The magic that is called Augusta
There’s but one place on earth where time comes to a standstill, The Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, home of the coveted Masters, still holding its 100 years old traditions of exclusive sport intact.
With the culmination of this year’s Masters episode, where the South African Carl Schwartzel laid his hands on the green jacket, fans of the sport are again drenched in awe and inspiration of what Augusta offers to a golfer. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford
Richards in 1933 and designed by Alister MacKenzie, the club held its first Masters Tournament in 1934.
Golf is much more than just another sport in the fancy clubhouse of the Augusta. Metaphorically, it is equivalent of spitting in a church while babbling recklessly about the Masters while sitting in one of the vintage oak wood chairs in the thickly wooden
lined “Butler Cabin”, not that any common man has ever entered the arena in its almost 100 years of exclusive membership.
They are the rarest of the beings that have walked through the Magnolia Lane, entered the Founders Circle, or dined in the hallowed clubhouse. It wasn’t until 1990 when the first black member of the club was ever invited to the clubhouse.
The club does not offer open membership forms for the general public, in fact, no one can apply for a membership, and the club can be joined only through invitation. There can be only 300 members at any time who pay a modest annual fee of around $10,000
while the club makes millions through its telecast via CBS. The decorum and etiquettes are of paramount importance at Augusta where integrity and traditions are guarded with intense severity.
The course is lined with trees which are larger than life, older and more famous than many of the golfing legends. “The Big Oak”, for instance, celebrated its 100th birthday in 1950. Likewise, Eisenhower Tree is named after president Dwight D.
Eisenhower, who, during one of his rounds at Augusta, hit the tree so many times that a meeting was called to cut down the tree. Later the decision was aborted. Ike’s pond is also a small dam built on Eisenhower’s instructions to Clifford Richard.
The traditions of the Augusta, however, remain the most secretive and revered ones. There is no discrimination against women for the membership, it’s just that no one was ever invited. The club’s snacks menu is still refreshingly the same it was several
decades ago. The delicious pimento and cheese sandwich cost around $1.50 while a beer is $2.75. For some undefined tradition, you cannot get imported beer after 4 pm.
Golden bell, Redbug, and Holly, are not the names of some ballet dancers, but the 12th, 16th and 18th holes, named after the adjacent trees. The famous “Amen Corner” is the holy intersection of 11th, 12th
and 13th holes, coined first by the “Golf Digest”. The intersection is famous for some high profile events on these holes, like Arnold palmer’s win over Ken Venturi in 1958, Byron Nelson’s birdie-eagle in 1937, and Sam Snead’s water save in 1949
launched them to victory.
The idea of the green jacket that has become more of a tradition at the Masters was first tossed by Clifford Richard, who wanted that the permanent members be readily identified among the crowd. He was also a bit nosey of the golfers wearing flashy clothing
during rounds. Similarly, Augusta remains one of the only clubs which offer caddies to the players. Donned in white coverall, something which is not a PGA mandate, these caddies were assigned to the golfers before 1983, but later the players were permitted
to use their regular caddies.
This year, sports journalists, who are otherwise barred to investigate the course, spotted a new building hidden behind the thick pines and maples. The “Member Retreat”, with stoned chimney, and thick wooden outlines, remains off-limits to the visitors.
Chairman Billy Payne when asked about the “Member Retreat” replied, “No, sir, the Members Retreat is a club matter, not a tournament matter.”
The Masters at the Augusta National every year, remains one of the most high profile events of the sport's history, something which can rightly be referred to as the soul of golf.
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