Secrets we learned about Augusta National’s grounds crew

As you could have heard, Augusta National Golf Club is shrouded in mystique. The golf media hammers house this message. The membership cultivates that popularity, too.

And as a result of mystique relies upon partly on thriller, which means working out of the limelight, whilst photographs from the Masters are broadcast each April around the globe. 

The membership’s secrecy applies to issues giant and small, from membership insurance policies to upkeep practices. How is it determined who will get admitted? Augusta National received’t say. Then once more, the identical is true if you happen to ask the inexperienced jackets how they get their turf trying so good.

Now after which, although, info from behind the guarded entrance of Magnolia Lane leaks into the general public. Sometimes it arrives in unverified rumors (Did Bill Gates actually must foyer exhausting for years to get into the membership?). And on uncommon events, it comes out in reliable torrents, because it did prematurely of the 2023 Masters, when we caught up with a former longtime volunteer on the Augusta National grounds crew.

In a wide-ranging interview, this turf-care tipster went into element on what it takes to get the well-known course tournament-ready. The equipment and manpower. The pre-dawn prep and post-round priming. The emergency upkeep programs the membership has carried out within the unlikely occasion {that a} blade of grass falls misplaced. 

Though our supply spoke solely in glowing phrases (“It’s the best of the best and the most of the most,” he mentioned of the employees and tools Augusta National attracts on), we saved his identification hidden. 

As additional proof that golf followers can’t get sufficient of Augusta National and the Masters, the story and video we produced round it turned out to be amongst our most-read and most-watched upkeep content material of the yr. So a lot in order that we determined to ship it out once more now as a refresher. So test it out right here or watch the video above. The countdown to the 2024 Masters has already begun…

Josh Sens

Golf.com Contributor

A golf, meals and journey author, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes throughout all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He can also be the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.