75TH ANNIVERSARY
foreign to my world at the time,” he says. They were known by names like Moon Man, Chollie Binoculars, Stiff Arms, Tombstone and Wawa. Even as Tarde developed his gritty game, he says, “For me it was definitely the people first, the competition second. I don’t know that I’ve ever had as much fun as playing two-man nine-hole matches against 15 other pairs over that hardpan muni with sunflower stalks topped by beer cans for flagsticks.” Tarde would accumulate a tidy sum each summer, bolstered by shifts work- ing behind the counter selling balls and cleaning golf carts, which got him dubbed Pro Shop Jerry. After getting a fake library card with the name “Jack Nicklaus” for the city’s public library, he vividly remembers when his rela- tionship to golf irrevocably deepened – watching on television as Nicklaus on the final day of the 1972 US Open at Peb- ble Beach hit the flagstick with a 1-iron on the 17th hole. A few days later, he was hooked permanently reading Dan Jenkins’ account of Nicklaus’ victory in Sports Illustrated. This quickly morphed into a singularly focused ambition to become the editor of Golf Digest. An outstanding student, Tarde quit his championship high school debate team to become the editor of the school newspaper. He also gave up a path to the seminary, which had started with being an altar boy and congregation bingo caller, to study journalism at Northwest- ern. When he left for college, the mot- ley crew of pirates at Juniata took up a collection – he still has the list of 42 contributors who staked him $68. In Chicago, Tarde met his impor- tant mentor, World Golf Hall of Fame entrepreneur Herb Graffis, then in his mid-70s, who encouraged him along his chosen path. Accordingly, in 1977, to pad his resume for his future job, he joined the PGA of America as an assistant pro at Juniata (he got his amateur status back in 1980). It helped, as he came to Golf Digest as an intern at age 21. He was hired as a full-time writer and editor for Golf Digest the next year. In 1984, when he was just 28, his vision came true. In an interview for the head job, Tarde told the magazine’s co-found- er, Bill Davis, his simple plan: “I’m not
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important journal- ism that Golf Digest ever published un- der his watch. The two-part series ap- peared in April and May of 1990 and
looking to change anything. I just intend to make everything better.” That he did. Right away he hired Jen- kins himself, who had just left Sports Illustrated in a huff and was eager to show off his new fastball. Then, in quick succession, he hired his “Murderer’s Row” of writers including Dobereiner, Tom Callahan, Peter Andrews, Dave Kindred, Dave Anderson and David Owen. Tarde also got cultural icons like John Updike, George Plimpton, Alistair Cooke and Friedman to write for the magazine. Ongoing features like “Amer- ica’s 100 Greatest Courses,” “The Search for America’s Worst Avid Golfer,” “The Hot List,” “My Shot” and others became popular staples. When recently asked to choose the best he ever did, Tarde thought about it for a couple of days. With a choice that is consistent with his deep belief that golf can improve lives and that the oppor- tunity to become a golfer should never be unfairly denied, Tarde decided that assigning Marcia Chambers of the New York Times to investigate golf’s long history of discrimination against wom- en and people of colour led to the most
A GOOD PARTNER
Nick Taylor won the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with Tarde.
raised the issue that caused Hall Thomp- son, the president of Shoal Creek where the PGA Championship was about to be held, to fatefully say, “We don’t discrimi- nate in any other area except the Blacks.” The American Bar Association awarded Chambers and Tarde its Silver Gavel Award in 1991 for “outstanding contribu- tion to the public understanding” of law and justice, marking the first time that a sports magazine had been so honoured. “Marcia’s stories provided more good for the game where it needed it most,” says Tarde. “It didn’t do enough, and the battle continues, but it was a significant step that led to a major change of direc- tion in the game’s culture. As I tell my golf friends, it’s our job to be evangelists, and on that story we were.” That is what Tarde has been and continues to be, even when it’s just play- ing golf.
18 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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