1980s Golf Stars

In the spirit of our “decade stars” series for our pro wrestling and stock car racing games, we present a new series of “decade stars” for HISTORY MAKER GOLF Championship Golf Game. Many gamers enjoy sharpening the focus of their tabletop projects to year-specific season replays. But it’s problematic to find consensus and interest in any one specific season. Creating “every” season just isn’t an option for us, unfortunately. However, we feel the “decade stars” format is a great middle ground. This set has been created in such a way so as to approximate a typical year in the decade with a realistic, logical mix of golfing contemporaries.

We commissioned golf historian and PLAAY gamer Dave Gray to do the research and ratings architecture for these golfing decade sets. Dave offers these thoughts on the pro golfing scene of the 1980s...

“Remarkably, the man to beat at the beginning of the 1980s was still Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus won two majors in 1980. The early 80s though saw Tom Watson gain the upper hand over Nicklaus with five major victories between 1980 and 1983 including a dramatic win over Nicklaus in 1982 in the US Open at Pebble Beach. Watson achieved that win with a remarkable chip from the rough on the 17th hole. Nicklaus would enjoy one last autumn fling with his stunning 1986 Masters win staging a comeback over new stars like Seve Ballesteros, Nick Price, and Greg Norman. Nicklaus was four strokes back going into Sunday but a magical run on the back nine showed that for one final day Jack was back.

“The 1980s saw a number of good golfers but there would be no more titans dominating the field. Seve Ballesteros would win four majors in the 1980s with his unique ability to escape from troubled lies, golf’s version of Harry Houdini. “By the mid 1980s the Great White Shark had begun to achieve success. But Greg Norman would never have the success in the majors that was expected of him. He often came up just short on golf’s biggest stages. Typical of his struggles was his Saturday Slam achieved in 1986. Norman held the lead for all four majors after three rounds. Despite leading Sunday morning he would only win one of the four majors, the British Open. The Open would be his only major victory of the 1980s. Outside of the majors Norman enjoyed substantial success.

“Other successful golfers in the 1980s included Curtis Strange (a pair of US Open wins at the end of the decade), Sandy Lyle (two major wins), Bernhard Langer (one major in the 1980s), and Larry Nelson (three major wins). Nick Faldo made his presence felt late in the 1980s with two of his eventual six major victories but the 1990s were to be his decade.

“Golf was becoming a more competitive game internationally and the European Tour was enjoying greater prominence. The Ryder Cup became a more competitive event. When the 1980s opened the United States had not lost a Ryder Cup competition since 1957. The British team had been opened up to include players from continental Europe in 1979 and Europe would achieve two wins and a tie in the final three competitions of the 1980s. Their first win came at The Belfry under the captaincy of Tony Jacklin. This new found competitiveness befit the 1980s which ended with more competitive balance than the game had ever known.”

The ‘80s Stars set includes 90 golf pros who were regulars on the tour during the ‘80s. You can use the standard Tournament Mode procedure to run a full “season” representative of the decade.

To help accent the decade-specific feel of this set, we’ve included a golf course with historical 1980s significance. Assurant Lakes Golf Club is based on the Kemper Lakes Golf Club, near Long Grove, IL.

Kemper Lakes was founded in 1979 as a public course by James S. Kemper, Jr., president and CEO of Kemper Insurance Co., whose corporate offices were, at the time, located on the south end of the golf course. It was designed by Ken Killian and Dick Nugent in the classic style of the era--large, spacious and wide-open, measuring nearly 7500 yards in the pro configuration. In its hey day, it appeared consistently one the annual list of America’s Top 100 golf courses.

It’s one of just three courses in the state of Illinois to have hosted a major championship. The 1989 PGA Championship was won by Payne Stewart, the first of his three major championships. Stewart finished one stroke ahead of runners-up Andy Bean, Mike Reid, and Curtis Strange. Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer were among the leaders after the first round, both were looking for a PGA Championship win to complete a career grand slam. Watson ended up tied for ninth at 281 (−7) while Palmer, 59 years old at the time, finished far back at 293 (+5). It was the last time that Palmer made the cut at a PGA Championship.

Kemper Lakes also hosted the PGA of America’s Grand Slam of Golf from 1986 to 1990. Winners included Greg Norman (‘86), Larry Nelson (‘87), Payne Stewart (‘88), Curtis Strange (‘89) and Andy North (‘90).