celtics vs. Magic's Lakers, Top Gun, and VCRs. What's not to love?

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2016, 01:06:00 AM »
Harlowton Country Club was remodeled into Jawbone Creek Country Club http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,62391.0.html in 1980.  :D
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Matthew Rose

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2016, 03:06:35 AM »
I got a soft spot for some of the music.... what can I say, it was the first music I remember hearing and being in tune with, having been born in the late 70s.


I think the golf courses of the era are obviously a product of the time.... TV coverage went from a few holes on the weekend into four day coverage with the advent of cable + the majors starting showing full 18 hole coverage, so the courses became more exposed, and there was more of a need for them to look good on TV. Dye's original TPC had a lot to do with that..... the concept of designing courses for tournament golf and television set the trend. Of course, now we look at it in hindsight and realize perhaps those weren't the greatest courses to build, in terms of maintenance, playability or timeless qualities, since a lot of them look pretty badly dated as products of their era, save for Sawgrass itself which has actually aged quite well and become appreciated.... certainly much more so than when it opened. But a lot of that is Dye and his style which is distinctive and one he's repeated and carried.....the TPC concept caused a lot of Sawgrass copycats.


I don't think you will see much nostalgia for 80s architecture considering that there was such a widespread saturation of courses built in that style and so many of them are still around today and occasionally hosting events, so it isn't like something you couldn't find anymore if you weren't looking for it.
American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

Mark Pritchett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2016, 08:16:14 AM »
I suppose I'm Uncle Rico, but I love many of the 80's courses.  Wade Hampton, Honors Course, Shadow Creek, Wild Dunes, Long Cove, Old Waverly and Musgrove Mill, to name a few. 

Ken Fry

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2016, 08:26:18 AM »
Jason,

My formative years were spent in the '80's.  I'll answer your question in two ways.

1.  80's parties now are the way disco parties were:  a joke.  It's a faze that will too pass.

2.  Like any decade, there are really good things mixed in with God-awful stuff.  The '70's gave us what is still my favorite music but it was mixed in with disco.  The '80's also provided some great, nostalgic music but there is some really awful stuff mixed in there too.

Wouldn't you agree golf course design also followed this path?  The '70's had their heyday of RTJ Sr. Championship courses, some good, some not so much.  The '80's gave rise to the "country club for a day" fade and courses that could only be played riding in a golf cart.  Mixed in with all of this were some revered courses (your beloved Wolf Run being one of them).

Every decade provides a "flavor of the day" fade that will pass.  I think the difference this decade is that market and environmental constraints are forcing some creative ideas that will last beyond this decade.

Ken

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2016, 09:54:56 AM »
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

JLahrman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2016, 10:24:54 AM »
Bird's Celtics vs. Magic's Lakers, Top Gun, and VCRs. What's not to love?

Bird vs. Magic - nothing beats that.

But Top Gun is tricky. It's the worst movie ever made that I can't resist watching. The plot is a cliché, the dialogue is cheesy, the acting is hammy. It's a terrible terrible movie. But I watch it every time I come across it.

JJShanley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2016, 11:24:53 AM »
Born in 1982, and with the exception of Back to the Future, some of the music, and British soccer uniforms (aka, fitba strips) I'd consign the culture to history. 

BCowan

Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2016, 12:31:11 PM »
Bird's Celtics vs. Magic's Lakers, Top Gun, and VCRs. What's not to love?


Rees Milikin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2016, 12:41:48 PM »
Bird's Celtics vs. Magic's Lakers, Top Gun, and VCRs. What's not to love?



Their reunion is either going to be unreal or an utter flop.

Rob Collins has quite the story when it comes to seeing Guns n' Roses.

BCowan

Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2016, 12:51:43 PM »
Rees,

   I agree.  It is also tough to admit that they are proving Jason's point of coming back in style every 20-30 years.  That is probably the only grudge I hold towards my parents, for they wouldn't let me see them in concert back then.  As it pertains to Golf, there isn't a course I've played from the 80's that I would want to drive 30 mins to play.   

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2016, 01:04:54 PM »
As one who was born in 1970 and spent my formative years entirely in the 80s...

I can unabashedly claim there is no decade better than the 80s.  It had anything and everything and something for everyone!!!  ;D 


Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2016, 01:06:57 PM »
Does anyone love the 80's? I do! I know Kiawah Ocean opened in '91 but being there the other day reminded me how much I miss the lowcountry. Plop me down on the Hills Course at Palmetto Dunes (1988) this afternoon and I'd be a happy man.

And count me in for a GnR reunion! I saw them open for Motley Crue in 1987 and they blew the doors off the place. Would rather see them reunite (Adler too?) more than any band alive, but I doubt it will happen.



BCowan

Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2016, 01:11:52 PM »
Does anyone love the 80's? I do! I know Kiawah Ocean opened in '91 but being there the other day reminded me how much I miss the lowcountry. Plop me down on the Hills Course at Palmetto Dunes (1988) this afternoon and I'd be a happy man.

And count me in for a GnR reunion! I saw them open for Motley Crue in 1987 and they blew the doors off the place. Would rather see them reunite (Adler too?) more than any band alive, but I doubt it will happen.

http://www.gunsnroses.com/events

I 2nd Adler!  The good ole days before Axl changed costumes every 4 songs. 

Jim Tang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2016, 01:40:24 PM »
Blackwolf Run.  As a teenager, it was the first destination golf course I played.  I still love it.

Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #18 on: January 24, 2016, 01:49:42 PM »

http://www.gunsnroses.com/events

Wow! I hadn't heard this. May have to get to one of the shows in Las Vegas. Thanks, BC(M)

BCowan

Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #19 on: January 24, 2016, 02:34:23 PM »
ES(TN),

    They are suppose to do a US tour.  Rumor is they want $3 million a show.  They might be coming to a town near you.  GNR's attitude is really like the Pete Dye of Golf Course Architecture of the 80's, so FU!   

Doug Siebert

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #20 on: January 24, 2016, 02:34:55 PM »
2.  Like any decade, there are really good things mixed in with God-awful stuff.  The '70's gave us what is still my favorite music but it was mixed in with disco.  The '80's also provided some great, nostalgic music but there is some really awful stuff mixed in there too.

Wouldn't you agree golf course design also followed this path?  The '70's had their heyday of RTJ Sr. Championship courses, some good, some not so much.  The '80's gave rise to the "country club for a day" fade and courses that could only be played riding in a golf cart.  Mixed in with all of this were some revered courses (your beloved Wolf Run being one of them)


The difference between music and golf is that if you live through any decade you hear great music and crappy music. When that decade is far enough past that it is on a 'classic/oldies' station the music sounds better than it was because everything that everyone agrees is crap is gone, so less crap being played makes it seem like the music was better than it really was.

Golf courses might be the same way in one respect, with some great and some not so great courses designed during that time, the problem is that almost all of them endure - and which ones go NLE has much more to do with location (i.e. land becomes more valuable for another use) than it does whether the course is great or awful. So looking back at golf courses from the 80s or 60s doesn't give you the same rosy picture caused by throwing out the worst ones.

If you go far enough back, like courses designed in the 10s and 20s, I wonder if there is an effect where a lot of the worst ones are gone? Maybe the golden age is only golden because most of the crappy courses from that era failed in the 30s and 40s...
My hovercraft is full of eels.

Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #21 on: January 24, 2016, 02:46:32 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35MvblI4og


Unfortunately, the police behavior of the '80s might be one of the only things from the decade that hasn't been erased from society.


I love Roxette, Prince, Michael Jackson, and Pete Dye. I also love Do the Right Thing, the Sledgehammer video, and Wolf Run. But man, there's not much else from the era that excites me. To be fair, I haven't tried cocaine so I have a clear hole in my resume when evaluating the '80s' lasting contributions to our culture.


There are maybe 3 courses from the 1980s in my personal top 80. What are the 10 best courses of the decade? What about the 10 best that weren't designed by Pete Dye?
"There will always be haters. That’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids." - Evan Turner

Some of y'all have never been called out in bold green font and it really shows.

Sven Nilsen

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"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Ken Fry

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2016, 03:30:18 PM »
From the 2015 Golfweek Mosern Golf Course listing:  (only those courses opened in the '80's)

Shadow Creek Golf Club
Muirfield Village
Wade Hampton
TPC Sawgrass
Honors Course
Castle Pines Golf Club
Blackwolf Run
John’s Island Club
Forest Highlands
Long Cove

Ken

Terry Lavin

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Re: Does Anyone Love the 80s?
« Reply #24 on: January 24, 2016, 03:30:50 PM »
As a guy who spent a couple years as a rock critic in the 70's, the 80's didn't come soon enough!  As for golf, I'd second Warne's nomination of Long Cove.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

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