[Rick Sides]

So the other night I was watching old highlights of the Masters on tv.  My question is, has anyone ever gotten to play Augusta, not just walk it during Masters week.  And if you did play it, is it as awesome as it looks on television? I guess probably better!

[Brent Hutto]

A friend of mine has played there a couple times over the years and thought it was pretty awesome. That said, there are a couple of links courses in Ireland that he thought were even awesome-r!

[Michael Blake]

GCA'er Chip Gaskins (though haven't seen him posting in a while) has played it and posted about it on this site.  Perhaps you can find the thread via a search.

Here's the recap of his day there on his website:  http://www.golfcourseclassics.com/2008/05/augusta/

[Anthony Gray]

I've played it.  Hardly anybody ever gets to play it.  You have to be really, really fortunate to know someone who can get you on.


The course itself is really fun to play. 


The shot values are amazing. 


You'll be faced with shots that you'll never see anywhere else in the world...


...



...



Oh wait, that's the Reverse Jans National...nevermind....

  Your best post ever................hilarious.

  AG

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Become a golf writer and you can enter the lottery to play there on the Monday following the tournament. Many golf writers have written about their expriences.

[PThomas]

I've played it.  Hardly anybody ever gets to play it.  You have to be really, really fortunate to know someone who can get you on.


The course itself is really fun to play. 


The shot values are amazing. 


You'll be faced with shots that you'll never see anywhere else in the world...


...



...



Oh wait, that's the Reverse Jans National...nevermind....

far fewer people have played it vs. Augusta!

[Lou_Duran]

I know several people who've played AN and the reaction is similar, awesome experience in nearly every respect, challenging tee to green (not from the tournament tees) without being overbearing, but nearly impossible on and around the greens.  The Palmetto member I played with during the Dixie Cup, a fine player, said that the greens at his course were of similar difficulty in terms of putting, but the National's were much more complicated for pitching and chipping (I can't imagine).

An acquaintance with whom I've competed against for many years played AN a few times in a corporate outing hosted by a well-know supplier.  He later played the Senior Tour for two or three years with minimum success (Monday qualifiers).  He found AN very playable, but could never get the speed of the greens, particularly the large differences between uphill and downhill putts (and that in a number of putts you would have both).  I suspect that they're a bit faster during the Masters.

Watching the practice rounds many years ago, the pros were practicing pitches from various angles and having a great time.  #5 in particular seemed to generate great disbelief.

[Rick Shefchik]

If this is worth anything, I have some lower-handicap pals who played Augusta National and then Pinehurst #2 in consecutive years and thought #2 was more difficult.

[George Pazin]

Sam Skarda played there - but that was in The Masters.

I believe Mike Young mentioned playing there in his GTK thread.

[PCCraig]

If this is worth anything, I have some lower-handicap pals who played Augusta National and then Pinehurst #2 in consecutive years and thought #2 was more difficult.

I've played both and thought that comment was interesting. I found that the setting of the approach shots are different in the two cases in that when at ANGC you play from a lot of side hill/downhill/etc. lies I thought the fairways at #2 were less undulating. However the approach shots to a lot of the greens at #2 had to be very exact in order to be close to the hole otherwise your ball could bound off the built up green and you would be short-sided.

Seeing ANGC was a super fantastic experience which was helped in that myself and the invited group got to stay in one of the cabins and play the course more than once over a weekend. It's a very relaxing place however it's a little more "buttoned up" than other similar overnight national clubs.

[Mike_Young]

I have played it several times over the last 25 years....a few times with members and then when I would work the tournament we got to play on vendor day at the end of May.
Of course it is a very good golf course....I don't know how to get into explaining if it is more difficult to chip there than putt there etc or whether the drive is more critical than the iron etc....BUT I can say that I have played much harder courses....Peachtree is more difficult IMHO
Now MASTERS conditions are a different thing.....hardly no one has ever played it in Masters conditions.....TOTALLY DIFFERENT DEAL.... and if Peachtree greens were set at Masters conditions it would still  be harder....

Also the fun is staying there.....and be sure when you do you take one of the bath robes and hang it half way out of your luggage when leaving so that your member have to have a little discussion before you guys leave.....

[Mike Benham]

So the other night I was watching old highlights of the Masters on tv.  My question is, has anyone ever gotten to play Augusta, not just walk it during Masters week.  And if you did play it, is it as awesome as it looks on television? I guess probably better!

I have never played it during Master's week ...

[Jud_T]

bump

[cary lichtenstein]

I played it twice on consecutive days. The first thing you notice is that without the crowds lining every hole, at first I hardly reognized the place. It looked like an ordinary golf course.

Playing from the members tees, the only thing I found remarkable was the putting. I did not 3 putt once in the 2 days, but 4 putted twice, go figure.

Putting is tedious because it is so fast and both times I 4 putted, I hit the first putt off the green because I got lazy and didn't walk to the hole and uphill can turn downhill real quick.

I couldn't reach any of the par 5's in 2, so 13 and 15 were ordinary layups, but one downhill lie got me.

I loved the par 3 course.

I had beeen there 7 times before for tournaments, about 14 to 15 days, so I pretty much knew every inch of the course, but when you step on the tee, and look straight down the fairway, instead of from the rough, the course looks very different.

[Chris Cupit]

....BUT I can say that I have played much harder courses....Peachtree is more difficult IMHO
Now MASTERS conditions are a different thing.....hardly no one has ever played it in Masters conditions.....TOTALLY DIFFERENT DEAL.... and if Peachtree greens were set at Masters conditions it would still  be harder....

I have played there as well and I think Mike is smoking something   The new tips at both Peachtree and ANGC are long but Peachtree is way easier as it has almost no disaster/water holes in play.  The only water hole at Peachtree is #14 and it's a 6 iron max with plenty of bail out room.  #2 is a pond but a par 5 and the creeks on the other holes aren't that "in play".  Peachtree is hard but there is no hole you should blow up on.

Augusta has plenty of blow up holes even with the course not in Masters condition.  Also it seems to play much longer than Peachtree.  The biggest thing about Augusta to me is the size and scale.  Everything is huge--big greens, bunkers, slopes, hills....
Driving is also far more difficult at AGusta as Peachtree has few fairway bunkers and many can be driven over even from the tips.  Drives at ANGC #1, #2, #5, #7, #10, #11, #17 and #18 are VERY intimidating.  There is nothing really like that at Peachtree.

Greens are severe at both but aside from #2, #11 and #12 at Peachtree the rest are much softer than those down I-20.

Of course both courses are a treat to play but I think Augusta would be much tougher with a pencil and scorecard.

I do agree that there are plenty of courses harder than either Peachtree or Augusta National but hard doesn't mean good.

[Mark Chaplin]

Until this summer I knew 6 or 7 people who'd played ANGC for each one who'd played Chicago GC. A good dozen UK based RCP members have had the pleasure including multiple visitors. Never heard anyone say bad things about their experience there.

[Mike_Young]

....BUT I can say that I have played much harder courses....Peachtree is more difficult IMHO
Now MASTERS conditions are a different thing.....hardly no one has ever played it in Masters conditions.....TOTALLY DIFFERENT DEAL.... and if Peachtree greens were set at Masters conditions it would still  be harder....

I have played there as well and I think Mike is smoking something   The new tips at both Peachtree and ANGC are long but Peachtree is way easier as it has almost no disaster/water holes in play.  The only water hole at Peachtree is #14 and it's a 6 iron max with plenty of bail out room.  #2 is a pond but a par 5 and the creeks on the other holes aren't that "in play".  Peachtree is hard but there is no hole you should blow up on.

Augusta has plenty of blow up holes even with the course not in Masters condition.  Also it seems to play much longer than Peachtree.  The biggest thing about Augusta to me is the size and scale.  Everything is huge--big greens, bunkers, slopes, hills....
Driving is also far more difficult at AGusta as Peachtree has few fairway bunkers and many can be driven over even from the tips.  Drives at ANGC #1, #2, #5, #7, #10, #11, #17 and #18 are VERY intimidating.  There is nothing really like that at Peachtree.

Greens are severe at both but aside from #2, #11 and #12 at Peachtree the rest are much softer than those down I-20.

Of course both courses are a treat to play but I think Augusta would be much tougher with a pencil and scorecard.

I do agree that there are plenty of courses harder than either Peachtree or Augusta National but hard doesn't mean good.

Funny how people feel different about courses....I think ANGC is much easier driving than Peachtree...and it just feels easier to me than Peachtree but I am left-handed.....

[Mark Smolens]

I haven't, but am available if anyone out there needs a fourth 

[Mike Demetriou]

I've played it.  Hardly anybody ever gets to play it.  You have to be really, really fortunate to know someone who can get you on.


The course itself is really fun to play. 


The shot values are amazing. 


You'll be faced with shots that you'll never see anywhere else in the world...


...



...



Oh wait, that's the Reverse Jans National...nevermind....

Shivas, I'm glad you brought up RJN. I know that there are very few golfers that have ever played RJN, and that it is the most exclusive golf club in the country. As an avid Chicago golfer, I heard a rumor that not unlike ANGC, you may never ASK to play RJN - instead you must be invited.  Can you confirm this rule?

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:

Check the thread on honest critiques.  Nobody is going to burn their bridge to Augusta, even on the off chance they didn't like it.

Which reminds me of a great story.  A friend of mine visited Augusta as part of a group of 8, hosted by an Augusta member who was also a member of their home club.  Everything was going great until the first evening, when one of the guys confides to my friend, "I'm missing $400 out of my wallet.  I think one of the caddies must have lifted it."  None of the other guys wants him to report it and mess up their experience, but the guy feels obliged to report it.  And the club responds by firing ALL of their caddies.

Two days later, one of the caddies comes back and blows the whistle on the guilty party.  He'd been doing it off and on for months, confident that no guest would ever say anything.

PS  I've played the course twice -- once on the press day after the 1983 Masters, and once with a member in the fall.  They are two VERY different experiences, but it's a terrific course either way.

[Chris Cupit]

Left, from the Latin "sinestra"

Meanwhile, the English word sinister comes from the Latin word sinestra, which originally meant "left" but took on meanings of "evil" or "unlucky" by the Classical Latin era.

By your lack of response I assume you are smoking something--how about sharing

[Mike Demetriou]

Mark:

Check the thread on honest critiques.  Nobody is going to burn their bridge to Augusta, even on the off chance they didn't like it.

Which reminds me of a great story.  A friend of mine visited Augusta as part of a group of 8, hosted by an Augusta member who was also a member of their home club.  Everything was going great until the first evening, when one of the guys confides to my friend, "I'm missing $400 out of my wallet.  I think one of the caddies must have lifted it."  None of the other guys wants him to report it and mess up their experience, but the guy feels obliged to report it.  And the club responds by firing ALL of their caddies.

Two days later, one of the caddies comes back and blows the whistle on the guilty party.  He'd been doing it off and on for months, confident that no guest would ever say anything.

PS  I've played the course twice -- once on the press day after the 1983 Masters, and once with a member in the fall.  They are two VERY different experiences, but it's a terrific course either way.

Tom, have you ever played RJN?

[Scott Warren]

bump

I've got to ask, Jud, because I am a curious bloke. What's the story with you bumping threads that have been stagnant for less than 10 minutes? That has to be the third time I've seen you do it this week.

[jim_lewis]

Regarding the comparison on ANGC and Pinehurst #2:

I have played ANGC about 10 times over the past 40 years and have spent about 100 days on the course during the Masters. Must have played #2 at least 100 times.

I am pretty sure that #2 is tougher both for tournament and regular play. The scores in the Masters and the two recent US Opens on #2 certainly indicate that touring pros found #2 to be tougher.

It is much easier to reach the August greens in regulation. However, unless you can't find the optimum spot on the greens, the ANGC greens are much tougher to putt. On the otherhand, putting on the #2 greens is easier, but it is much tougher to get the approach shot to stay on the greens.

Jim

[David Whitmer]

I have not played it, but my brother has. He currently writes for the Boston Globe, but he was employed by the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger Enquirer when he covered The Masters for the first time in 1995. Wouldn't you know it...on his first trip there, he was chosen via the lottery to play the media day, the day after Ben Crenshaw won. He was a 6-handicapper then, and he shot an 82 (I think). He said it was not very difficult tee-to-green, but putting was brutal. I think he had six 3-putts.

He said the experience was unbelievable. Driving up Magnolia Lane...breakfast and lunch in the clubhouse...caddies with the white jump suits...he said he was never so happy to play a 6-hour round.

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