Sandy Tatum, distinguished golf ambassador, dies at 96
Mr. Tatum, whose deep voice, sharp intellect and abiding passion for the game were well known across golf circles, was an accomplished player at Stanford.
Most notably, he served as president of the United States Golf Association in the 1970s and spent eight years (1972-80) on the executive committee of the USGA, golf’s national governing body and the organization that annually runs the U.S. Open.
Asked about ringing criticism of daunting course conditions, Mr. Tatum succinctly offered one of the most memorable quotes in golf history.
Beyond his interest in wide-ranging issues affecting the game — from ball and club technology to architecture (he helped design Spanish Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, among other layouts) — Mr. Tatum took special interest in Harding Park.
Harding, a tree-lined municipal course weaving around Lake Merced in the southwest corner of San Francisco, had been a regular PGA Tour stop in the 1960s.
[...] did the lifetime private-club golfer — the power-broker lawyer with memberships at prestigious clubs such as Cypress Point and San Francisco Golf Club — throw himself into an oh-so-public project.
[...] after 15 months of renovation (and many more months of work before that), Harding re-opened in August 2003 — its fairways clean and weed-free, its greens smooth and pure.
The agreement called for the money to be paid back to the Open Space fund with income from Harding Park’s operations, but the course has not generated as much revenue as projected.
[...] again, it also helped pump millions into the local economy through two marquee PGA Tour events, the AMEX in ’05 and the Presidents Cup, an international match-play event, in October 2009.
Mr. Tatum’s efforts at Harding were recognized when city officials named the new clubhouse — built through a private fund-raising campaign he organized — the Frank D. “Sandy” Tatum Clubhouse.
The First Tee is a PGA Tour-sponsored program designed to teach life skills and core values, through golf, to inner-city kids.
Mr. Tatum took immense pride in his role as chairman of the First Tee of San Francisco, which has introduced the game to thousands of Bay Area kids.
Most notably, he served as president of the United States Golf Association in the 1970s and spent eight years (1972-80) on the executive committee of the USGA, golf’s national governing body and the organization that annually runs the U.S. Open.
Asked about ringing criticism of daunting course conditions, Mr. Tatum succinctly offered one of the most memorable quotes in golf history.
Beyond his interest in wide-ranging issues affecting the game — from ball and club technology to architecture (he helped design Spanish Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, among other layouts) — Mr. Tatum took special interest in Harding Park.
Harding, a tree-lined municipal course weaving around Lake Merced in the southwest corner of San Francisco, had been a regular PGA Tour stop in the 1960s.
[...] did the lifetime private-club golfer — the power-broker lawyer with memberships at prestigious clubs such as Cypress Point and San Francisco Golf Club — throw himself into an oh-so-public project.
[...] after 15 months of renovation (and many more months of work before that), Harding re-opened in August 2003 — its fairways clean and weed-free, its greens smooth and pure.
The agreement called for the money to be paid back to the Open Space fund with income from Harding Park’s operations, but the course has not generated as much revenue as projected.
[...] again, it also helped pump millions into the local economy through two marquee PGA Tour events, the AMEX in ’05 and the Presidents Cup, an international match-play event, in October 2009.
Mr. Tatum’s efforts at Harding were recognized when city officials named the new clubhouse — built through a private fund-raising campaign he organized — the Frank D. “Sandy” Tatum Clubhouse.
The First Tee is a PGA Tour-sponsored program designed to teach life skills and core values, through golf, to inner-city kids.
Mr. Tatum took immense pride in his role as chairman of the First Tee of San Francisco, which has introduced the game to thousands of Bay Area kids.