The SOCIETY Newsletter #103

The Year Augusta National Almost Didn’t Come Back

When people talk about the Masters, continuity is part of the magic. Same place. Same rituals. Same April rhythm.

But there was a moment—quiet, unpublicized, and genuinely uncertain—when the Masters Tournament may never have returned at all.

1943–1945: Augusta Goes Dark

During World War II, Augusta National did something almost unimaginable today:

it shut down completely.

The club closed its gates. No Masters. No member play. No maintenance crews in the way we imagine them now.

The club sold livestock—most notably the cows that once grazed the fairways—to fund the war effort.

And here’s the key part most people don’t know:

There was real doubt whether Augusta National would ever reopen as a golf club.

The Quiet Fight to Restore Augusta

By 1945, the land was scarred. Irrigation systems were compromised. Greens were compacted. Fairways were torn up. Some areas were simply… gone.

Bobby Jones was back from his service in the war and Clifford Roberts was worried about finances. There was no guarantee the Masters still mattered in a post-war world.

Yet Roberts made a deliberate—and risky—decision:

Instead of modernizing, expanding, or redesigning, Augusta would be restored backward.

The goal wasn’t improvement.

It was memory.

Greens were rebuilt to feel—not just measure—like they had before the war. With money tight to non-existent Augusta National leaned into their relationship with General Dwight D Eisenhower who conscripted 42 German POWs being held at nearby Fort Gordon (back then Camp Gordon) to help revive the course from life support. As chance would have it many of the POWs working at Augusta National served as engineers under Rommel in North Africa - it was their expertise that built the first bridge over Rae’s Creek near the 13th tee box.

When the Masters returned in 1946, the club didn’t advertise the resurrection.

There was no grand announcement.

No “we’re back” campaign.

The gates simply opened.

And Herman Keiser won.

Why This Matters

Every Masters since has been built on an assumption of permanence.

But Augusta’s most defining act wasn’t creating tradition—it was choosing preservation over progress at the moment when starting fresh would have been easier.

The Masters doesn’t feel timeless because it never changed.

It feels timeless because it almost disappeared—and survived by remembering exactly what it was.

For my friends up North- April is right around the corner!

X MARKS THE SPOT

As the New Year approaches, golfers can’t help but let our minds drift toward spring—the return of the golf season. For most of us, the Masters marks that beginning: the start of major championship season, the renewal of hope, and the annual dream of a Grand Slam.

At the corner of Berckmans and Washington—arguably the most important intersection in the golf world each April—my eldest daughter told me she wanted to start playing golf.

That moment changed everything.

X Marks the Spot celebrates that corner of the world, but for me it represents something deeper. It’s a symbol of new beginnings—of the day my daughter began what I hope will be a lifelong love affair with the game of golf.

THANK YOU

Thank you for taking the time to read our weekly newsletter. We have a busy 2026 ahead of us and I hope to see you over the course of 2026.

January 19th: Our First Annual Society of Golf Historians Meeting at Belleair Country Club. Golf on Belleair’s West Course, Dinner at the club with a series of speakers. We have under 10 spots available if you are interested in joining us.

June-July: We are working on a small outing in Chicago at one of my favorite golf clubs in the USA. Details to follow after our Annual Meeting. Spots will be limited.

September: Our deadline to sign up for our Golf Historian’s Guide to Ireland is January 5th. If you are interested please do not delay reaching out to me.