Августа Нэшнл: История и легенды гольф-клуба

Golf course in Georgia, United States

Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, the course was designed by Jones and Alister MacKenzie and was the number ten ranked course based on course architecture on Golfweek Magazines 2011 list of best classic courses in the United States. In 2019, the course began co hosting the Augusta National Women's Amateur with Champions Retreat Golf Club.

Augusta National was founded in 1932 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on the 365 acre site of a former nursery/antebellum plantation called Fruitland (later Fruitlands). Jones sought to create a world class winter golf course in his native state of Georgia. During the first decade of the club's existence, membership was low and finances were short due to the Great Depression and the relatively remote location of Augusta, forcing the duo to scrap future plans for a "ladies' course", squash and tennis courts, and various estates. The Masters was first held in 1934 in an attempt to attract crowds and players. Roberts persuaded Jones, then retired, to return to play in the tournament. (Jones initially was against the name Masters.) is a 90,000 sq. ft. non public shopping and dining complex built in 2012. It operates for one week each year, during the Masters. Entry passes for the week cost $10,000 (up from $6,000) and require Augusta National's approval; there is a 10 ticket limit. BP customers can use an exclusive parking lot and entryway (Gate 9).

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 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 American football's "coffin corner" to explain where some of the most exciting golf had taken place (the Palmer Venturi rules issue at twelve, over an embedded ball ruling and how it was handled, 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 offered 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" is on the golf course side of the clubhouse and was planted in the 1850s.

Also known as the "Eisenhower Pine", a loblolly pine was located on the 17th hole, about 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.

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 for Eisenhower to fish in and named after him; the dam is located just where Eisenhower said it should be. Roberts died of suicide next to Ike's Pond on September 29, 1977.

Rae's Creek cuts across the southeastern corner of the Augusta National property. Rae's Creek runs in front of No. 12 green, has a tributary evident at No. 13 tee, and flows at the back of No. 11 green. 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. It was Rae's house which was the farthest fortress up the Savannah River from Fort Augusta. The house kept residents safe during Indian attacks when the fort was out of reach.

Over the decades, Augusta National has bought and redeveloped nearby land. From 1999 to 2019, the club spent about $200 million to buy 100 separate properties totaling over 270 acres, some more than a mile distant from the club proper. Most purchases are arranged via LLCs connected to Augusta National in order to obfuscate the transaction's details. More than a dozen of these LLCs are known to exist, and up to five may be involved in a single purchase. The organization helped finance a project to re route Berckmans Road. Membership is believed to cost between $100,000 and $300,000 and annual dues were estimated in 2020 to be less than $30,000 per year. Club members are sometimes referred to as "green jackets". Augusta invited and accepted its first African American member, television executive Ron Townsend, in 1990 after Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club, an all white golf club in Alabama, refused membership to African Americans. The club also faced demands that the PGA Championship not be held there because of racist comments by the club's founder. In his 2012 pre Masters press conference, Chairman Billy Payne declined to discuss the club's refusal to admit women. He defended the club's position by noting that in 2011, more than 15% of the non tournament rounds were played by women who were guests or spouses of active members.

Every member of Augusta National receives a green sport coat with the club's logo on the left breast. Members are required to wear them during the tournament, and the jackets are not allowed to be removed from the grounds. 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 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.

Augusta National employs a staff of caddies to assist members, guests, and professionals. Augusta's caddie staff wears trademark white jumpsuits year round. Before 1983, staff caddies were assigned to players at the Masters. All four majors and some tour events required the use of the host club's caddies well into the 1970s—the U. S. Open had this policy through 1975—but by 1980, only the Masters and the Western Open near Chicago retained the requirement. Well known caddies during this time period include Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery, Carl Jackson, and Willie "Pappy" Stokes. More unusually, Augusta employed only black men as caddies. Club co founder Clifford Roberts once said, "As long as I'm alive, all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black." Roberts killed himself at Augusta in 1977; five years later, in November 1982, chairman Hord Hardin announced that players were henceforth permitted to use their regular caddies at the Masters. The announcement arrived seven months after the 1982 tournament, during which many caddies, confused by a Thursday rain delay, failed to show up at the proper time on Friday morning; Hardin received scathing complaint letters from two time champion Tom Watson and others. In 1983, 12 players employed club caddies, including then five time champion Jack Nicklaus, defending champion Craig Stadler, and future two time champion Ben Crenshaw. 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, one of his better finishes at Augusta. Today, female caddies remain rare at Augusta and on the PGA Tour; most of the women caddies are professional golfers' regular caddies, such as Fanny Sunesson, who has caddied for several players at the Masters, most notably three time champion Nick Faldo, and in 2019, Henrik Stenson. 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, then fiancée of Rory McIlroy, caddied for him in the par 3 contests of 2013 and 2014. Crenshaw won his 1984 and 1995 Masters titles with Augusta National caddie Carl Jackson.

Augusta National Golf Club is featured in the Japan exclusive video game franchise 遙かなるオーガスタ, 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 was the first time that the course has been officially used in the Tiger Woods franchise. In 2021, EA Sports and Augusta National Golf Club announced plans to revive their PGA Tour series, which would once again feature Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. In addition, EA also announced that the new game, EA Sports PGA Tour, will feature the other three majors—the PGA Championship, Open Championship, and the U. S. Open. Augusta National was also previously used in the 1986 computer game Mean 18, published by Accolade.