What's on ebay? 1983 Gary Player GGO Press Photo

"Original black & white wire/news photo of Gary Player at the 1983 Greater Greensboro Open (GGO). Photo is dated on back March 30, 1983 and features caption/photograph credit (Joseph Rodriquez). Approximately 7 x 9 inches Good condition with editor markings."

"A GGO Thing" Exclusive Book Excerpt Part 6

1974 ”Where Spring Means More… GGO ‘74”

The Old North State is the muse for the 1974 Greater Greensboro Open commemorative decanter. The stopper is a molded golf ball, slightly larger than regulation, complete with dimples. Its raised, mustard colored letters spell out “GGO”. The yellow matches the top and the base of this decanter that originally sold for $15.90 and went on sale in Greensboro State Liquor stores on April 1, 1974.

The GGO golf ball sits upon a bright red golf tee that highlights the details in the golf ball’s dimples. The words, “Greater Greensboro Open” appear in a decal just below the tee. North Carolina's state lines are well defined and the state is painted green. This provides a fitting background for the golf course map at the center of the state. A decal reads, “Greensboro, N.C.”, but upon close inspection, the collector will notice the golf course depicted on the bottle is left unidentified.

Of course the setting was the Sedgefield Country Club, but again this fact was omitted from this bottle. Red pin flags are placed across the course map and match the red of the golf tee above. This use of color helps to pull the decanter’s elements together.

In the left-hand corner of the decanter, another decal reveals the slogan, “Where Spring Means More…GGO ‘74”. This decanter’s design is a departure from the marketing efforts of the previous bottles. The state shaped design seems to claim the tournament to be a statewide event, not just something to be enjoyed within the local Greensboro community.

This design shows true vision and is perhaps a precursor to the regionalism that is currently being promoted by Greensboro’s leadership and the leadership of the Wyndham Championship. Paul Fulton, Jr. of Winston-Salem was named the 2007
Honorary Chairman for the Wyndham Championship-the tournament formerly known as the Greater Greensboro Open. According to a press release from the tournament’s media relation department, Fulton is the first honorary chairman selected from outside of Guilford County.

“The Wyndham Championship is the Piedmont Triad’s PGA TOUR event,” Bobby Long Chair of the Greensboro Jaycees Charitable Foundation said. “That means our tournament leadership should reflect the diverse nature of our entire region. This tournament needs to touch all of the communities that comprise the Piedmont Triad.”

Fulton expressed the value of reaching out to the region. “This appointment is truly a great honor,” Fulton said. “The Wyndham Championship is the Piedmont Triad’s crown jewel of professional sports, and it’s gratifying to me to see our tournament reach out and grow throughout the entire region. I am humbled and proud to be associated with the rich history of this PGA TOUR event and look forward to the bright future that lies ahead.” As he accepted the appointment on March 27, 2007 Fulton admitted to the crowd that he still called the event the GGO.

In the same press release, Bobby Long continued to explain the tournament’s view of regionalism by saying, “Paul Fulton is a leader in the Winston-Salem community, and his selection as this year’s (2007) Honorary Chairman is one of the many ways that we are reaching out to the entire region. The Honorary Chairman is more important than ever before as we become a regional event Last year’s honorary chairman, Mike Haley, was instrumental in many of the positive changes we made with the tournament. Mike and Paul are the kind of people that understand what it takes for our tournament to grow and compete nationally.”

In much the same way the 1979 caddie decanter would later predict the rain that would come to the 1979 GGO Pro-Am, perhaps the 1974 GGO decanter predicted the tournament’s desire to reach out on a much larger scale. This transition was realized in 2007 when for the time in the tournament’s 69-year history the name Greensboro did not appear in its title. The Wyndham Championship held its inaugural event of the first time. The Wyndham’s program books even listed the place the event was held as “Forest Oaks Country Club-Piedmont Triad, North Carolina."

(March 27, 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the Greater Greensboro Open decanters. To celebrate this anniversary "A GGO Thing" is now on sale on Amazon.com for only $9.00.)

"A GGO Thing" Exclusive Book Excerpt Part 5

1973 “springtime is GGO time!”

The 1973 decanter’s size sets it apart from the other bottles in the series. While the decanter has a few odd proportions its obvious theme of the golfer swinging a golf club fits well into the promotional nature of the GGO commemorative decanters. The demand for this bottle was incredible and caused a few unexpected problems for the local ABC stores that sold them in March of 1973.

It may come as a surprise to GGO decanters collectors that the bottles where seen as a “headache” to the local ABC Board responsible for selling them. In a report dated Monday, March 26, 1973 in The Greensboro Record, members of the ABC Board describe the sale of the GGO bottles as a “headache”.

Alexander Parker, chairman of Greensboro’s ABC Board said “Too many problems are created over these bottles which are only put on sale once a year.” Collectors and GGO partygoers that were acquiring five-gallon liquor permits and then buying the collectible bottles caused one of these problems by the case.

Parker told reporter Mike Forte that because the bottles were being sold by the case, they sold out within an hour. Because of this, many people were just not able to purchase their own decanter. According to the article, it made some customers “irate”.

Greensboro’s ABC Board had discussed making a ruling to control the sale of the bottles but because they contained liquor they were controlled by state statute and the local board had no power to overrule the state law.

Parker went as far as to state publicly that, “at this time it looks like we are going to get out of the collector item business.” He felt at the time this action was the only way to solve problems from the Sunday, March 25, 1973 sale of the GGO decanters. It was reported that 6,000 bottles were sold within 45 minutes.

Members of the ABC Board felt as those they had been fooled into granting the five-gallon permits. Don Mason, ABC Manager was quoted as saying, “We were flimflammed”. It appears that several fans of the collectible bottles had applied for the five-gallon liquor permits saying they were hosting GGO parties and then used the permits to buy the bottles a case at a time.

At that time state law prohibited an individual from purchasing more than a gallon of liquor at one time. Mike Forte’s article does point out that these collectors did not break any laws as the permits did not specify what kind of liquor could be purchased.

In an effort to combat the problems of the 1973 commemorative decanter sale, the ABC Board devised an aggressive plan to stop individuals from using loopholes allowing them to buy the decorative decanters a case at a time. The effects of the 1973 GGO decanter sale would continue to be felt throughout the remaining years of the GGO commemorative decanter promotion. The sale of the 1973 GGO decanter changed the way in which the bottles would be sold for the next eight years. The effects of these changes would be felt in, not only the way in which collectors purchased the bottles, but also in the way the local media would report on the sale of these popular promotional items. Bottle collectors would be reminded once a year of the rules put into place to insure that everyone had an opportunity to take home a cherished memory of the Greater Greensboro Open.

(March 27, 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the Greater Greensboro Open decanters. To celebrate this anniversary "A GGO Thing" is now on sale on Amazon.com for only $9.00.)

What's on ebay? 1984 GGO Negs of Andy North

"Lot of 5 original color negatives of Andy North at the 1984 Greater Greensboro Open (GGO) Size: The strips with two negatives are approximately 1.25 x 3 and the single negative is about 1.25 x 1.5 inches"

What's on ebay? Craig Stadler GGO Press Photo

"Original press/wire photo of Craig Stadler at the Greater Greensboro Open (GGO) golf tournament."

What's on ebay? 1984 Lanny Wadkins GGO Press Photo

"Original black & white wire/news photo of Lanny Wadkins from the 1984 Greater Greensboro Open (GGO) gold tournament. Back of photo is stamped April 5, 1984 with the photographers credit (Jim Stratford) and has typewritten caption. Size: Approximately 7 x 9 inches"

Best Comments Ever

"Thank for the wonderful description of the GGO bottles. I'm going on Amazon to buy A GGO Thing. I've been fascinated with decanters for years actually back to the Bing Crosby days when he presented his first decanter in 1970 as a tee gift to players in his tournament. I worked for the Northern California PGA from 1979-85 and one of my duties come Crosby time was to very our club pro's card to he could get into the tournament at no charge. A fellow I knew played in the tournament gave me the 1979 decanter. In our Section we had about 3/4 others that the pros gave us to spruce up our office.

A friend of mine got me started in collecting other Crosby and AT&T decanters in 1998 and I would go on Ebay and bid on them. Before too long it became an obsession with me to get as many as my friend had and I practically went where ever I could to find any decanter. Anyway long story short, I have all the Crosby, the AT&T, the GGO, the Hawaiian Open, Bob Hope, and all the singles for a total of around 85/86 bottles on my walls! I've practically had to buy houses that would be big enough for my junk.

Just recently I've decided to downsize the collection and was going to rid of everything except the Crosby and AT&T ones. I even have all the programs and have mounted the cover in a frame above the year of the decanter. My wife said that's the last straw, so I talk about these things from a closet. lol After reading your note I'm not sure about the GGO because I love each of the designs. My favorites are 1978-79, two classics. My friend who has a similar (but not as good as mine!) has that 1982 GGO bottle and always let's me know that I can't have because its the only bottle that I don't have. I can hardly wait to relate your story to him tomorrow. i even have a couple of GGO program and was going to do the same set-up as I did with the Crosby/AT&T collection.

This is and has always been fun to talk to people who have a knowledge of these bottles and what the reason they were made and who they were given to. The Crosby/AT&T decanters have always been a hot item for people in Northern California because of the history of the events. While I was the Director for the PGA I came across the distributor of Jim Beam and he told me what the process was in making and distributing the decanters. They generally made 1300 copies and then destroyed the mold. The decanters went to the players who played in the event, sponsors and a select few people associated with the event. They were in such demand that this fellow was practically bribed to get one. Sorry to carry on such as I have but this is really fun for me. Now let me get on Amazon the buy the book. Thanks again and I hope to talk to you again regarding GGO info.

John"