Discovered the USGA Channel on ROKU

[Bigarch]

Ok, so last night I discovered the USGA Channel on my Roku.  What an incredible library of old golf event footage.  US Open's, Women's Opens, Amateurs... all the old television footage of these great events.  I started on the US Opens.  They have the actual tv coverage of every final round and playoff going back to the mid 60's.  I started at 1968 with Trevino winning at Oak Hill.  I'm now on 1972 with Nicklaus winning at Pebble Beach. 

 

I think I know what I will be watching for the next week or so while I wait for all the snow to melt.

[Pmookie]

Ooo! I’m going to have to add that to my Roku lineup!!! Thanks!

[mocokid]

23 hours ago, Bigarch said:

Ok, so last night I discovered the USGA Channel on my Roku.  What an incredible library of old golf event footage.  US Open's, Women's Opens, Amateurs... all the old television footage of these great events.  I started on the US Opens.  They have the actual tv coverage of every final round and playoff going back to the mid 60's.  I started at 1968 with Trevino winning at Oak Hill.  I'm now on 1972 with Nicklaus winning at Pebble Beach. 

 

I think I know what I will be watching for the next week or so while I wait for all the snow to melt.

thanks do you have to pay?

[Bigarch]

9 hours ago, mocokid said:

thanks do you have to pay?

NO!  Free if you have a Roku tv or Roku device plugged into your tv.

[Bigarch]

Wanted to share a couple observations about a few of the events I watched already...

 

1973 Open, everybody remembers Johnny Miller's 63....but consider this:  John Schlee finished one shot back in 2nd.  Schlee was one of the 54 hole leaders and started his 4th round with an OB tee shot right...a duck hook on the provisional ball left.  Finds the provisional and its unplayable and ends up making a triple bogey 7 on the opening hole.  Do you think he had a wee case of the nerves? He then rallied to shoot a 70 and only finish one shot back.  Weiskopf finished 3rd and 3 chaps named Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino finished tied for 4th.  What a leaderboard!  It's a shame they didn't have as extensive coverage back then as they do today...it was fun to watch but would have been EPIC to see ALL of that drama unfold.

 

1984 Fuzzy and Norman go to an 18 hole Monday playoff. Norman got in the playoff by making 3 incredible (Seve-esque) up and downs at 16,17, & 18.  If he had gone on to win that Open, how much differently would his legacy have been?  One more thought....NO WAY Bryson Dechambeau wins the US Open at Winged Foot if the trees were similar to 1984.  The trees were dense and grown all the way down to the ground where you were lucky to have a backswing if you were in the rough.  Interesting to see the differences between then and now.

[jeggolfer68]

I have a roku and clicked on the roku streaming channel. Lots of quality shows, however I couldn't find the usga channel. In the search box I put in; usga, pga, golf. Nothing came up. Any ideas?

[Bigarch]

30 minutes ago, jeggolfer68 said:

I have a roku and clicked on the roku streaming channel. Lots of quality shows, however I couldn't find the usga channel. In the search box I put in; usga, pga, golf. Nothing came up. Any ideas?

Go down to the bottom of your home screen to "Add Channels", then "search channels", and search for USGA

[jeggolfer68]

Bigarch, thanks. I took it literally and searched the roku streaming app, unsuccessfully. Followed your directions and now I'm watching Jackie Cupid, Tony Lema, etc. Thank you. Love it. Btw, the roku streaming app which is included free with the roku device, includes lots of really good shows. Previous to your post I never even clicked on it.

[Bigarch]

12 hours ago, jeggolfer68 said:

Bigarch, thanks. I took it literally and searched the roku streaming app, unsuccessfully. Followed your directions and now I'm watching Jackie Cupid, Tony Lema, etc. Thank you. Love it. Btw, the roku streaming app which is included free with the roku device, includes lots of really good shows. Previous to your post I never even clicked on it.

Glad you are enjoying it as much as I am.  It really is a treasure trove of old great golf footage.  And it looks like they have archived everything in the recent years events right down to the press conferences. 

[deadsolid...shank]

Wow, this is cool to know. I use the Roku on my second TV in the basement. Now I can have the Players on one and old footage on the other. Sounds like an ideal Sunday afternoon}

[mocokid]

I just watched 63 and 66, there is a gap, no 64-65..  Its rather finicky, does not re start where you left off, and forwarding/rewinding is a pain.  But well worth it.  

[Bigarch]

4 hours ago, mocokid said:

I just watched 63 and 66, there is a gap, no 64-65..  Its rather finicky, does not re start where you left off, and forwarding/rewinding is a pain.  But well worth it.  

Some of the old analog telecasts are a little sketchy for sure.  I still think they are great to watch though.  Not sure any other footage exists of these old tournaments.  Watched the Curtis Strange vs Nick Faldo playoff at the Country Club in 1988 on Saturday morning.  Good stuff!

[mocokid]

just finished 67 baltusrol, it jumps from Arnie/Jack on 16 to the final hole, WTF.  Love Arnie's swing, more like today's action with his tremendous coil on backswing/downswing.  Jack is more a 'down the line' swinger IMHO.  Looking forward to 68 and Trevino, who made an appearance in 67 telecast and I think 66.  

[mocokid]

Just finished 71 Merion final rd and playoff.  What a course when clubs and balls were different. 

[Bigarch]

10 hours ago, mocokid said:

Just finished 71 Merion final rd and playoff.  What a course when clubs and balls were different. 

Great tournament!  Going back to watch these old Opens has given me a new appreciation for how much the game has truly changed.  We're so spoiled by the modern equipment and modern course conditions.  The game is hard but it's a helluva lot easier to shoot good scores than it used to be.  The abilities of the players in that era were truly incredible.

[NRJyzr]

I wonder if there's a similar channel for the R&A?  I'd rather watch old broadcasts of the Open Championship....

 

[Greg_B]

I've been picking off some of the old US Open telecasts as time permits. Today I watched the '72 Open from Pebble. It's a shame the video quality isn't better but what can you expect from 50 year-old standard-def tape? Back then I considered ABC Golf's coverage the gold standard but have we ever come a long way. I found it odd that when they reviewed the holes they would cover at PB that #9 was not included even though they had coverage of #8 and #10, seemed odd. The greens seemed slower and bumpier than today and some of them had what looked like extreme breaks as the ball neared the hole.

 

A couple of things I found unusual - Nicklaus' fabled tee shot at 17 was indeed met with exclamations of amazement, but after it was shown live they didn't make much more out of it. Shortly thereafter they switched to a "musical interlude" of sorts with a couple of minutes of guitar instrumental over some beauty shots of the Monterey area, bizarre. I guess they figured they needed something to fill otherwise dead air once most of the players had finished up and there were only a couple of groups left on the course. While the shot at 17 has gone down in history and truly was a great clutch shot, Jack ended up winning by 4 so it wasn't exactly life and death for him that day.

 

The other day I watched the '73 Open and was surprised that the video abruptly ended with Miller putting out on 18 for his 63. Lots of other players were still on the course but I guess the last hour or so of the broadcast has been lost. I don't know if Miller was interviewed after his round or if any of the later finishers had a chance to catch him. One thing most people forget was that just ahead of him, Lanny Wadkins shot a 65 that day and looked like he could have gone much lower with any luck. Like all of these 1970s Opens I've seen so far, it seemed like very hard work for most of these players to hit your tee ball any distance or hit it close on these greens.

 

The other thing that surprised me a bit was that Arnie was in contention in a lot of these, in one of the late groups starting the day not far off the lead, but usually found trouble during the round and did not contend late. I had it in my head that he was pretty much done by then but he still was able to compete quite well.

[Bigarch]

When I watched the 72 Open, I had the same reaction about the Nicklaus 1 iron on 17.  They seemed pretty underwhelmed by the shot at the time.  Today, the announcers would be falling out of the tower.  And it is unfortunate that they have lost some of the footage over the years.  There are a few gaps here and there.  Also, it's very striking by how limited the coverage was back then. 

 

One other observation...the USGA was brutal back then with course setups.  Today they trim up the trees to provide better sight lines for cameras and spectators.  Back then, it doesn't look like they trimmed the trees for 5 years...low hanging branches are grown all the way to the ground.  I just finished watching the '89 Open where Curtis Strange won his 2nd.  Curtis made 35 pars in a row while Kite and Ozaki hit it all over the place in the 4th round.  CLASSIC US Open Win!

[Greg_B]

5 hours ago, Bigarch said:

When I watched the 72 Open, I had the same reaction about the Nicklaus 1 iron on 17.  They seemed pretty underwhelmed by the shot at the time.  Today, the announcers would be falling out of the tower.  And it is unfortunate that they have lost some of the footage over the years.  There are a few gaps here and there.  Also, it's very striking by how limited the coverage was back then. 

 

One other observation...the USGA was brutal back then with course setups.  Today they trim up the trees to provide better sight lines for cameras and spectators.  Back then, it doesn't look like they trimmed the trees for 5 years...low hanging branches are grown all the way to the ground.  I just finished watching the '89 Open where Curtis Strange won his 2nd.  Curtis made 35 pars in a row while Kite and Ozaki hit it all over the place in the 4th round.  CLASSIC US Open Win!

 

Yesterday I started watching the '71 Open from Merion and you couldn't be more correct with your comment about setups. It seemed like every tee shot came out of a dark chute of trees with barely any room to fit a drive. Even if you strayed not very far off the fairway you could be in deep tree trouble. The course looked rather "rustic", shall we say. To show how far we've come, there was a moment where they showed a dog who was being held captive by a pith-helmeted marshal after running onto a green and stealing Ray Floyd's ball! Apparently he either lived nearby or was brought to the event by a spectator. Incredible.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Greg_B

[mocokid]

I finished the 73 Oakmount Open.  Disappointed the Miller coverage is slim, mostly covering Arnie who was a legit contender. They get some good Miller coverage on about the last 6-8 holes.  But then it completely ends as Miller holes out at 18, and you don't see what happened to the rest of the field, and since miller was out early, that's quite a lot of coverage. 

[Greg_B]

Watching the second half of the ‘71 US Open from Merion.  A few observations on the ABC telecast:

 

I found it funny how they used Byron Nelson. It seems like they told him that any time he had something to say, he should just call out the name of whomever is speaking on-air to be able to jump in. Byron’s commentary wasn’t anything particularly  scintillating, but it was good to hear someone of his stature offering some thoughts.  
 

For all-purpose sports broadcasters on the ABC staff, these guys were surprisingly good at golf. Jim McKay was outstanding, having called The Masters for CBS 10 years earlier and going on to be the face of ABC golf in the ‘80s. But Frank Gifford was surprisingly good at golf, as were Bill Flemming  and Bud Palmer.  Dave Marr had played in the ‘71 Open, missed the cut, and then worked with ABC on the weekend. He was quite good right from the start, and funnily enough seemed to have less of a Texas drawl then than he did later. Ironically perhaps the weakest of the group was the lead announcer at the time, Chris Schenkel, who wasn’t bad but always sounded a little overly dramatic. 

 

ABC used Henry Longhurst as a hole announcer in ‘71.  He still seemed to be in good shape at this point and was a delight to hear.   His health declined in the mid-70s sadly so many never got a chance to hear him.  Listening to this erudite English gentleman speak so eloquently was a treat.  
 

ABC picked up the Monday playoff on the 11th hole and with just Nicklaus and Trevino to deal with had to fill some time when shots weren’t being played. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to capture the infamous moment on the 1st tee when Trevino playfully tossed a rubber snake at Nicklaus, though they referred to it numerous times. 
 

The other thing you just don’t see any more (thankfully) are holes descriptions done using a physical model of each hole including trees, and a pointer. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Greg_B

[mocokid]

I just finished these 3

1978 - unbelievable gutty performance by a tall man playing in 20 MPH winds!  The up n down on 18 is great.

1979- Irwin doing what Irwin does best- WIN US opens.  If only Weiskopf got off to a better start.  He was my fav, what a swing. 

1980 - forgot that this one was closer than I realized.  I was there saturday, what a mob scene on 18 after the 3rd shots.  The storming of the Bastille !

[mocokid]

PS just listening to Peter Alliss is great!   On the background noise at Baltusrol in 80: "babies crying, mothers wailing, fathers gnashing their teeth" LOLOL. 

[Bigarch]

14 hours ago, mocokid said:

I just finished these 3

1978 - unbelievable gutty performance by a tall man playing in 20 MPH winds!  The up n down on 18 is great.

1979- Irwin doing what Irwin does best- WIN US opens.  If only Weiskopf got off to a better start.  He was my fav, what a swing. 

1980 - forgot that this one was closer than I realized.  I was there saturday, what a mob scene on 18 after the 3rd shots.  The storming of the Bastille !

1980 Jack at Baltusrol is the first time I can remember hearing roars on the golf course

[MTgolfer]

I discovered this channel along with the PGA channel on my LG TV free smart channels. It’s kind of awesome. I just turned it on to be in the background while I’m doing stuff. And it’s free!

[mocokid]

Just finished 84: best ballstriking in a final round I've seen, courtesy of Zoeller and Norman.  Zoeller's 67 on Monday was FLAWLESS on that extremely tough course!!!  Too bad Norman foozled out on Monday, something about that guy when pressure was on (blocks to right, Winged Foot and Augusta).  

Honorable mention to Nelson 83 at Oakmont, great last round while Seve and Watson were battling each other.  And to David Graham in 81, hitting every green at Merion in reg.  

[Bigarch]

10 hours ago, mocokid said:

Just finished 84: best ballstriking in a final round I've seen, courtesy of Zoeller and Norman.  Zoeller's 67 on Monday was FLAWLESS on that extremely tough course!!!  Too bad Norman foozled out on Monday, something about that guy when pressure was on (blocks to right, Winged Foot and Augusta).  

Honorable mention to Nelson 83 at Oakmont, great last round while Seve and Watson were battling each other.  And to David Graham in 81, hitting every green at Merion in reg.  

The 3 up and downs that Norman makes in 84 on holes 16-18 on Sunday are out of this world!  If he had ended up winning, they'd still be talking about those today.

[mocokid]

9 hours ago, Bigarch said:

The 3 up and downs that Norman makes in 84 on holes 16-18 on Sunday are out of this world!  If he had ended up winning, they'd still be talking about those today.

Agreed!