|
"Golf courses are a work of art in many ways.
The piece of ground is your palette."
- Jack Nicklaus
 WNED and PBS are pleased to announce the August 3, 2012 premiere of Golf's Grand Design, a one-hour documentary that explores the architecture and landscapes of some of America's most beautiful golf courses as it presents the unique relationship between the people who play the game and the places where they play, revealing the history behind the courses as well. Golf's playing fields have recognizable characteristics - fairways, greens, bunkers, and water hazards--but golf is the only sport played on a field with no specifically defined dimensions. Golf's Grand Design focuses on golf course architecture from the 1880s through present day highlighting some of America's best known and most influential courses including: the National Golf Links of America on Long Island; Baltusrol in New Jersey; Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; Augusta National in Georgia; The Dunes in South Carolina, Pinehurst No.2 in North Carolina; Crooked Stick in Indiana; Sand Hills in Nebraska; Shadow Creek in Las Vegas; and Bandon Dunes and Old Macdonald in Oregon. Behind these unique courses are the colorful and creative individuals who helped fashion them. Golf's Grand Design traces the impact of these historical and contemporary figures, people such as C.B. Macdonald, Tom Bendelow, A.W. Tillinghast, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, and Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and features insightful interviews with architects Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Tom Doak, Ben Crenshaw, Bob Cupp, Bill Coore, and golf architecture experts George Bahto and Ron Whitten. Golf's Grand Design not only examines the diverse designs of golf's playing fields, but celebrates the experience of the game on many levels - the history, the artistic ingenuity, the skill, and the camaraderie," said Donald K. Boswell, President and CEO of WNED. "This is a wonderful subject for PBS viewers and knowledge of it will deepen appreciation for an activity that is already a passion for millions of Americans." A companion website Golf's Grand Design with bonus video material on courses and architects on www.pbs.org complements the program's release, as will a companion book being co-authored by subject experts Bob Cupp and Ron Whitten. Golf's Grand Design is produced by WNED-TVBuffalo/Toronto. John Grant is producer/writer. The special is distributed by PBS/NPS. Funding was provided by a grant from The Robert J. Stransky Foundation. Local underwriting is permissible. Please contact me if you have questions. I'll be in touch with you about your carriage plans during the next months--and feel free to zap them over to me if you've decided. A fact sheet follows. Very truly yours, Regina Regina Eisenberg R Eisenberg Presents | 
