
Dave Loggins, Composer of Iconic Masters Tournament Theme Song, Dead at 76 His song Augusta' has set the stage for the PGA Masters Tournament since 1982 By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, July 15, 2024 - 11:20 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Singer-songwriter Dave Loggins, 76, who composed the theme song for the PGA flagship Masters Tournament, died July 10 in Nashville. His song Augusta was cited in his obituary in The Tennessean as the longest-running sports theme in history.
Written and recorded by Loggins in 1981, the song has been played as an instrumental for television productions of the Masters Tournament since 1982. However, he wrote the song with lyrics, the first verse and chorus setting the stage for the pastoral pageant:
Well, it's springtime in the valley on Magnolia Lane
It's the Augusta National and the master of the game
Who'll wear that green coat on Sunday afternoon?
Who'll walk the 18th fairway singing this tune?
Augusta, your dogwoods and pines
They play on my mind like a song
Augusta, it's you that I love
And it's you that I'll miss when I'm gone.
Besides composing Augusta, Dave Loggins played guitar and sang the vocals on the original recording of the Masters Tournament theme song.
I stopped for a minute, looked up at the pine trees, and the wind down there was just different in some regards, Loggins told the AP in 2019. Spiritually, it was different. That course was just a piece of art. I looked over at some dogwoods, and, man, I just started writing the song in my head, which is what I do when I get inspired.
Loggins - whose songs have also been cut by Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers, and Three Dog Night and who had his own hit with Please Come to Boston in 1974 - was a distant cousin of Kenny Loggins, whose huge hit I'm Alright was the theme song to the perhaps most famous golf movie of all time: 1980's Caddyshack.
Dave Loggins was reportedly inspired to write Augusta when he attended the Masters in 1981 and, through a mutual friend, met famed CBS Golf producer Frank Chirkinian, who put the instrumental version of Augusta into the CBS telecast the next year.
Loggins recorded the song in Nashville with a band, including a 12-piece string ensemble, and wrote a second verse with references to several Masters champions, including Byron Nelson, Gary Player, and Ben Hogan. Loggins played guitar and sang the vocals.
According to the PGA website, he brought the full version, with lyrics, to Chirkinian's office in 1982. He said, You got something?' Loggins recalled. I said Yeah, I think I've got it.' He put it on and listened to it and was slightly stunned that it was that good. He played it again and then looked at me and said, You did good, son. You did real good.' Coming from him, the head of CBS Sports, that was great.
Loggins's track joins others - such as John Tesh's Roundball Rock, Hank Williams Jr.'s All My Rowdy Friends, John Fogarty's Centerfield, and the theme song for Inside the NBA by Trevor Rabin, former guitarist of progressive-rock band Yes - in the pantheon of pop and rock music that has crossed over into sports.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
24/02/2026
Intinor announces the appointment of Ideal Systems as an authorized reseller, covering Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and strengthening local access to resi...
24/02/2026
Di TV implements its own nxtedition platform for continuity
Dagens Industri, the popular Swedish financial publisher, has moved to a new base in the Nasdaq bu...
24/02/2026
Appear, a global leader in live production technology, today announced that its X Platform has been officially verified by YouTube for Secure Reliable Transport...
24/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/02/2026
Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning ST 2110 and SDI signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initi...
24/02/2026
Katharine Wolinska appointed to lead Partnerships
RT Commercial has announced ...
24/02/2026
AI is accelerating every aspect of healthcare - from radiology and drug discover...
23/02/2026
Dignity Health Sports Park, a multi-use sports complex in Carson, Calif., and Da...
23/02/2026
The Gotham Sports App, the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of MSG Networks and the YES Network, is introducing more choice and value with new packag...
23/02/2026
Cobalt Digital, a designer and manufacturer of ST 2110 and SDI signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiative, announces that its...
23/02/2026
Telos Alliance, which has specialized in broadcast audio for more than three dec...
23/02/2026
Prompted Playlist is expanding in beta to Premium listeners in the U.K., Ireland...
23/02/2026
When Spotify launched in Nigeria in February 2021, the very first song a user st...
23/02/2026
L3Harris hypersonics concept illustration....
23/02/2026
By combining their innovative spirit and technical expertise, L3Harris engineers are solving our customers most urgent challenges and shaping a better tomorrow....
23/02/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, will present its latest cybersecurity, ...
23/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/02/2026
X-Rite Pantone Launches Event Series to Modernize Textile Color Workflows
X-Rite Pantone, the global authority in color standards and color science, today a...
23/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Greenlights New Romcom Film Messily Ever After' (...
23/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces £1 Million Donation To National Film And Television School
Social Impact
23 February 2026
GlobalUnited Kingdom
Link copi...
23/02/2026
Audience peak of over a million on RT 2 as Ireland beat England in the Six Natio...
23/02/2026
As technologies and systems become more digitalized and connected across the world, operational technology (OT) environments and industrial control systems (ICS...
21/02/2026
With Software Defined Broadcasting more established in Milan Cortina look for Los Angeles 2028 to have less hardware and more cloud-based software systems...
21/02/2026
The SVP of Olympic Operations on turning CAD drawings into reality, building tru...
21/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer of Accused', A Psychological ...
20/02/2026
Gravity Media and Los Angeles-based Green Couch Entertainment announce a strateg...
20/02/2026
IMAX announces it is working with Apple TV to bring the 2026 FIA Formula One Wor...
20/02/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Philadelphia Phillies to design, manufacture, ...
20/02/2026
ESPN announces the upcoming launch of Women's Sports Sundays - a first-of-it...
20/02/2026
As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots faced off in the NFL's biggest sporting event of the season on Sun., Feb. 8, Sennheiser wireless solutions ...
20/02/2026
ESPN announces its 2026 Major League Baseball spring training schedule, which includes four national games on ESPN, six games on ESPN Unlimited, and more than 2...
20/02/2026
Open Broadcast Systems, which specializes in software-based professional video transport, has added support for 200 Gigabit Ethernet to its range of encoders an...
20/02/2026
Chyron announces the release of PAINT 10.3, which is designed to help analysts and operators turn live action into clearer, faster on-air storytelling.
PAINT 1...
20/02/2026
With full squad workouts underway, MLB Network's live Spring Training game s...
20/02/2026
Tech enhancements, marquee productions are expected to take advantage of a summe...
20/02/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/02/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
20/02/2026
Speaking with SVG Europe after one of Team GB's greatest days at a Winter Olympics, BBC Sport's head of major events, Ron Chakraborty, explains the broa...
20/02/2026
Making Winter Games Olympic magic is the goal for every broadcaster in Italy cov...