Augusta National - Overseeding

[Mike H]

In my research it looks like Augusta National Golf Club began overseeing with rye around 1967.  Was the course just bermuda prior to 1967 and if so was the Masters played on dormant turf?  This got me thinking how much differently the course would play if there was no overseeding today.

[Mike Hendren]

Mike, excellent article on this subject from The Augusta Chronicle dated 3/27/16 titled "Augusta National hasn't always been picture perfect."  I had problems inserting the link.  You can google it however and hopefully post the link here. 

[Matt Schoolfield]

Mike, excellent article on this subject from The Augusta Chronicle dated 3/27/16 titled "Augusta National hasn't always been picture perfect."  I had problems inserting the link.  You can google it however and hopefully post the link here.

I think I found it: https://www.augusta.com/masters/history/augusta-national-hasnt-always-been-picture-perfect

[A.G._Crockett]

One of the big questions on Bermuda courses that don’t overseed (and very few private clubs in the SE do) is when the Bermuda will come out in the spring.  I would assume that in most cases, even in Augusta, the Bermuda would still be dormant the first week of April, and even if it’s out it would be very, very thin as well as different from one fairway to the next.  And that’s on current Bermuda hybrids, which are MUCH more uniform; common Bermuda was/is often spotty at best, even in mid-summer.



I have buddies who won’t play senior tournaments before May, and we try not to schedule any interclub matches until May.  Even then, some years it’s a bit hit or miss in terms of fairways and mud.  First week of April? Forget it…


I found Nicklaus’s comment about the 17 stroke difference between two of his Masters wins to be very telling.  I assume that my handicap will go up by quite a bit during the mud season on dormant Bermuda, hitting wedges off muddy dormant Bermuda is not to be taken lightly. 

[Joel_Stewart]

Overseeding is tricky but Augusta seems to get it right almost every year. 


When I played Augusta last year, we played in late April and it was super hot (mid 90s and humid) and it was patchy and you could see the Rye starting to die off. Would be interesting to hear from anyone that plays it in October to January on the conditions.

[A.G._Crockett]

Overseeding is tricky but Augusta seems to get it right almost every year. 


When I played Augusta last year, we played in late April and it was super hot (mid 90s and humid) and it was patchy and you could see the Rye starting to die off. Would be interesting to hear from anyone that plays it in October to January on the conditions.

Overseeding becomes much less tricky if you have an unlimited maintenance budget, can really scalp the Bermuda beforehand, and don’t really care how quickly the Bermuda comes back in the spring.  ANGC is a unicorn in each of those aspects.

[Keith Williams]

CBS first televised The Masters in color in 1966, under heavy pressure from Clifford Roberts to do so.  So, one could hypothesize that the two, overseeding and color broadcast, might have gone hand-in-hand.