Why Aren’t There More Stadium Golf Courses? | Designing Golf
In the 1980s, the concept of a stadium golf course seemed poised to take off. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and the PGA West Stadium Course, both designed by Pete Dye, made high-profile debuts on the PGA Tour in 1982 and 1987, respectively. But then the trend ended before it really became a trend. In this episode, Garrett explains the idea of a stadium course and offers some theories as to why it didn’t catch on. He then talks to architect Tim Liddy about his recent renovation work at PGA West.
Listen on Spotify and Apple here:
– Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designing-golf/id1792221791
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LiMl0rjEJXuAwGIomPbur?si=d9a21f2ca2a74e59
Sign up for our Fried Egg Golf Newsletter, delivered every Monday, Wednesday, Friday
https://thefriedegg.com/subscribe-to-the-fried-egg-newsletter/
Also check out our Membership – Fried Egg Golf Club – which includes in-depth course reviews and daily blog posts: https://thefriedegg.com/membership/
Check out our other course profile videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjqqxh4N0xEaxZ_jhhQBcu901PmlUU-J8
Fried Egg Golf on social media:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/fried_egg_golf
Twitter – https://twitter.com/fried_egg_golf
The Shotgun Start on social media:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/shotgunstartpod
Twitter – https://x.com/TheShotgunStart
The Fried Egg team:
Andy Johnson – https://twitter.com/AndyTFE
Brendan Porath – https://twitter.com/BrendanPorath
Garrett Morrison – https://twitter.com/garrett_TFE
Joseph LaMagna – https://twitter.com/JosephLaMagna
Will Knights – https://twitter.com/WillKnightsTFE
Meg Adkins – https://twitter.com/megadkins_TFE
PJ Clark – https://twitter.com/TheRealPJClark
Matt Rouches – https://www.instagram.com/mattrouches
Cameron Hurdus – https://www.instagram.com/cameronhurdus
4 Comments
Either by initial design, or through evolution over the years, I believe Augusta National would be one of the earliest Stadium courses. In multiple places across the property mounding was included to provide patrons a better view of the play, as you pointed out the design of the course brings multiple holes together in close proximity to each other multiple times, and to this day a guide is handed out that was originally written by Bobby Jones describing the best places across the course to view the action.
I'm also reminded of an article Herbert Warren Wind wrote in the 50's or 60's where he outlined his ideas for a tournament course focused on the comfort and convenience of the gallery. His concept was a generally out-and-back golf course situated in a natural valley surrounded by three elevated loops. The first loop, being closest to the holes was for spectator foot traffic. the second loop higher up the valley slope was a road where spectators could drive and park their cars along the course, providing a similar experience to a drive-in theater. The 3rd loop along the rim of the valley would be occupied by a small railroad which would constantly circle the course, allowing fans to watch all aspects of tournament play on a continuous loop.
What about Plumb Creek???
The reason that they don't build spectator friendly venues anymore, is because the powers that be are more concerned with the corporate folks in the tents than they are the average gallery patron.
Fantastic work by Garrett this week with this + Pablo Torre interview