|
Book traces Augusta's golf history
Posted: Tuesday April 08
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
The Masters Tournament didn't make Augusta. It was Augusta that made the Masters.
That point is brought home in local author Stan Byrdy's book Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age (Arcadia Publishing).
| |
Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age. SPECIAL |
The book, which came out in mid-December, details in one chapter how Augusta became a golf town, starting in the late 1880s.
Tourists from the north visited Augusta via train to play golf at Bon Air Golf Club, which opened in 1897 and later became Augusta Country Club. They also ventured 13 miles to Aiken to play Palmetto Golf Club, established in 1892.
Byrdy points out that it wasn't just tourists who made the trek to the Garden City. The top players of the day came, too. Harry Vardon played Bon Air in 1900, the same year he won the U.S. Open.
By the late 1920s, Augusta's courses had drawn the interest of Atlanta amateur Bobby Jones. In 1930, he won the Southeastern Amateur at Forest Hills Golf Club, which was built by Donald Ross in 1926.
Jones, who went on that year to win what was then considered the Grand Slam of golf (U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Amateur) later said he played his best golf that year in the Southeastern Open.
One of the reasons Jones and his financial partner, Clifford Roberts, built what Jones called his "dream course" in Augusta instead of Atlanta was because Jones enjoyed the golf atmosphere in the area.
Augusta National formally opened in 1933, and played host to the inaugural Masters (then called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament) the following year.
Byrdy was aided by members of the community who allowed him to use their photograph collections. Many of the pictures in the 128-page book are rare or never before published. Two of the more fascinating photos are of Palmetto from 1895.
BOOK: Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age
AUTHOR: Stan Byrdy
PUBLISHER: Arcadia Publishing
COST: $19.95
BOOK SIGNING: Stand Byrdy will present a slide show and lecture and will sign his book, Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Morris Museum of Art, 1 10th St. Seating is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served bases. A reception will follow at Augusta Golf & Gardens, 1 11th St. Admission costs $15, and a cash bar is available. For more information call 724-4443.
| 
