PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | In recent years, goats have become fashionable.
Not so much the creatures themselves, though they are fine animals, particularly if you need something chewed up, but GOATs, as in the “greatest of all time.”
That would be Michael Jordan, who prompted the reference and – no offense to Tom Brady or Tiger Woods or anyone else – the discussion should begin and end there, but it continues wherever talk radio or social media can be found.
At the Players Championship, a goat has become a status symbol of sorts, whether it is on a golf shirt, a wine glass or a miniature leather football.
The goat logo has been adopted not just as an opportunity to sell merchandise to patrons of the exclusive Players Club – available only tournament week and only to those with privileged clubhouse access, a bit like Berckmans Place at the Masters – but as an homage to the creation of the Stadium Course more than 40 years ago.
When Pete Dye was building the Stadium Course amid the swampy undergrowth, he was persuaded to bring in goats to help clear the vegetation (they weren’t much help with the snakes). It worked brilliantly, and the goats were still around when the course opened in the early 1980s.
Eventually the goats were removed after a young one climbed atop the old pyramid-shaped clubhouse and another barely escaped an alligator attack while horrified diners watched, only to applaud when the goat escaped.
Introduced on a limited basis five years ago, the goat logo has become so popular that it is the only logoed merchandise available during Players week in the clubhouse pro shop.
The goat logo isn’t available in the massive merchandise center near the fan entry – that’s where the silhouette of a golfer finishing his swing and “The Players” logo are stitched into clothing – which makes it a status symbol of sorts.
“It has taken a few years to grab hold, but now we see people wearing it and asking for it,” said David Piccolo, senior vice president for creative at the PGA Tour. “It’s one of those things that if you know, you know.”
Just as the iconic Masters logo can be purchased only at Augusta National, the goat logo has its own cachet.
Phone cases, cutting boards, silver serving trays, shot glasses, coffee cups, quarter-zips, shorts, caps, visors and even Christmas ornaments feature the goat logo.
At the Players Championship, wearing the goat is the height of style.
Ron Green Jr.
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