Jerry Pate burst into the golf world when he won the 1976 U.S. Open at Atlanta Athletic Club in just his second year on tour. From 1976 through 1982 when he won the first Players Championship held at the new Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass he was one of the best players in the world, contending in other majors and earning a spot on the 1981 Ryder Cup team. Injuries forced him off the Tour and into other ventures including golf course design, pairing up with luminaries like Bob Cupp and Tom Fazio. He recently completed a major renovation of the Pete Dye masterpiece Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo in the D.R.

Pate joins the Feed the Ball podcast to talk about the work he’s done at Teeth of the Dog and his longtime connection to the resort, what Dye told him about architecture in 1974, the challenges of building Teeth, the penal aspects of the original TPC course, his short but illustrious television career and his real thoughts about National Golf Links of America.

Photos: Cover page, Teeth of the Dog (Enrique Berardi). Above, Kiva Dunes (Kiva Dunes).

Outro song: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Alabama Pines.”

Watch Derek Duncan break down the original Redan hole at North Berwick.

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