Bide-A-Wee Golf Course
Encyclopedia
Bide-A-Wee Golf Course is an 18-hole municipal public golf course founded by former PGA Champion
Chandler Harper
in 1956 located in and owned by the city of Portsmouth, Virginia
.
In the spring of 1956, Harper, Ace Parker, Dizzy Dean
, and Tommy Bolt
participated in the Opening Day Exhibition at the course.
In 1993, Harper retired and the city of Portsmouth decided to fully renovate the facility.
were brought in to renovate the course. The course re-opened on April 6, 1999.
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
Chandler Harper
Chandler Harper
John Chandler Harper was an American professional golfer best known for winning the 1950 PGA Championship. He won seven times on the PGA Tour and played on the 1955 Ryder Cup team....
in 1956 located in and owned by the city of Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
.
Origins
When the course was being designed, Harper and Fred Findlay were thinking about names for the course. Findlay recalled "when I was a boy in Scotland, I started to run away from home. My mother advised 'you had better bide-a-wee'. To a Scot, that meant 'stay a little longer or linger awhile.'"In the spring of 1956, Harper, Ace Parker, Dizzy Dean
Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in one season. Dean was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953....
, and Tommy Bolt
Tommy Bolt
Thomas Henry Bolt was an American professional golfer.Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma. He served in the United States Army during World War II and turned professional in 1946. He worked as a caddie and club professional in Shreveport, Louisiana...
participated in the Opening Day Exhibition at the course.
The course, 1956-1993
From 1956 until 1993, Harper managed the course. It played host to the Virginia State Open four times and the World Senior Championships six times.In 1993, Harper retired and the city of Portsmouth decided to fully renovate the facility.
The course undergoes a renovation
The original Bide-A-Wee layout featured extremely narrow and small greens that fell off severely on the sides. Tom Clark of Ault, Clark and Associates, along with design consultant and Hampton Roads native Curtis StrangeCurtis Strange
Curtis Northrup Strange is an American professional golfer. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He spent over 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between their debut in 1986 and 1990.-Early years through college:Strange and his...
were brought in to renovate the course. The course re-opened on April 6, 1999.