| The 10th green at Augusta | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Established | 1933 |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Tournaments hosted | Masters Tournament |
| Website | Masters.com |
| Designed by | Alister MacKenzie |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7435 yards |
| Course rating | 76.2 (unofficial) |
| Course Record | 63 - Nick Price (1986), Greg Norman (1996) |
Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia, is a famous men's golf club. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and designed by Alister MacKenzie on the site of a former indigo plantation, the club 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. It was the number one ranked course in Golf Digest's 2009 list of America's 100 greatest courses[1] and is currently the number ten ranked course on Golfweek Magazine's 2011 list of best classic courses in the United States (written from a golf course architecture viewpoint).[2]
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Since the Masters is held at this venue every year, fans have the unique opportunity to become familiar with the course, something the other three rotating majors do not afford. Each hole on the course is named after the tree or shrub with which it has become associated:
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Unlike most other private or public golf courses in the United States, 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.
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. However, 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'."[3]
The second shot at the 11th, all of the 12th, and the tee shot 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.[4] 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.
"The Big Oak Tree" is on the golf course side of the clubhouse and was planted in the 1850s.[5]
Also known as the "Eisenhower Pine", a loblolly pine is located on the 17th hole, approximately 210 yards (192 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.
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.
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.[6]
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 (12 m2) room is the clubhouse's 11-foot (3.4 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 television. 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.
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. The cabin was built according to Secret Service security guidelines, and is adorned by an eagle located above the front porch.
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.
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 strokes five years earlier, the course record at the time.
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 (300 m) long and was paved in 1947. There were formerly 61 trees along the road, but a severe thunderstorm on April 4, 2011, the night before practice day, felled one of the 61 magnolia trees.[7]
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 the 1937 Masters.
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.[5]
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.[5]
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 the 1935 Masters Tournament that propelled him to victory. Players must cross the Sarazen Bridge to get onto the 15th green. The hazard creates headaches for players, as balls hit on the green often roll off the green and into the water.
Augusta National Golf Club is known to be a conservative institution where decorum is paramount; it is a place where traditions and the integrity of the game are jealously guarded. In prepared remarks before the 2010 Masters, Chairman Billy Payne had harsh words for Tiger Woods, saying the world's top-ranked golfer disappointed everyone with his sex scandals and did not live up to expectations as a role model.[8]
Augusta National Golf Club has about 300 members at any given time. Membership is strictly by invitation; there is no application process. It is believed that annual dues are low (less than $10,000 per year) given that the Masters broadcast on CBS earns the club millions per year.
Amid much criticism of exclusive and discriminatory admissions, Augusta accepted an African-American member in 1990.[9]
In 2004, USA Today published a list of all the current members of Augusta National.[10]
Notable current members include:
Augusta National and Chairman Hootie Johnson are widely known for a disagreement beginning in 2002 with Martha Burk, then chairwoman of the Washington-based National Council of Women's Organizations, over admission of female members to Augusta National.[15] Burk contended that hosting the Masters Tournament at a male-only club constituted sexism.[16] Johnson characterized Burk's approach as "offensive and coercive",[17][18] and responding to efforts to link the issue to sexism and civil rights,[17] Johnson maintained the issue had to do with the rights of any private club:[17]
Our membership is single gender just as many other organizations and clubs all across America. These would include Junior Leagues, sororities, fraternities, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and countless others. And we all have a moral and legal right to organize our clubs the way we wish.[19]
Burk, whose childhood nickname was also Hootie,[20] claims to have been "called a man hater, anti-family, lesbian, all the usual things."[16] Johnson was portrayed as a Senator Claghorn type[21]—"a blustery defender of all things Southern"—despite his progressive social record.[22] 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.[16] Pressure on corporate sponsors led the club to broadcast the 2003 and 2004 tournaments without commercials. The club has women on its membership waiting list, but will not allow them to circumvent the regular membership process to appease those outside the club. As of 2010, no woman had been admitted to Augusta National. 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."[23]
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. 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.
Augusta National remains one of the few golf clubs with a staff of caddies ready to assist members, guests, and professionals. Before 1983, staff caddies were assigned to professional players. In 1983, Chairman Hord Hardin permitted players in the Masters Tournament to use their regular caddies. Although Augusta's caddy staff continues to wear its trademark white jumpsuits year-round, the garb is not a PGA Tour mandate. And though the club remains without female members, female caddies are permitted. Most of them, however, were 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 Masters champion Nick Faldo, and more recently Henrik Stenson. During the pre-tournament Masters events in 2007, Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman was selected by Arnold Palmer to caddy alongside him. In 2009, Fuzzy Zoeller's daughter Gretchen was his caddy for his last year competing in the Masters.
Ben Crenshaw won both of his Masters titles with an Augusta National caddie, Carl Jackson.
Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament are featured in the video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters. This is the first time that the course has been officially included in the Tiger Woods franchise.[24][25] Augusta National was previously used in the 1986 computer game Mean 18, published by Accolade.