When Bobby Jones AND Alistair MacKenzie built Augusta National, they did more than turn an orchard into a golf course. They transformed a series of orchards into one of the game’s most diverse ecosystems. That legacy lives on in the names of the championship holes, each christened after a flower, bush or tree, and in the sounds of birdsong and the ripples of life in the property’s ponds and streams.
The big spring tournament gets all the attention. But Augusta National it belongs to more than the players, customers, camera crews and club members. Here’s a field guide to the flora and fauna that call it home.
FLORA
Olive tea – Hole no. 1 Osmanthus fragrans
Augusta National opens with a long par 4 named for a small evergreen shrub whose tiny white flowers open with one of the sweetest scents in the plant kingdom. The catch is that olive tea blooms in the fall. By Masters week, he still cuts a handsome figure, but without his signature flavor.
Pink dogwood – Hole no. 2 A horn with flowers
This left-handed par 5 gives players every reason to reach for driver and every reason to be wary of what’s waiting in the trees. Dogwood thrives on the floor, in the partial shade of the tallest pines. His pink clusters—often mistaken for petals—arrive on schedule for the tournament, but it’s the sturdy dog trunk that no one wants to find his ball behind.
Peach blossom – Hole no. 3 Prunus persica
The peach tree on this short par 4 was bred for its flowers, not its fruit. It is ornamental, unlike its agricultural cousin from Georgia. Which is really convenient. The peach blossom is a wonderful decoration, more suited to the current purpose of the property than to its commercial nursery past.
Flowering crab apple – Hole no. 4 Bad floribunda
The tart fruit of a crab apple is usually less than two inches in diameter, about the size of a golf ball. Technically, it’s edible, but it doesn’t taste much better than a starter. The tree itself, however, is a feast for the eyes, blooming in conspicuous clusters of pink and white.
Magnolia – Hole no. 5 Magnolia grandiflora
Before they reach the 5th hole, the competitors have already driven below them. Magnolia Lane, the club’s famous entrance, is lined with towering southern magnolias that were planted in the 1850s. The species itself dates back some 20 million years, with waxy, almost artificial foliage that looks primed to last forever.
Juniper – Hole no. 6 Juniperus virginiana
Eastern red cedar – which is what this “juniper” really is, the common name is something of a misnomer – thrives where many other trees do not, drought tolerant and indifferent to stingy soil. A pond that once fronted this par 3 was removed in 1959, but the junipers on this hole were apparently undisturbed, drinking their fill through deep roots.
Pampas – Hole no. 7 Cortaderia cries
Native to Argentina, like 2009 Masters champion Ángel Cabrera, this tall, fast-growing grass is considered invasive in New Zealand and Australia, where land managers wage constant battles to contain it. It enjoyed a different kind of fame in the UK, where the pampas grass planted in the front garden was known – perhaps apocryphally – to signal an openness to swing. Augusta National was not asked to comment.
Yellow jasmine – Hole no. 8 Jasmine sempervirens
Centuries ago, this attractive, twisting vine was considered a folk remedy for various ailments. Sadly, there is no evidence that it prevents players from crumbling under pressure. However, it can cause skin irritations. His sector, on the other hand, seems to be perfectly good for bees.
Karolina Kershi – Hole no. 9 Prunus carolinana
When damaged, the leaves of this medium-sized flowering tree decompose into hydrogen cyanide, making them unpalatable to livestock. Deer find them uncomfortable. Golfers have other reasons to dislike them, as they are known to hinder approach shots. The fruit of the tree, by contrast, has all kinds of fans, including songbirds, partridges and raccoons.
Camellia – Hole no. 10 Camellia japonica
In the 1935 Masters, Frank Walsh made a 12 here, the highest score ever recorded on this hole in this event. What is not known is what kind of camellia he encountered along the way. The 10th hole is thick with both Japanese AND sasanqua varieties, which can be difficult to distinguish; they differ mainly in flowering time, sun tolerance, and flower size, differences that Walsh probably didn’t notice.
White dogwood – Hole no. 11 A horn with flowers
The 11th was a 415-yard par 4 when Augusta National opened in 1933. It has since stretched to 520 yards from the championship tee. The white dogwoods that frame the hole have also grown, but not to the same extent. The species generally reaches about 40 meters and is often wider than it is tall.
Golden Bell – Hole no. 12 Forsythia suspension
This deciduous shrub, which grows beautifully along stream banks (and does quite nicely along Rae’s Brook) produces yellow flowers in spring that make a happy sight, unless you’re into them. Golden bell is also known as weeping forsythia. But feel free to refer to it as the weeping Spiethia, the tormented Molinariensis, or the stricken Sharkus—a suffering genus with no shortage of new species. The hole seems to get bigger every year.
Azalea – Hole no. 13 Rhododendron species
According to the official Masters website, this iconic No. 5 is surrounded by approximately 1,600 azaleas, which are in bloom at tournament time. For the average golf fan, no golf is more directly associated with Augusta. But the plant is widespread in many places, including Valdosta, Georgia, known as the Azalea City, roughly four hours south.
Chinese fir – Hole no. 14 Cunninghamia lanceolota
Lanceolota is Latin for “lance-shaped,” an apt description of the coniferous leaves of the Chinese fir. As for its wood, it is soft and fragrant, traits that make it prized by woodworkers in Asia, but which do not bode well for the players who find the trees on this par 4.
Firethorn – Hole no. 15 Firethorn Pyracantha
In the first round of the 2017 Masters, two-time champion Bubba Watson became the first player to use a pink ball in the tournament. The pink is easy to spot against the green grass, but harder to spot among the scarlet berries of the evergreen bushes that follow this point 5. Not that Watson had to worry about that. He birdied the 15th with his pink ball before switching to a white ball in his second round.
Redbud – Hole no. 16 Cercis canadensis
Legend has it that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a red bud after betraying Jesus, causing the tree so much shame that its flowers turned crimson roses. The scientific explanation for the color is a high concentration of anthocyanin pigments. In any case, there is plenty more to know about this hole, thanks to the Sunday exploits of players such as Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Nandina – Hole no. 17 Domestic Nandina
In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower lobbied unsuccessfully to remove a loblolly pine from this paragraph 4. But, as far as we know, he never complained about the hole’s namesake nandina, a flowering plant also known as common bamboo, although it is not bamboo at all. As for the famous Eisenhower tree, the disease finally caught up to what the president couldn’t. The impacted pine was removed in 2014.
Holly – Hole no. 18 Dark ilex
Inside is a medium-sized evergreen and several varieties stand along the finish hole. But as every player and ardent fan knows, it’s the longer lobules that present the most serious pine problems, forming a hollow that makes the fairway off the tee seem no wider than a sidewalk.
Fauna
Smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu
National Augusta stories can be like fish stories: hard to confirm. But combine the two genres and you get some good yarns. One involves Sam Snead, who was known for throwing lines on the course. According to an oft-repeated anecdote, Snead once grabbed a smallmouth bass and sneaked the fish into the kitchen to prepare for the Dinner of Champions. We cannot confirm this. But we can confirm the following from Andy Bean, who said golf.com that he had used it regularly to fish Augusta National during tournament week and claimed to have once caught a seven-and-a-half-pound bass. This is a big thing. But at Augusta National, there’s been plenty of time for the fish to grow. The ponds were stockpiled during the reign of Clifford Roberts.
Brown water snake, Nerodia taxi pilot
True to its name, this non-venomous snake loves water, and there are plenty of it thriving along Rae’s Creek, which lies just beyond the boundaries of Augusta National. However, unlike humans, snakes do not have to go through security to enter the property, which they do. According to reliable reports from guests who played Augusta National just before the Masters, workers were seen removing snakes from the creek along the 13th hole.
Lesser gold, Psalter spinus
According to Merlin Bird ID, a major ornithological resource developed by Cornell Lab, the Augusta area is habitat for dozens of bird species, including the song sparrow, American robin, Bewick’s wren and the oak mouse. Among the most prolific is the lesser goldfinch, a yellow-breasted bird with a distinctive whimsy. Put your ear to the TV and you can hear it on the CBS broadcast. We wouldn’t want to guess if it’s live or networked. But it is a soothing sound, quieter than an eagle screeching.
Common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina
During the Masters course, competitors often take aggressive stances. But there’s one thing anyone wants to cut: a finger. A snapping turtle can do that for you. Especially the giant that is said to be hiding under the Nelson Bridge on the par-3 12th hole. It is said to be the size of a manhole cover.
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