LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Deane Beman
built 636 days ago
In 1974 Deane Beman had been appointed Commissioner of the Professional Golfers Association Tour. The Tournament Players Championship, one of his main responsibilities, had been played at various courses around the country and was looking for a permanent home. Beman had been impressed with the people he had met in the Jacksonville area and their sense of commitment to community. He had been favorably impressed with the volunteers he had seen in action at the Greater Jacksonville Open. He felt if they could sustain that level of commitments to his Tournament Players Championship, they would make a winning combination.
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Former commissioner Deane Beman conceived the Tour’s retirement plan, which was approved by the Internal Revenue Service in 1983. Revenue-generating business ventures such as the Tour’s TPC Network of golf courses and other marketing and licensing agreements enabled the Tour to defer some compensation without compromising purses. Getting a plan approved that wouldn’t jeopardize the Tour’s 501c6 tax exempt status was no small accomplishment. It took several attempts.
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Beman hopes to reverse that trend. He plans to use the Cannon Ridge project to promote what he calls the 6/90 Experimental Teaching System. The 6/90 refers to Beman’s belief that with the right instruction, newcomers to the game can be shooting in the 90s in six months. Many new golfers are still shooting closer to 120 after six months and finally drop out. The $100 course is scheduled to begin this month.
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For his first design project, Beman smartly chose a piece of real estate that is “Taylor-made” for golf. Working from a canvas of rolling farmland, bluffs, ravines and wooded terrain, Beman has drafted a traditional old-style layout that gracefully moves players from one hole to the next. In fact, one of his goals was to design a course that would promote a reasonable pace of play. To that, the tee box and green complexes are located close together. It’s an idea more accomplished course architects should consider.
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During his amateur career, Beman ran a successful insurance company in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C., but left that comfortable, routine life at the age of 29 in 1967 to join the PGA Tour. He battled several injuries during that time, but won four times, beginning with the 1969 Texas Open. Later that year, he finished second in the U.S. Open by one shot to Orville Moody
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It has been 19 years since Beman last played in the Open, so he figures it is about time for another appearance. He spent the entire winter working on his game, surprising himself by how invigorating the quest could be.
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Deane Beman