1980 Pro Golf Season

Take a trip back to the days of Pac-Man fever, the Rubik's Cube, and "Who Shot JR?" with the 1980 Pro Season for HISTORY MAKER GOLF!

Most of the 1980 pro golf season headlines were centered around two of the game's biggest stars: Tom Watson and Lee Trevino. Watson won the most tournaments (7) and the most money ($530,000), while Trevino led the circuit in scoring, averaging just under 70 strokes per round, edging Watson by two-tenths of a stroke. Both of these golfers had charismatic personalities and devoted fan followings, making the '80 golf season especially fun to follow!

The real-life 1980 Pro Tour featured 44 events, and there were 11 first-time winners, including Craig Stadler and Doug Tewell. Seve Ballesteros won the green jacket with a memorable performance at the '80 Masters: the legendary Spaniard—just 23 years old at the time—entered the final round with a seven stroke lead and threatened to set a new tournament scoring record, until finding the water on 12 and 13. With his lead trimmed to three strokes, he regrouped and hung on for the win! Jack Nicklaus picked up his 70th career win on August 10th at the PGA Championship, one of two '80 tour wins for the Golden Bear. Curtis Strange, Andy Bean and Ben Crenshaw played consistently well all year, each finished with about a quarter million dollars in earnings (that's for the entire year—way different than today's payouts!).

With the 1980 Pro Season for HISTORY MAKER GOLF, you get cards for these stars and many, many more: nearly every golfer who had a top ten finish in '80 is carded for this set, as are many who did not, over 150 golfers in all. Each golfer's card, whether star or on-the-fringe, is thoughtfully crafted to re-create his real-life golf game on your tabletop. Big hitters like Lon Hinkle and J. C. Snead will get that extra distance from the tee, while guys like Mike Reid and Don Pooley will sometimes frustrate you by coming up short. Steady pros like Andy Bean, and Bruce Lietzke will consistently set themselves up for birdie opportunities with accurate shots from the tee box, while Lou Graham and George Archer will find themselves digging out from the rough. John Mahaffey will be among your most lethal with an iron, while Hale Irwin—not so much. Once on the green, you'll enjoy watching Jerry Pate and George Burns sink the clutch putts, while guys like Ed Sneed and Jim Thorpe sometimes struggle getting the ball into the cup!

Every aspect of every golfer's game is captured...it's like a golf way-back machine that lets you dial back to any point in the real-life '80 golf season and get a front-row seat in the gallery to watch the game's biggest (and lesser) stars re-live their 1980 fortunes, glorious or otherwise! Line up your favorite golfers and conduct match play, stroke play, skins games, short-form tournaments, or even a full-season of pro events! Or, just enjoy a leisurely round of golf, "caddying" for your favorite '80 golf star on one of HMG's many available pro courses, giving advice and watching the action unfold. It's up to you! However you choose to play, we know you'll have a ball!

The 1980 Pro Season for HMG includes over 150 of the year's top golfers and sells for $19 postage paid.