Shell's Wonderful World of Golf...

[PEZGolf]

7 hours ago, iacas said:

It's OT to get into this, but… the pause at the top is not why beginners slice.

With the beginners I have taught over the past 30+ years, it is one of the main causes of slicing. If you hurry at the top, you fail to achieve proper sequential motion.

[iacas]

32 minutes ago, PEZGolf said:

With the beginners I have taught over the past 30+ years, it is one of the main causes of slicing. If you hurry at the top, you fail to achieve proper sequential motion.

Yeah, look, I'm still going with "no" on that. They slice because they do something that sends the path well left.

Let's stick to the topic here. There are plenty of existing instructional threads elsewhere on this site if you truly want to get into this, somewhere. Not in this topic.

[Coronagolfman]

The original series took place in the 1960's and was of course sponsored by Shell Oil - while originally featuring famous courses like Pine Valley or St. Andrews  and some perhaps not so famous courses from around the world in places like Africa or Southesast Asia, the series at one point came under the influence of Rockefeller's "RockResorts" and thus became an advertisement for new resort courses designed by Robert Trent Jones to be found at those resorts  (Dorado Beach, Mauna Kea, Fountain Valley (Virgin Islands), Royal Kaanapali to name a few).  A number of other resort owners jumped on board so the parade of new (and not necessarily famous) courses continued with the likes of Cotton Bay (Bahamas) and El Conquistador (Puerto Rico).  Of course, there was still a number of "name" venues like Pebble Beach (several times), St. Andrews, Mid-Ocean Club, Royal County Down, Royal Melbourne and Medinah that were used as well.

The series ended sometime in the late 60's and was resurrected in the '90s by a production company I believe was owned by Jack Nicklaus and not surprisingly, featured a number of appearances by Jack and his contemporaries on courses designed by Jack and associated with resorts or clubs owned by some of his cronies. The shows also began to feature the "young guns" of the tour at that time including Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Payne Stewart from USA and European stars like Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Nick Price.

Eventually the idea of matches like those in the Shell format gave way to the Skins Game series which existed for a decade in one form or another only to be replaced by the more circus-like atmosphere of staged exhibition matches involving the hottest player in the sport, Tiger Woods.

There are very few of the earlier Shell series matches from the 60's available on DVDs from what I have found - the Ben Hogan vs Sam Snead match is one of the few that was put on DVD.  Those earlier original matches were most all available for a number of years on VHS but I have not seen many of them offered online in recent times (I have about 15-20 of the 60's matches on VHS).  The more recent vintage matches from the 90's were available for awhile on DVDs (in some cases a whole year of 4-5 Shell matches was available on a DVD set) but I have not seen that many of those available these days. 

Somebody else may know of some internet sites were the VHS or DVD versions can be found.

There is one other series of matches that took place in the 1960's that you might find interesting if you like the Shell WWOG series - they were called Challenge Golf and featured Arnold Palmer and Gary Player playing against another pair of players - one of those matches was Arnold and Gary versus Ken Venturi and Byron Nelson at Pebble Beach; another was against Jack Nicklaus and Phil Rodgers at LA North.  And of course, there is always the venerable Big Three Golf series that featured Arnold, Jack and Gary at Firestone CC in Ohio and at Mauna Kea in Hawaii (where Gary had to hit driver off the back tee at famed #3 just to carry the ocean from the 250 yard back tee designed by Trent Jones just for that match and which now has been restored with a plaque commemorating that event)

Good hunting if you are looking for these older videos or scouring the Golf Channel program listings to record these terrific glimpses into what the PGA tour looked like prior to the desecration of the game and its classic courses through new technology.

 

Edited December 27, 2015 by Coronagolfman

[nevets88]

There are plenty of episodes on YouTube, but they are terrrrrible quality - 360p. Not sure what quality they are on Golf Channel, 480p? I've downloaded a bunch for a rainy day. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shell%27s+wonderful+world+of+golf+full+episodes

Even Vimeo has a couple:

 

[Coronagolfman]

I would think there would be a number of PGA players that saw the late 90's versions of WWOG but most likely not the 60's versions unless their dad or mom was a fanatic about the series with a bunch of golf VHS tapes in the closet.

The thing is that since there is now a golf tournament every week somewhere in the world the modern player just goes where he wants to when he wants to and can make a lot more money than any made-for-TV exhibition would be willing to pony up.  Back when the Shell series was being done in the 60's or even in the late 90's the PGA tour season was only some 8 months (Jan-Aug) so PGA tour players would gladly go play an exhibition for a guarantee of travel expenses and $50K in the offseason.  For the top dogs nowadays, a $100K or even a $300K payday might not be enough to get them to sign up for such an event given their bank accounts and opportunities for income from various endorsements.

I believe the other factor working against a revival of such matches is the fact that there are so many venues that are now being covered over 18 holes for tournaments that the allure of a series that was going to show you all of the holes (which was not done until this century) of a particular famous course would be considerably dampered by modern TV coverage which offers 1st tee to 18th green coverage.   And in terms of being able to see many courses around the world never usually seen, worldwide coverage of all the world's pro golf tours has provided glimpses at courses from Africa to Indonesia to South America to Russia, not to mention many of the great courses in the US or UK that had once been described only in writing but now are being used as tour stops.

I fear that we will most likely not see any organization willing to go the route of Shell or any other company to produce such a golf TV series again.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Coronagolfman

[PEZGolf]

Was there just on a marathon on TGC?

[mcanadiens]

7 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

Was there just on a marathon on TGC?

Yeah. It was actually the first time I've seen it. Really enjoyed it also.

 

[nevets88]

Some suggested matches:

Adam Scott vs. Justin Rose at Royal Melbourne

Sergio Garcia vs. Miguel Angel Jimenez at Valderrama

Bubba Watson vs. Phil Mickelson at Augusta National

Rickie Fowler vs. Hideki Matsuyama at Cabot Cliffs

http://adamsarson.com/2015/12/28/rebooting-shells-wonderful-world-of-golf/

 

[saevel25]

10 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Bubba Watson vs. Phil Mickelson at Augusta National

I doubt Augusta National would ever hold this event. 

[mvmac]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

I doubt Augusta National would ever hold this event. 

Yeah no chance.

Would be cool to see another match at Pine Valley though.

[PEZGolf]

50 minutes ago, mvmac said:

Yeah no chance.

Would be cool to see another match at Pine Valley though.

You are right.  I have never played there, but my friend, Charlie, has, and he gave me a scorecard.  He said it is everything I have ever heard about , and very difficult.  We have a course in Saratoga Springs that is somewhat like it, and I took Charlie to play it. It is McGregor Links, in Wilton, just north of the Spa City.  When you are on a hole, you cannot see any other hole on the course.  It is built on sandy soil, and if you hit slightly behind the ball when chipping, it goes nowhere.  It is a mixture of doglegs, gentle doglegs, and well-trapped straight aways.   The sand traps are true hazards, and if you get in one, you have to work hard to get a bogey.  Two of the par 3's measure more than 230 yards.

      The final hole is a difficult par 3, that has an elevated, well-trapped green.  The beautiful clubhouse sits above it, and members love to watch the torture as players miss the green and struggle to get a 4.  I asked Charlie what he thought of McGregor, and his answer sums it up "not bad, and easier to get on than Pine Valley."  Needless to say, it is one of my favorite courses anywhere, especially in Upstate New York, where we do have Oak Hill and the Monster at the Concord Hotel near Kiamesha Lake in the Catskills.

[iacas]

@PEZGolf, please stick to the topic.

[gatsby47]

I watched Henry Cotton and Gene Sarazen play St Andrews.  They stated that they were old., lol.  But in reality  Gene was not yet 60 and  was still a good player. He was normally the commentator but his partner George took over.  Having seen St Andrews many times with the vast crowds of the Open Championship, it was surprising to see how small the crowds were although the 18th had a crowded feeling.  Small  british balls, small wooden headed clubs, Cotton playing run ups, Sarazen popping the ball with his wedge.  A good show.  it was 1962.  I also saw Marlene Streit play Mickey Wright at the Toronto Golf club. Another good match.

[Coronagolfman]

On 12/28/2015 at 10:21 AM, saevel25 said:

I doubt Augusta National would ever hold this event. 

Forget Augusta - CBS has pretty much televised every blade of grass of that course over the years.

What about Cypress Point where the only view that most of us get is behind one of those nice little wooden fences with the "friendly" placard saying Stay Off - Private Property .....

Or Seminole in Florida which is supposed to be one of Donald Ross' finest courses

Or perhaps Nanea which is Charlie Schwab's private course on the Big Island open only to him an his cronies (and apparently sometimes kids on the golf team from a local high school)

[Golfingdad]

52 minutes ago, Coronagolfman said:

Forget Augusta - CBS has pretty much televised every blade of grass of that course over the years.

What about Cypress Point where the only view that most of us get is behind one of those nice little wooden fences with the "friendly" placard saying Stay Off - Private Property .....

Or Seminole in Florida which is supposed to be one of Donald Ross' finest courses

Or perhaps Nanea which is Charlie Schwab's private course on the Big Island open only to him an his cronies (and apparently sometimes kids on the golf team from a local high school)

Yeah, that's similar to what I said ... it would be nice to see courses we don't get to see every year.

Also, now you have me interested in finding this Schwab course on google maps.  (I recently did the same when searching Palm Desert golf courses and I located "Porcupine Creek," which a quick internet search told me was Larry Ellison's private course.) ;)

[Coronagolfman]

56 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Yeah, that's similar to what I said ... it would be nice to see courses we don't get to see every year.

Also, now you have me interested in finding this Schwab course on google maps.  (I recently did the same when searching Palm Desert golf courses and I located "Porcupine Creek," which a quick internet search told me was Larry Ellison's private course.) ;)

Find the Hualalei Resort on the Big Island, its just a little ways North of the Airport on the coast highway - then go across the highway from Hualalei and you will find a golf course there - that is the Tom Fazio private course for the Kukio residential complex which sits next to Hualalei - then go even further up the hill from the Kukio course and you will find Nanea.  You can find some photos of the course on David Mclay Kidd's golf course architecture site.

Another fun search if you are looking at the Hawaiian Islands from your favorite mapping site is to go to Kapula and see if you can find the remnants of the Kapalua Village Course which was closed some 15 (?) years ago - real shame as that course had some of the best views of Molokai from a very pristine environment with only one or two houses on the entire golf course.  Best day of golf I ever had was on this course - 55 holes in one day (I guess the lack of business was why they ultimately closed it as most resort guests wanted to play the brand new Plantation course).  Too bad though - the Village was a Palmer design and Arnie had a number of long par 4's with extremely elevated tees which really allowed one to hit out and see a very long ball flight (something Coore and Crenshaw copied at the Plantation)

Here is a homage to that course: http://bdavidcathell.com/LAHP/Archives/2010/LAHP_100426/Life_After_HP_100426.htm

Edited December 31, 2015 by Coronagolfman

[PEZGolf]

13 hours ago, Coronagolfman said:

Forget Augusta - CBS has pretty much televised every blade of grass of that course over the years.

What about Cypress Point where the only view that most of us get is behind one of those nice little wooden fences with the "friendly" placard saying Stay Off - Private Property .....

Or Seminole in Florida which is supposed to be one of Donald Ross' finest courses

Or perhaps Nanea which is Charlie Schwab's private course on the Big Island open only to him an his cronies (and apparently sometimes kids on the golf team from a local high school)

All are GREAT tracks!  Here is another one: Banff State Park in the Canadian Rockies. Before I die, I must play golf there!

[Coronagolfman]

12 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

All are GREAT tracks!  Here is another one: Banff State Park in the Canadian Rockies. Before I die, I must play golf there!

One of the earlier Shell WWOG shows was filmed at Banff - it featured some Canadian pro and ......... Jack Burke.  For some reason back when VHS copies of the Shell shows were available this was one that was never available. Never any reason given for why it wasn't released like most of the others.