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This year’s
Masters Tournament was yet
another great contest of tremendous golfing skill, in which the course
itself played a major role in creating the excitement.
I think that fact is best summed
up by the shouted commentary of CBS
announcer Verne Lundquist, immediately after Tiger Woods made that
incredible birdie on the 16th hole, which as I recall went
something like:
“Wow! In your life have you ever seen anything
like that!?!”
Well, no—and
that’s
because there are precious few other golf course designs where any remotely
similar shot is even possible.
Except, perhaps, on other courses
designed by Alister MacKenzie.
To cite a personal example, at
Pasatiempo GC near Santa
Cruz, California, I once made a long uphill putt on the par-3 18th
hole that literally fishhooked itself to a dead stop a foot or so above the
hole, and then gently rolled to a final resting spot just below the hole. It
wasn’t
as stunning as Woods’
achievement on the 16th on Masters Sunday this spring, but the
result was a bit startling nonetheless.
Stan Byrdy’s
new book about the Augusta National Golf Club takes a long step toward
reminding fans of golf design in general and The Masters in particular about
the real genius behind the design and construction of the famous golf
course.
Byrdy is an Augusta television
journalist, with another fine local history of the area already to his
credit. In this book, Byrdy takes a more focused look at the original
concept for Augusta National and how it came to be.
Unlike most other coffee-table
sized golf books, especially relating to The Masters, this one is not filled
with gorgeous color photographs. Instead, the primary graphic focus of this
book is centered on line drawings and old black-and-white photographs,
depicting how the course once appeared and how it now challenges its
golfers.
If ever anyone doubted that golf
courses inevitably change over time, this book should certainly put that
notion to rest. The owners of Augusta National have shown a sometimes
surprising willingness to tinker with the original design since it first
opened. Byrdy’s
narrative, accompanied by drawings by William Lanier III, shows each of the
major changes in the 18 holes that have altered the course’s
demands on its players. In addition, the portions of the book discussing the
Masters Tournaments detail how the golfers have been forced to change their
scoring strategies in playing the event.
Byrdy repeatedly emphasizes the
unique collaboration that MacKenzie and Bobby Jones enjoyed in developing
the plans for converting a working nursery farm operation into the beautiful
sporting venue millions of golfers enjoy seeing each spring. That kind of
close cooperation is not always present or possible between two strong
intellects, especially when they are separated by a few decades of life
experience, but in this case the two men seem to have genuinely meshed their
thoughts toward a common goal. Without directly saying so, Byrdy seemed
intent on reminding the rest of us about the real scope of MacKenzie’s
contribution to what many folks think of as a Bobby Jones masterpiece.
The members of Augusta National
are admittedly wealthy, and fully capable of spending millions of dollars
that many other golf courses just don’t
have in order to make their golf course as beautiful and challenging as they
can.
Nonetheless, the design principles
adopted by MacKenzie and used throughout the Augusta National layout don’t
really depend on seven-figure sums to create a golf course that presents a
good test of skill for its players, at all levels of ability. Byrdy’s
history of this famous golf course can be a useful guide for golf committees
willing to improve their own layouts, even if their budgets are a fraction
of what’s
been spent on this masterpiece. They just have to look past the perfect turf
to what really lies beneath the polished veneer we see during the first full
week of each April—a
remarkably good adaptation of the natural contours of the property for the
sake of creating a great golf experience.
Review date: April 30, 2005
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