Augusta National has everything ... and more
Updated: April 6, 2005, 4:11 PM ET
By Jason Sobel | ESPN.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Look to the left. The world is simply green, as far as the eye can see.
Look to the right. More green, with hills and swales topped in that constant outdoorsy hue.
Stephen Munday /Getty ImagesThe 16th hole provides a terrific vantage point for Augusta National patrons.
Look behind you. Straight ahead. Anywhere. It's all the same. It's all serene, peaceful, yet exhilarating. It's all so much a part of history, yet so alive today.
It's all so ... perfect.
There is a line in the baseball film "Field of Dreams" in which Shoeless Joe Jackson inquires, "Is this heaven?" The same question can be asked of the tract of land known as Augusta National, home to the annual Masters Tournament. With all due respect to the cornfields in Iowa, the sweeping landscape of this course conjures more implicit thoughts of the afterlife.
Sure, this is a subjective thought, but you'll hardly hear any begging for difference among the patrons, as they are called here, at the world's most famous private golf course.
A first-time visitor to Augusta National, these ruminations come from my initial arrival at the course this week. Since then, I've been inundated with questions from back home, folks wondering if this place is all it's cracked up to be. The answer, quite simply, is no.
It's better than that.
Television does not do justice to the steeply inclined slopes that entrench the course. Like a roller coaster, Augusta National entertains its visitors with major elevation changes.
Up and down. Up and down. These hills provide tough lies for those trying to play a little golf, but excellent vantage points for those just trying to watch.
But you have to do more than open your eyes to fully experience the course. To walk through Augusta National during Masters week is to experience an impassioned outbreak of the senses. Visually, it's breathtaking, but the course also feels, smells and, especially, sounds unlike any other place in the world.
Even during a practice round, the words "hushed awe" come to mind while toiling through the nooks and crannies of the course.
Not only are the patrons courteous and knowledgeable golf fans, they all look separately and equally at peace with themselves, as if just walking this hallowed ground is proof of existence.
They flood the grounds with pure reverence, as if, quite literally, they are walking on eggshells.
Many discard their shoes, in an apparent effort to feel the grass between their toes ... either that, or they simply don't want to damage their untainted surroundings.
It's been said that The Masters doesn't truly start until the back nine on Sunday. Perhaps the imagination doesn't start until making the turn, either.
Look over there! That benign spot on the par-5 15th hole? You can almost see Gene Sarazen hitting the "shot heard 'round the world" – a 235-yard 4-wood for double-eagle in 1935.
And over there! The exact place on 16 where
Jack Nicklaus rolled in his 40-footer in 1975.
And right there! The final green. The site of Phil Mickelson's magical putt last year that finally gave him a major victory.
The convergence of history and presence – and yes, this place has presence – forms a great significance in the hearts and minds of the patrons.
Some say it's like an out-of-body experience.
Grown men have been known to shed a tear upon entering the gates to the course for the first time. Others just smile, confident in the fact that they have finally found what they're looking for.
Is this heaven? No, it's Augusta National.
Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com
