Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

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Secrets of Augusta National Golf Club

Station native Augusta National

The 2016 Masters Tournament wrapped up another historic year for the record books. One of the most prestigious and exclusive sporting events in the world, the Masters is one of four major golf tournaments and is played every year at Augusta National Golf Club. While the Masters and Augusta National continue to be widely esteemed and hugely popular today, many of their traditions and customs have remained unchanged since the 1930s.

Here is a look at where Augusta National began and — in today’s drastically different world — how it continues to stay the same.

How was Augusta born?

After winning the grand slam and announcing his retirement from golf at age 28, Bobby Jones, a Georgia native, with Clifford Roberts, an investor, founded the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.

In 1930, they purchased 345 acres that had been the sprawling Fruitland Nursery. In the years since, Augusta National has become famous for the beauty of its grounds, rich with oak trees, azaleas, magnolias and wisteria vines, many of which have remained on the land since its days as a nursery.

Augusta National opened to members in 1933, and the first tournament, at the time called the Augusta National Invitation, took place in 1934. Five years later, the tournament was dubbed the Masters Tournament. Over the past 82 years, Augusta National has been the site of some of the most memorable moments in golfing history.

The course was influenced by warfare techniques

Bobby Jones appointed golf course architect Alister MacKenzie to design Augusta National. Having worked as a surgeon for the British Army during the Boer War, MacKenzie drew influences for his designs from trench warfare and camouflaging tactics.

MacKenzie’s courses are known for visual misdirection and unexpected patterns that encourage highly strategic play.

The club is exclusive

Augusta National is one of the most private and exclusive golf clubs in the country, with strict rules for membership and conduct on the course.

While the invitation-only club remains mysterious, it has caused controversy through the years because of its exclusionary practices. Blacks were not allowed to become members until 1990, and women were forbidden until 2012.

The only way to receive an invitation for membership is to be nominated by an existing member. Winners of the Masters also are granted honorary membership and a lifetime invitation to compete in the annual tournament.

There are strict rules to follow

Beyond membership rules, Augusta National has remained committed to a stringent code of conduct, especially during the Masters. Some of the rules have been criticized as being outdated, rigid, contradictory and just flat-out strange. Notable rules that are enforced — and sometimes surprisingly so — during the Masters include:

•All caddies must wear Augusta National’s trademark all-white jumpsuits on the course.

•No backward baseball caps are allowed, even for players.

•Cellphones are strictly prohibited, along with beepers, walkie talkies and “electronic devices.”

•Cameras are allowed on practice days but are strictly prohibited on tournament days.

•Autographs can be signed only in a designated area and never on the course itself.

•Announcers must refer to people watching the tournament as “patrons,” not fans, the crowd or even spectators.

•Patrons are not allowed to take their shoes off, lay in the grass or run between holes.

•No standing is allowed in designated sitting areas, and no sitting is allowed in designated standing areas.

•No folding chairs or chairs with armrests are permitted.

•Announcers may not compare holes at Augusta National to other courses.

Who’s a member?

Augusta National’s membership list can be as secretive as its membership-selection process. These are a few of the known, notable past and current members:

Ron Townsend, president of a television group, became the first black member in 1990.

•Warren Buffett

•Arnold Palmer

•Roger Goodell

•Bill Gates (who famously was denied membership for many years)

•Condoleezza Rice (who, along with Darla Moore, were the first female members)

•President Dwight D. Eisenhower (who is honored throughout Augusta National with such tribes as Ike's Pond)

Sources: Time, GolfDigest, The Augusta Chronicle, National Park Service, Business Insider, The New York Times