Loran Smith: No place on Earth reflects class like the Augusta National
AUGUSTA – This has been an eventful week at the Augusta National Golf Club with rain or the threat of rain accompanying the competition for a Green Jacket on one of the classic golf courses in the world.
When Augusta is blessed with compatible spring weather, there can be no greater surroundings with which to mix and mingle physically and emotionally. You feel that you are in an outdoor cathedral; a shrine to nature where the flora reflects glory and grandeur to match the dramatic competition.
Nothing like a Masters Sunday when sunshine and benign breezes envelope the stunning acreage that once was a nursery. You don’t have to be a golf fan to appreciate what was also an indigo plantation with rolling hills and the embrace of a romantic creek.
When you walk the course, you are never far from nature’s remarkable offerings. Stop and take it all in and you might be moved to sing out, “Hallelujah!” Was there divine intervention that allowed the greatest amateur golfer of all time, Robert Tyre Jones, to discover this extraordinary piece of property before a real estate developer found it?
The Augusta National Golf Club is the greatest golf course to host an annual major golf championship without multimillion dollar homes surrounding the footprint of the property.
Fans, who would literally die for a Masters ticket for the entire week, are not immune to nature’s offerings and the splendor of the layout where the life expectancy of a spent cigarette is five minutes or less. You can hear them marvel at what they are inhaling visually.
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The Augusta National is not only the most spectacularly scenic place, only rivaled by Pebble Beach when it comes to golf, it is maintained with the best tender loving care, as kempt and orderly as the grounds of Chenonceaux or Chateau de Villandry. It is a haven for encores. You never get enough of this remarkable place of ultimate places to visit.
Having the good fortune to have not only covered the Masters for decades, there was the enriching experience of playing the course. Naturally, I wanted to play well, but was content to walk the fairways with a deep and abiding affection for where I was.
Over the years, I have been favored with an opportunity to interview many of the Masters champions, and they all, unsolicited, proffered rapt testimony to the resplendence of the golf course and the integrity of the club.
Seve Ballesteros loved coming to Augusta early to practice. He told me one year that Augusta reminded him of his coastal home in Santander, Spain. “I love to hear the birds singing here,” he said. “I love all the flowers and the trees. It reminds me of my home back in Santander.” He conceded in one conversation that the environs of Augusta inspired him to play his best.
I’ve heard many of the great professional’s pontificate on the beauty of Augusta from Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus to Gene Sarazen to Byron Nelson to Sam Snead.
Television cannot possibly do justice to Amen Corner when the Azaleas are at peak for the tournament. Down at Amen Corner, there is an extraordinary amphitheater of blooms around the 12th green and the 13th tee. Fans are simply mesmerized by the scene.
There is no place on the grounds that is not becoming and enrapturing but especially the aforementioned Amen Corner which is one of the most appreciated landmarks in all of sports.
The loblolly pines have no blooms, but whisper seductively when the wind collects about them down by Rae’s Creek. You are overcome with humility in their presence when you walk the golf course. If allowed, there are the many who would spread a blanket and kick back with a musical apparatus and listen to Ray Charles sing, “Georgia on My Mind.”
Every time I hear those inspirational lyrics, I think of Augusta National. The soothing and comforting rhymes of Hoagy Carmichael would be perfect for a theme song for the club if they ever needed one.
All Georgians should be proud of this golf club and the Masters Tournament which have given our state the most favorable image to the rest of the world.
No place on Earth reflects class like the Augusta National Golf Club. Amen!
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Loran Smith reflects on the beauty of the Augusta National course
