Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia, is one of the most famous golf clubs in the world. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on the site of the former Fruitland (later Fruitlands) Nursery, the course was designed by Jones and Alister MacKenzie and opened for play in January 1933. Since 1934, it has played host to the annual Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf, and the only major played each year at the same course. It was the number one ranked course in Golf Digest's 2009 list of America's 100 greatest courses and is currently the number ten ranked course on Golfweek Magazine's 2011 list of best classic courses in the United States, in terms of course architecture.
The club's exclusive membership policies have drawn criticism, particularly because the club successfully kept black golfers out of the tournament for 40 years until Lee Elder participated in the 1975 Masters. Elder was not invited to participate in the 1975 tournament; he had automatically qualified by winning the 1974 Monsanto Open. No African American members admitted were until 1990, and the club used to require all caddies to be black. The club began granting membership to women in August 2012. Prior to the acceptance of female members, Augusta National defended its position by noting that in 2011, more than 15% of the non-tournament rounds were played by female players who were member guests or spouses of active members. In August 2012, it admitted its first two female members, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore. Augusta National has defended its membership policies, stressing that it is a private organization that has the legal right to establish its own bylaws and regulations.
Course
The course was formerly a plant nursery and each hole on the course is named after the tree or shrub with which it has become associated. Several of the holes on the first nine have been renamed, as well as hole #11.
Lengths of the course for the Masters at the start of each decade:
Unlike most other private or public golf courses in the US, Augusta National has never been rated. During the 1990 Masters Tournament, a team of USGA raters, organized by Golf Digest, evaluated the course and gave it an unofficial rating of 76.2. It was re-evaluated in 2009 and given an unofficial rating of 78.1.
The golf course architecture website GolfClubAtlas.com has said, "Augusta National has gone through more changes since its inception than any of the world's twenty or so greatest courses. To call it a MacKenzie course is false advertising as his features are essentially long gone and his routing is all that is left." The authors of the site also add that MacKenzie and Jones were heavily influenced by the Old Course at St Andrews, and intended that the ground game be central to the course. Almost from Augusta's opening, Roberts sought to make changes to minimize the ground game, and effectively got free rein to do so because MacKenzie died shortly after the course's opening and Jones went into inactivity due to World War II and then a crippling illness. The authors add, "With the ground game gone, the course was especially vulnerable to changes in technology, and this brought on a slew of changes from at least 15 different 'architects'." Golf Course Histories has an aerial comparison of the architectural changes for Augusta National Golf Club for the year 1938 versus 2013.
Among the changes to the course were several made by architect Perry Maxwell in 1937, including an important alteration involving the current 10th hole. When Augusta National originally opened for play in January 1933, the opening hole (now the 10th) was a relatively benign par 4 that played just in excess of 400 yards. From an elevated tee, the hole required little more than a short iron or wedge for the approach. Maxwell moved the green in 1937 to its present location â€" on top of the hill, about 50 yards back from the old site â€" and transformed it into the toughest hole in Masters Tournament history. Ben Crenshaw referred to Maxwell's work on the 10th hole as "one of the great strokes in golf architecture".
For the 1999 tournament, a short rough was instated around the fairways. Referred to as the second cut, it is substantially shorter than the comparable primary rough at other courses, with an average length of 1.625 inches (4.13Â cm). It is meant to reduce a player's ability to control the ball coming out of this lie, and encourage better accuracy for driving onto the fairway.
Amen Corner
The second shot at the 11th, all of the 12th, and the first two shots at the 13th hole at Augusta are nicknamed "Amen Corner". This term was first used in print by author Herbert Warren Wind in his April 21, 1958, Sports Illustrated article about the Masters that year. In a Golf Digest article in April 1984, 26 years later, Wind told about its origin. He said he wanted a catchy phrase like baseball's "hot-corner" or football's "coffin-corner" to explain where some of the most exciting golf had taken place (the Palmer-Venturi rules issue at twelve in particular). Thus "Amen Corner" was born. He said it came from the title of a jazz record he had heard in the mid-1930s by a group led by Chicago's Mezz Mezzrow, Shouting in that Amen Corner. In a Golf Digest article in April 2008, writer Bill Fields added some new updated information about the origin of the name. He wrote that Richard Moore, a golf and jazz historian from South Carolina, tried to purchase a copy of the old Mezzrow 78 RPM disc for an "Amen Corner" exhibit he was putting together for his Golf Museum at Ahmic Lake, Ontario. After extensive research, Moore found that the record never existed. As Moore put it, Wind, himself a jazz buff, must have "unfortunately bogeyed his mind, 26 years later". While at Yale, he was no doubt familiar with, and meant all along, the popular version of the song (with the correct title, "Shoutin' in that Amen Corner" written by Andy Razaf), which was recorded by the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, vocal by Mildred Bailey (Brunswick label No. 6655) in 1935. Moore told Fields that, being a great admirer of Wind's work over the years, he was reluctant, for months, to come forth with his discovery that contradicted Wind's memory. Moore's discovery was first reported in Golf World magazine in 2007, before Fields' longer article in Golf Digest in 2008.
In 1958 Arnold Palmer outlasted Ken Venturi to win the tournament with heroic escapes at Amen Corner. Amen Corner also played host to Masters moments such as Byron Nelson's birdie-eagle at 12 and 13 in 1937, and Sam Snead's water save at 12 in 1949 that sparked him to victory. On the flip side of fate, Jordan Spieth's quadruple bogey on 12 during Sunday's final round in 2016 cost him his 2-stroke lead and ultimately the championship.
"The Big Oak Tree"
"The Big Oak Tree" is on the golf course side of the clubhouse and was planted in the 1850s.
Eisenhower Tree
Also known as the "Eisenhower Pine", a loblolly pine was located on the 17th hole, approximately 210 yards (192Â m) from the Masters tee. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an Augusta National member, hit the tree so many times that, at a 1956 club meeting, he proposed that it be cut down. Not wanting to offend the president, the club's chairman, Clifford Roberts, immediately adjourned the meeting rather than reject the request. In February 2014, the Eisenhower Tree was removed after suffering extensive damage during an ice storm.
Ike's Pond
During a visit to Augusta National, then-General Eisenhower returned from a walk through the woods on the eastern part of the grounds, and informed Clifford Roberts that he had found a perfect place to build a dam if the club would like a fish pond. Ike's Pond was built and named, and the dam is located just where Eisenhower said it should be. This is also the location that Roberts committed suicide by gunshot in 1977. At age 83, he had been in ill health for several months with cancer and had a debilitating stroke.
Rae's Creek
Rae's Creek cuts across the southeastern corner of the Augusta National property. It flows along the back of the 11th green, in front of the 12th green, and ahead of the 13th tee. This is the lowest point in elevation of the course. The Hogan and Nelson Bridges cross the creek after the 12th and 13th tee boxes, respectively. The creek was named after former property owner John Rae, who died in 1789.
Architectural features
- Crow's Nest
Available for amateurs wishing to be housed there during the Masters Tournament, the Crow's Nest provides living space for up to five individuals. Rising from the approximately 30 by 40-foot (9.1 by 12.2 m) (111 m2) room is the clubhouse's 11-foot (3.4Â m) square cupola. The cupola features windows on all sides. The Crow's Nest consists of one room with partitions and dividers that create three cubicles with one bed each, and one cubicle with two beds. There is also a full bathroom with an additional sink. The sitting area has a game table, sofa, and chairs, telephone and TV. Placed throughout the Crow's Nest are books on golf, and lining the walls are photos and sketches depicting past Masters and other golf scenes.
- Eisenhower Cabin
One of ten cabins on the Augusta National property, it was built by the club's membership for member Dwight D. Eisenhower after his election to the presidency in 1952. The cabin was built according to Secret Service security guidelines, and is adorned by an eagle located above the front porch.
- Founders Circle
Founders Circle is a memorial located in front of the course's clubhouse, at the end of Magnolia Lane. Plaques at Founders Circle honor Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts.
- Hogan Bridge
There is a bridge over Rae's Creek that connects the fairway of hole 12 to its green. It is constructed of stone and covered with artificial turf. The bridge was dedicated to Ben Hogan in 1958 to commemorate his 72-hole score of 274 (â€"14) five years earlier, the course record at the time.
- Magnolia Lane
The main driveway leading from Washington Road to the course's clubhouse is called Magnolia Lane. The lane is flanked on either side by 60 magnolia trees, each grown from seeds planted by the Berckmans family in the 1850s. Magnolia Lane is 330 yards (300Â m) long and was paved in 1947. There were formerly 61 magnolia trees along the road, but a severe thunderstorm on April 4, 2011, the night before practice day, felled one of the trees.
- Nelson Bridge
Nelson Bridge is a stonework bridge over Rae's Creek that connects the teeing ground of hole 13 to its fairway. In 1958,, it was dedicated to Byron Nelson to honor his performance in 1937.
- Par 3 Fountain
The Par 3 Fountain is next to the No. 1 tee on the Par 3 course. The fountain has a list of Par 3 contest winners, starting with Sam Snead's win in 1960.
- Record Fountain
The Record Fountain was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Masters Tournament. Located left of the No. 17 tee, it displays course records and Masters Tournament champions.
- Sarazen Bridge
Sarazen Bridge is a footbridge that crosses the pond on hole 15 that separates the fairway from the green. Made of stone, it was named for Gene Sarazen for a memorable double eagle "Shot heard 'round the World" in 1935 that propelled him into a 36-hole playoff, which he won by five strokes. Players must cross the Sarazen Bridge to get onto the 15th green. The bridge itself is a hazard of sorts due to its close proximity to the left side of the fairway. Errant shots have been known to carom off its stone surface for a variety of results, good and bad. Due to a sloping embankment in front of the green, balls will often roll off the green and into the water. The bridge was dedicated in 1955 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the famous shot.
Culture
Augusta National Golf Club is known to be a socially traditional institution. It is a place where traditions and the integrity of the game are zealously guarded.
Membership
Augusta National Golf Club has about 300 members at any given time. Membership is strictly by invitation: there is no application process. In 2004, USA Today published a list of all the current members. Membership is believed to cost between $10,000 and $30,000 and annual dues were estimated in 2009 to be less than $10,000 per year.
Augusta invited and accepted its first African-American member, Ron Townsend, in 1990 following a controversy at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club. Shoal Creek, an all-white golf club in Alabama, refused membership to black players and faced demands that the PGA Championship not be held there following racist comments by the club's founder.
Augusta welcomed its first female members in 2012. Chairman Billy Payne declined to discuss the club's then-continued refusal to admit women in his 2012 pre-Masters press conference. However, Augusta National subsequently extended membership to Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore on August 20, 2012.
Notable members
Notable current members include:
- Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
- Pete Coors, former chairman and CEO of Coors Brewing Company and Molson Coors Brewing Company, current chairman of MillerCoors
- Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman of Microsoft
- Roger Goodell, current commissioner of the National Football League
- Pat Haden, former NFL player and former athletic director at the University of Southern California
- Lou Holtz, former college football coach
- Hugh L. McColl Jr., former CEO of Bank of America
- Darla Moore, South Carolina businesswoman
- Sam Nunn, former United States Senator from Georgia
- Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM
- T. Boone Pickens, Jr., oil tycoon
- Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State
- Henry Waite, former Chairman of HUFF Productions
- Simon Chirayath, British businessman
- James D. Robinson III, former CEO of American Express
- Lynn Swann, former NFL player and current athletic director at the University of Southern California
- Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric
- Matt Rose, former CEO of BNSF Railway
- Jack Nicklaus, Hall of Fame golfer, six-time Masters champion, and the only Masters champion who is currently a regular member of the club
Recently deceased members include:
- Arnold Palmer, Hall of Fame golfer and four-time Masters champion, was also a regular member when he died in September 2016.
- Melvin Laird, former United States Secretary of Defense (died November 2016)
- Robert Sumner former pastor (died December 2016)
- Frank Broyles, former athletic director at the University of Arkansas (died August 2017)
Chairmen
- Clifford Roberts (1931â€"1976)
- William Lane (1976â€"1980)
- Hord Hardin (1980â€"1991)
- Jackson T. Stephens (1991â€"1998)
- Hootie Johnson (1998â€"2006)
- Billy Payne (2006â€"2017)
- Fred Ridley (2017â€"present)
In 1966, the governing board of Augusta National passed a resolution honoring founder Bobby Jones with the position of President in Perpetuity.
2002 membership controversy
Augusta National and Chairman Hootie Johnson are widely known for a disagreement beginning in 2002 with Martha Burk, then chair of the Washington-based National Council of Women's Organizations, over admission of female members to Augusta National. Burk said she found out about the club's policies in a USA Today column by Christine Brennan published April 11, 2002. She then wrote a private letter to Johnson saying that hosting the Masters Tournament at a male-only club constituted sexism. Johnson characterized Burk's approach as "offensive and coercive", and responding to efforts to link the issue to sexism and civil rights, Johnson maintained the issue had to do with the rights of any private club:
Burk, whose childhood nickname was also Hootie, claimed to have been "called a man hater, anti-family, lesbian, all the usual things." Johnson was portrayed as a Senator Claghorn typeâ€""a blustery defender of all things Southern".
Following the discord, two club members resigned: Thomas H. Wyman, a former CEO of CBS, and John Snow, when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Pressure on corporate sponsors led the club to broadcast the 2003 and 2004 tournaments without commercials. The controversy was discussed by the International Olympic Committee when re-examining whether golf meets Olympic criteria of a "sport practiced without discrimination with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play". Augusta National extended membership to Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore on August 20, 2012.
Green jacket
Every member of Augusta National receives a green sports coat with the club's logo on the left breast. The idea of the green jacket originated with club co-founder Clifford Roberts. Many believe it is because he wanted patrons visiting during the tournament to be able to readily identify members. Since Sam Snead's victory in 1949 the winner of each year's Masters Tournament has received a green jacket, although he does not receive membership. The jacket is presented to the new winner by the winner of the previous tournament. If the previous champion is either unavailable or has won consecutive tournaments, then the current chairman acts as the presenter. Until 1967, the jackets were manufactured by Brooks Brothers and since have been made by Hamilton of Cincinnati, Ohio, with the imported wool produced at the Victor Forstmann plant in Dublin, Georgia.
The current Masters champion is the only owner of a green jacket permitted to remove it from the grounds of Augusta National, and only for a period of one year. Before this time limit was in place, the jacket of a few long-past Masters champions had been sold, after their deaths, to collectors. Consequently, the members of Augusta National have gone to great lengths to secure the remaining examples. Now, two jackets remain outside the grounds of Augusta National with the club's permission. When Gary Player first won the Masters in 1961, he brought his jacket home to South Africa. For years the board insisted that Player return the jacket but Player kept "forgetting" or coming up with humorous creative excuses why he did not return the jacket. After becoming something of a running joke, Augusta National's members allowed him to keep it, where it is on display in his personal museum. The second jacket belongs to 1938 champion Henry Picard. Before the traditions surrounding one of golf's greatest awards were well established, the jacket was removed by Picard from Augusta National. It is now currently on display in the "Picard Lounge" at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio. Along with Snead, the nine previous winners were also awarded green jackets in 1949, and these became known as the "original ten" jackets.
Horton Smith's jacket, awarded for his wins in 1934 and 1936, sold at auction in September 2013 for over $682,000; the highest price ever paid for a piece of golf memorabilia. Smith died at age 55 in 1963 and it had been in the possession of his brother Ren's stepsons for decades.
Caddies
Augusta National employs a staff of caddies to assist members, guests, and professionals. Before 1983, staff caddies were assigned to players at the Masters, and all were black males. Club co-founder Roberts once said, "As long as I'm alive, all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black." Roberts died in 1977 and five years later in November 1982, chairman Hord Hardin announced that players were henceforth permitted to use their regular caddies at the Masters. This followed an incident in the 1982 tournament when many of the caddies failed to show at the proper time on Friday morning following a Thursday rain delay, and scathing letters to Hardin from two-time champion Tom Watson and others followed.
Twelve players, including then five-time champion Jack Nicklaus, defending champion Craig Stadler, and future two-time champion Ben Crenshaw, employed club caddies in 1983. Well into the 1970s, all four majors and some tour events required the use of the host club's caddies; the U.S. Open had this policy through 1975, but by 1980, only the Masters and the Western Open near Chicago retained the requirement. Augusta's caddie staff continues to wear its trademark white jumpsuits year-round.
Female caddies are permitted. Most of them are professional golfers' regular caddies, such as Fanny Sunesson. Sunesson is one of the PGA Tour's few female caddies, and has caddied for several players at the Masters, most notably three-time champion Nick Faldo, and more recently Henrik Stenson. The first female caddie at Augusta was George Archer's daughter Elizabeth in 1983, her 21st event carrying the bag for her father. Archer, the 1969 champion, tied for twelfth for one of his better finishes at Augusta.
During the pre-tournament events in 2007, Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman caddied for Arnold Palmer in the par-3 contest. Fuzzy Zoeller's daughter Gretchen was his caddie for his last year as a competitor in the tournament in 2009. Tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki, ex-fiancée of Rory McIlroy, caddied for him in the par-3 contests of 2013 and 2014.
Crenshaw won both of his Masters titles in 1984 and 1995 with an Augusta National caddie, Carl Jackson.
Appearances in video games
Augusta National Golf Club is featured in the Japan-exclusive video game franchise Harukanaru Augusta, which started in 1989. The games were produced by T&E Soft. One of its last titles Masters '98: Haruka Naru Augusta was released for the Nintendo 64.
Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament are also featured in the video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, and has subsequently featured in later iterations of the game. This is the first time that the course has been officially used in the Tiger Woods franchise. Augusta National was also previously used in the 1986 computer game Mean 18, published by Accolade.
References
External links
- Official website
- Augusta.com coverage from the Augusta Chronicle
- Aerial view from Google Maps
- Augusta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
- Guide to Augusta National at BBC
- Guide to Augusta National at Golflink
- 3D Course Planner at ProVisualizer