Jack Nicklaus says that he will get chills when he drives up Magnolia Lane at the Augusta National Golf Club, and I know precisely how he feels about the hallowed grounds the place The Masters is played every April. Like most of the guests to Augusta, I’m right here for the golf, however the tightly manicured panorama, bursting with vibrant colours resembling a Vincent Van Gogh palette, at all times take my breath away.
If I’m ever fortunate sufficient to play it, this can be a golf course the place I wouldn’t mind losing my ball from time to time – I’d need to discover each final piece of it.
Stepping away from the hustle and bustle of modern-day life and getting into by means of the major gates simply off Washington Road is like strolling by means of the wardrobe into Narnia. Etched into the grounds of a former horticultural nursery, Augusta National has by no means forgotten its roots.
Back in the Thirties, the founders of the membership labored with Louis Alphonse Berckmans, son of the nursery’s late proprietor, to adorn every of the 18 holes with a particular species and since then some 80,000 vegetation and 350 totally different varieties have been added.
Walking the course is now a botanist’s dream, nearly a century in the making. If you can catch it in the air, the apricot scent of the tea olives on the opening gap is seductive, and in the event that they’re flowering, the dogwoods, peaches, crab apples, magnolias and camelias are a feast for the eyes.
By the time you attain the thirteenth gap, the place many a participant’s journey in the direction of the inexperienced jacket goes off the rails, there’s something to assist maintain all the pieces in perspective: a panoramic financial institution of some 1,600 flowering azalea shrubs splashed all the manner from tee to inexperienced – it’s a surprising reminder of the world’s pure magnificence.
Photojournalist John McAfee coated 33 Masters tournaments, however on one event, he was assigned to cowl the Final Four as an alternative. In a cellphone name that’s since turn out to be NCS Sports lore, he rang the crew at Augusta, lowered his voice to a hush in case he was overheard, and enquired, “Are the azaleas pretty?”
It’s a narrative that at all times will get fun, however I now really feel that very same attraction to the majesty of the course as he did. During my years at Augusta, I’ve overheard many conversations amongst the patrons and located myself silently agreeing with their sentiment, “I wish I could get the azaleas in my yard to look like that.”
This 12 months, I mentioned it out loud, and a patron subsequent to me provided a response: “Because you don’t have an undersoil heating system warming the roots of your plants.” Augusta National Golf Club has by no means spoken about how it’s seemingly in a position to manipulate the flowering of the buds on its property, however for a lot of – irrespective of how far-fetched the notion is likely to be – some sort of botanical sorcery is assumed.
Despite bearing a reputation that may be completely suited to Augusta National, Justin Rose admits that he’s not a lot of a gardener. The three-time runner-up instructed NCS Sports that he’s hardly ever dwelling sufficient to care for something he may have planted.
“It would not be the greatest looking garden if I was in full charge,” he mentioned. However, he notes he at all times thinks of his mother when he sees all the flowers, and he can’t assist noticing the magnificence.
“Whenever I come back here, I think of her,” Rose mentioned. “It’s a spectacle, right? The whole place and the whole environment and the whole week, the whole thing is a pretty, beautiful show.”
At Augusta National, the patrons are strolling amongst the legends of the recreation, however they’re additionally standing in the shadows of giants.
Georgia-native, 70-foot-tall Loblolly Pine Trees line a lot of the fairways, and an infinite oak tree stands like a beacon exterior of the clubhouse. Planted in the 1850s, it’s now round 170 years outdated and I’ll typically discover myself gazing up into its magnificent construction with a way of awe.
Its octopus-like horizontal limbs seemingly defy gravity, though some are held up with suspension cables, and the tree is rigged with a lightning rod. The Masters needs to defend its centerpiece specimen, though three-time champion Nick Faldo as soon as instructed me that he’d heard they may crane in a alternative if it ever misplaced its steadiness, and the patrons would possible by no means discover.
The great bushes and the superb petals will at all times be the showstoppers at Augusta, however skilled eyes will discover the tiniest of particulars, too. New buildings at Augusta are offered as in the event that they’ve been there for years and the flora helps create the phantasm.
When the new media heart opened in 2017, my consideration was drawn to the ivy rising round the façade at the again of the constructing. As avid gardeners will know, ivy is a famously sluggish grower: It ‘sleeps’ in its first season, then it ‘creeps’ in 12 months two and it solely ‘leaps’ in its third 12 months. But these vines have been already effectively established on a construction that had solely simply opened its doorways.
And for a lot of the time at Augusta, there may be solely the nature to marvel at. Groups of gamers will cross by means of each 10 minutes or so, and since cell telephones are prohibited, there are not any distractions – nothing can spoil the view.
It’s the solely main sporting occasion in the world that isn’t suffering from gaudy promoting panels and look-at-me branding. You gained’t be tempted by any modern soda slogans at the concession stands and you definitely gained’t discover a sponsor’s automobile parked behind the sixteenth inexperienced. For a lot of the day, you’re at one with nature’s magnificence.
Golf is an efficient stroll spoiled, Mark Twain was purported to have mentioned, however absolutely no one might ever say that a couple of day at The Masters – and particularly the greenest of thumbs are assured to depart Augusta National envious.