John Daly was the ninth alternate at Crooked Stick. He won the 1991 PGA Championship by three without playing a practice round.
For a golf course superintendent, that is also a story about the ground. Pete Dye’s design asked players to manage hazards and demanding approaches. Daly’s length changed those decisions, while the zoysia fairways became part of the explanation. This documentary follows the course setup behind the famous win, from the short Arkansas ground where he learned the game to the championship course he encountered that week.
At Crooked Stick, the difference was visible in the clubs players could hit into the 18th. Daly later described getting extra distance from zoysia, and we look at the grass canopy and maintenance choices behind that observation. Four years later, his game fit the Old Course at St Andrews too. Wind, pot bunkers and enormous double greens posed a different test, with his lag putting as important to the story as his power.