Augusta National rebuilt a course nearby. It will be wonderful

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Three years ago this week, Masters Chairman Fred Ridley made a promise. His club, Augusta National, would branch out into the community like never before, partnering with local institutions to remodel the Augusta Municipal Golf Course. The course, nicknamed “The Patch,” had “good bones,” Ridley said, meaning that even if its appearance faded, its structure was something an Augusta National budget could work with.

And work with it, the only way Augusta National knows how: fast.

A year ago, Patch was dirty. It will open to the public next week. On Wednesday morning, two-time major champion Retief Goosen was tearing it up for the first time, part of a soft launch for VIPs during this Masters week.

What Goosen and a handful of others found was a fine golf course that will become absolutely magnificent over time. A great place to hang out during Masters week. A great place for Augusta juniors to learn the game. A great place for the public to find extremely affordable golf.

By any metric, the Patch project should be considered a success. Course designers Tom Fazio and Beau Welling made it a much more compelling course. Countless trees were uprooted, opening up the vast landscape that was once hidden by the forest floor. In time, her greens will soften and her paths will look stable; it will be the most fun public course around the Masters. You’ll want a short and you can fight like hell to get one.

Even the atmosphere will feel distinctly public. The wrap-around clubhouse porch looks out over the 10th fairway and 9th green—a place you’ll want to have lunch. Or just drink beers, like The Patch Pale Ale, a new brew you can only get on the property. loop, a short course designed by Tiger Woodsit can become real fun. Guests played her illuminated holes until well after bedtime on Tuesday night. Adjacent to the 18-hole putting green is a large practice range, equipped with Trackman hitting bays. Every golf derivative seems to be out there and it excites me for the potential it offers.

What we don’t know about The Patch is how it will feel about those who called it home forever. For decades, in the not too distant pastthe bodies at the private club in town – Augusta National – were black, and many played their golf at the nearby public course – Augusta Municipal. They were the living source of the muni, and they are remembered in spots by the people who reshaped it.

In one corner of the pro shop is a shrine to Jim Dent, the Augusta-raised black golfer who competed on the PGA Tour in the 70s and 80s. His Callaway Big Bertha driver is mounted on the wall in a display case, next to signed photos and a signed trading card. Dent’s role at the muni was so strong — it was the first course he ever shot in the ’60s, the same course his son was the main course at — that the course entrance was renamed “Jim Dent Way” in 2020. When he died in 2025, they held a ceremony for him at The Patch. He probably deserves a statue out front.

There are also framed pictures in the same corner of the pro shop dedicated to four legendary black caddies: Jariah “Jerry” Beard, Willie Peterson, Willie Lee “Pappy” Strokes and Tommy Bennett. Beard, Peterson and Strokes all won Masters as boxes. Bennett was on Tiger Woods’ bag during his Augusta National debut.

This Patch is different from the Patch they knew. So different. But Jim Dent was took an interest in her prospects when interviewed three years ago. He liked that it was a partnership with the local First Tee. The land is familiar, but the aesthetics have changed. The old clubhouse, where black corpses played card games for hours, was razed to the ground.

The Patch will definitely be a public asset and when you are there, even on a calm day during this soft launch, you can imagine the magic of golf that will unfold on a warm April night. But it won’t feel much like The Patch of old. And frankly, that might be too much to ask. It’s hard to make something so obviously better for everyone without completely changing what it once was. But the fact that she it Was changed, through the funding and direction of an inspired and generous Augusta National, means something. It used to cost locals $20 to play 18 holes. It will now be $25. Put your faith in this. And go back to that press conference Ridley gave three years ago.

“If we’re successful working on this project,” Ridley said, “I really think it’s a model for other communities and we’re very interested in getting this down the road, as we say.”

What could this mean? Where can this mean The mind wanders, and optimistically.