Take another look at the headline image of this piece. How many golf courses do you see?
The green in the bottom left is the 10th at Augusta National Golf Club, and the hills you see in the top right are Augusta Country Club – a course you could hear about more than usual while watching the 2025 Masters.
As far as watching the Masters, this course has been mostly invisible to patrons and TV viewers. The tall trees and blooming flowers have kept Augusta National inside a mirage of natural beauty and Augusta Country Club outside – until September 2024 when a natural disaster changed things.
Hurricane Helene hit the Augusta area extremely hard. Trees are still down around town, and neighbourhoods were devastated. BBC Sport reported a comment from the National Hurricane Centre that 11 people died in Augusta and over 360 homes and buildings were destroyed. It was the worst US hurricane since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“The spirit of our entire Augusta National family throughout the challenges of the months that followed Helene will be a signature of the 89th Masters Tournament,” said Masters chairman Fred Ridley the day before the 2025 tournament started.
“For weeks, water, power, food, fuel and other basic necessities were either difficult or impossible to access. Nevertheless, our employees were out in the community distributing food, cleaning up debris and donating food and money to help others in their time of need.”
1000 trees were lost at Augusta National, and even for a first-time visitor like me, the openness and newfound transparency of the golf course is absolutely stark. On a walk in the open space to the side of the 9th hole and left of the 18th fairway bunkers, you can see through to the par-5 15th.
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From the top of the 10th hole, you can see through to Augusta Country Club. Many trees were lost behind the 11th hole, the start of Amen Corner, where the Country Club can also be seen. The club has replanted in some spots.
There is even talk of players taking their 10th hole tee shot over the trees on the left to negotiate the right-to-left dogleg. “Extremely dangerous,” reigning PGA Championship and Open Championship king Xander Schauffele said. “You can get a little risky if you’re feeling dangerous.
Schauffele said there are trees on holes 10 and 11 that players would aim for that are no longer there. He said, “It almost felt like I was playing the back nine for the first time.”
“There’s a couple overhanging trees that aren’t there anymore,” Rory McIlroy said of the 3rd hole.
The visibility is also felt from the other side at the Country Club looking into Augusta National. “I couldn’t believe how visible it was. Now, looking the other direction, it’s also wide open,” former Masters champion Larry Mize said, as per the Telegraph.
What is Augusta Country Club?
Augusta Country Club was the first established golf club in Augusta. It was originally called the Bon Air Golf Club, and records show it dates back between 1897 and 1898. It changed its name to the Country Club of Augusta in 1900, then the Augusta Country Club in 1921, and the name you see today in 1942.
It is a private facility. It has an 18-hole Donald Ross-designed course with Tif-Eagle Dwarf Bermuda greens. Like at Augusta National, the golf course incorporates Rae’s Creek and is always in its best condition in Masters week.
Dr. William Henry Harison Jr, Mr. Morley Harison, Mr Henry H. Cumming, and Mr. Louis P. Berckmans are among those credited with bringing golf to Augusta. Berckmans has a street named after him that runs next to Augusta National.
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What do you make of the missing Augusta National trees? Have you ever noticed Augusta Country Club on TV at the Masters? Tell us on X!
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