His song “Augusta” has been featured at the PGA Masters Tournament since 1982.
Singer-songwriter Dave Loggins, 76, who wrote the theme song for the PGA’s premier Masters Tournament, died in Nashville on July 10. His song “Augusta” was cited in his obituary in The Tennessean as “the longest-running theme song in sports history.”
The song was written and recorded by Loggins in 1981 and has been performed as an instrumental on the Masters Tournament television show since 1982. But he also composed lyrics for the song, and the first verse and chorus set the stage for a pastoral drama.
Well, spring has come to Magnolia Street Valley.
It’s Augusta National and the masters of the game
Who will be wearing that green coat on a Sunday afternoon?
Who will be walking down the 18th fairway singing this song?
Augusta, your dogwoods and pines
They ring like a song in my heart
Augusta, it’s you I love
And when I’m gone, it’s you who will be missed.
In addition to composing “Augusta,” Dave Loggins also played guitar and sang vocals on the original recording of the Masters Tournament theme song.
“I just stopped and looked up at the pine trees, and the wind was just different out there in a way,” Loggins told The Associated Press in 2019. “Mentally, it was different. That course was just a work of art. I looked out at the dogwoods and I was like, ‘Oh, I just started writing songs in my head.’ That’s what you do when inspiration strikes.”
Loggins also wrote songs for Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers and Three Dog Night, and had a hit of his own with “Please Come to Boston” in 1974. Loggins is a distant relative of Kenny Loggins, whose smash hit “I’m Alright” became the theme song to perhaps the most famous golf movie of all time, the 1980 film Caddyshack.
Dave Loggins was said to have been inspired to write “Augusta” while attending the Masters in 1981, and through a mutual friend met famed CBS golf producer Frank Cherkinian, who incorporated an instrumental version of “Augusta” into the CBS telecast the following year.
Loggins recorded the song in Nashville with a band that included a 12-piece string ensemble, and wrote a second verse that references Masters winners Byron Nelson, Gary Player and Ben Hogan. Loggins also plays guitar and sings.
According to the PGA website, he brought the full version, complete with lyrics, to Chirkinian’s office in 1982. “He said, ‘Have you done anything?'” Loggins recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah, I think I have.’ He played it, listened to it, and was kind of amazed at how good it was. He played it again, looked at me and said, ‘Well done, son. Really well done.’ It was amazing to hear those words coming from him, the head of CBS Sports.”
Loggins’ song joins a pantheon of pop and rock music tunes that have made their way into the sports world, including John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock,” Hank Williams Jr.’s “All My Rowdy Friends,” John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” and the “Inside the NBA” theme song by Trevor Rabin, former guitarist for progressive rock band Yes.
