Attending the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club has long been on my bucket list. And that rite of spring tees off for the 82nd time in a little over a week, leading the first of four major PGA championships to be played into the summer.
In the event you don’t particularly care what happens on the lush grasses between those 18 tees in Georgia, you might want to skip today’s offering since I wanted to share some obscure facts about what many believe is the most anticipated tournament in golf.
The course, built in 1931, was designed by Jones and Alistair Mackenzie. There was limited play in 1932 and the formal opening in 1933. The inaugural Masters, won by Horton Smith, was held in 1934 and cost each spectator $2.20.
Actually, the event is never referred to as the championship of anything, but simply as “The Masters.”
For instance, I never knew this tournament during its first five years was called “The Augusta National Invitational,” or that the club’s entryway known as Magnolia Lane features 61 spectacular Magnolias.
No tournaments were played during three World War II years: 1943-1945. The club kept up with support for the war effort by allowing turkey and cattle to be raised on the grounds.
Cellphones and cameras are prohibited at all times. Scalpers are regularly arrested outside the entrance, including 24 greedy folks in 2012.
The 30-by-40-foot “Crow’s Nest” dwelling perched atop Augusta’s clubhouse accommodates as many as five amateur golfers during tournament week.
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and senior tour player John Harris are the only PGA professionals who are members of the Augusta National Golf Club. In fact, there are only 300 members, and it takes a member’s nomination to join through attrition. There’s a long waiting list.
The course has three dedicated bridges. The span on hole 15 is the Sarazen Bridge. There is the Hogan Bridge on hole 12 and the Nelson Bridge on 13.
Augusta’s grounds have 10 cabins that provide lodging for members and guests.
Each hole is named after a plant.
Dwight D. Eisenhower is the only president to hold a membership at Augusta. The spring-fed, 3-acre lagoon on the par-3 nine-hole course is named Ike’s Pond.
The Green Jacket tradition began in 1937, purchased from Brooks Uniform Co. They were chosen so the members would readily stand out to visitors with questions. Sam Snead was the first winner to receive a green jacket in 1949.
A Champions Dinner for former winners is held here on Tuesday during tournament week.
The Founders Circle at the base of the flagpole bears two plaques honoring the tournament’s founders in 1934: Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. They began with a shared vision to build a club with a national membership by taking a $70,000 option on 365 acres known as Fruitland Nurseries.
Only competing players are allowed to run (as in sprint) on the course during tournament play. No tipping is allowed. The food prices are unbelievably inexpensive, and all caddies must wear white coveralls and green caps.
The Record Fountain just to the left of the 17th green was established in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Masters. On it, much I suspect like any Holy Grail, are inscribed course records and tournament winners by year.
During the Masters, fans are referred to by media as “patrons,” and the rough as the “second cut.”
Six-time winner Nicklaus, whom I once chatted it up with on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course in 1993 while teaching there (like me better now, doncha?), is enshrined with a drinking fountain between the 16th and 17th holes. Palmer, a four-time winner, has his commemorative fountain and plaque on the 16th tee.
Ron Townsend was the first African-American member admitted to Augusta in 1990. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became a member in 2012.
An enormous live oak near the clubhouse was planted in the 1850s.
Tiger Woods is the youngest player to win the Masters in 1997 when he was 21 years and three months old. He’s won four altogether.
Nicklaus in 1986 was the oldest winner at 46 years and 82 days.
Augusta’s most abundant trees are pines: loblollies, shortleaf, longleaf, slash and eastern white pines. The brilliant white sand in the sand traps is actually bright fragments of quartz, the waste byproduct of mining feldspar for aluminum, says Golf.com.
The notorious Amen Corner at holes 11, 12 and 13 was named by Sports Illustrated writer Herbert Warren Wind, who reportedly got the name from an old jazz song called “Shouting at Amen Corner.”
The stream known as Rae’s Creek, which winds the course at Amen Corner is named after the Rae’s family home, which was known long ago as a refuge from Indian attacks as well as the furthermost fortress up the Savannah River from Fort Augusta.
OK, all you valued readers who plan on enjoying the 82nd Masters (and this 2018 golf season), that’s all I got for ya.
Clearing any confusion
My lede paragraph in Tuesday’s column read: “A bit of intrigue is unfolding at the Capitol after a self-described 'squeaky clean' White Hall policeman filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County alleging both his personal and constitutional rights were violated last month by a legislative sergeant at arms and Arkansas State Police troopers.
It should have correctly read: “A bit of intrigue is unfolding at the Capitol after a self-described 'squeaky clean' White Hall policeman filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County last month alleging both his personal and constitutional right were violated in 2017 by a legislative sergeant at arms and Arkansas State Police Troopers.”
I hereby pledge to work hard on keeping time elements in proper order.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at [email protected].