Considering its pedigree and its next-door proximity to a golf temple, Augusta Country Club (ACC), right on the other side of Rae\u2019s Creek from Augusta National, has always maintained a low profile. Which seems to be the way they like it.<\/p>\n
This writer visited ACC with a group of media marking the culmination of a restoration project just before the 2002 Masters. By coincidence, the club\u2019s distinguished neighbor had just undergone a 400-yard lengthening, the sort of adjustment to be repeated before subsequent installments of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Alterations to ACC provided an interesting counterpoint on \u201cmodernizing\u201d the course. In this case, rather than worry about becoming \u201cobsolete\u201d — the standard expression of concern among older, classic tracks — the design principle was to take the course back to the future, consistent with Donald Ross\u2019s 1927 vision.\u00a0 (Having first opened in 1897, ACC actually predates Ross\u2019s arrival in the area, at which time he devised the existing configuration of the course.)<\/p>\n
The project was overseen by Brian Silva, then a principal in Uxbridge, Massachusetts-based Cornish Silva Mungeam, Inc. (he is now the proprietor of Brian Silva Design) with an extensive portfolio of Ross renovation projects \u2013 including Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach, Florida, Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, North Carolina, and Old Elm Golf Club in Chicago, among others.<\/p>\n
“We have the plans; let’s put everything back as Ross first conceived it,” recalls Silva of his proposal to the ACC members, noting that Ross\u2019s original drawings and handwritten notes were obtained from the Tufts Archive in Pinehurst. The membership agreed.<\/p>\n
The hottest ticket in town for non-pros during Masters week, the renovated ACC is a joy to play and an object lesson that, in golf course architecture at least, \u2018classic\u2019 is not synonymous with \u2018antiquated.\u2019\u00a0 A par 71 of 6,500 yards and change from the back tees \u2013 they\u2019ve added several tee boxes since the 2002 renovation, but mostly for increased playability \u2013 it is not long, nor is it extremely tight.<\/p>\n
There are few forced carries, and most approach shots have \u201calleys\u201d to allow you to bump-and-run or to carry the putting surface on the fly.\u00a0 There\u2019s almost no water, no bells and whistles, not even signs.<\/p>\n
Yet there is intrigue aplenty, especially thanks to Ross\u2019s often-precipitously and multifariously contoured greens and the aprons surrounding them, which force players to choose among a chip, a putt, or a pitch.\u00a0 The value of \u201cblowing by\u201d a bunker is somewhat undermined, since, while some cross-bunkers are positioned in landing areas, a series of randomly placed bunkers \u2013 another classic design element \u2013 await even the longest hitters.<\/p>\n
True, unlike its better-known neighbor, ACC\u2019s objective was not to prepare for a major but to enhance members\u2019 playing experience and preserve its rich history, of which the place fairly reeks.\u00a0 One of the best examples Ross\u2019s work in the South, ACC also has a tournament tradition of its own.\u00a0 In 1930, several years before he would found Augusta National, Bobby Jones began his Grand Slam year at ACC with a 13-shot victory over Horton Smith in the inaugural Southeastern Open.<\/p>\n
Winners of The Women’s Titleholders Championship, held at ACC from 1937 to 1966, include Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Peggy Kirk Bell, Mickey Wright, and Kathy Whitworth.<\/p>\n
Larry Mize moved over to Augusta National after winning the Masters in 1988, but he remains an honorary member at ACC, where he caddied during the 1971 USGA Girls\u2019 Junior Championship, when Hollis Stacey beat Amy Alcott.\u00a0 Charles Howell III, who grew up on the ACC course, made his Masters debut in 2002 and hopes one day to duplicate Mize\u2019s feat.<\/p>\n
As Silva points out, though, ACC\u2019s \u201cupdate\u201d of its Ross treasure is about more than just tournament toughness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe desire to keep up with changes in the game is understandable and by no means all bad,\u201d Silva observes, \u201cbut what\u2019s sometimes lost is a certain amount of fun.\u00a0 We wanted to put fun back into the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n
ACC also added a distinctly contemporary feature \u2013 a two-acre short-game practice facility, a clever use of limited space. A visit to Augusta Country Club is worthwhile, Masters or no.<\/p>\n
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