10 Bizarre Masters Facts That Sound Fake

It’s been a long eight months since the last major championship but the Masters is finally here.

We’ll be getting into coverage of the actual golf soon enough but there is still time to geek out over Masters lore and everything else that makes this tournament a singular patron experience.

If you missed it, we have run through a one-day Masters patron itinerary, described the must-have experiences for those attending and ranked the top food items at concessions.

Now we are delving into the history of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters.

Most of you reading this know the core facts about Augusta National’s founding and how the Masters came to prominence. You know the names of co-founders Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones, the genius of architect Alister MacKenzie and all of the iconic moments from the tournament.

This article is going deeper, however. These are the ANGC and Masters facts that are rarely talked about—the ones that can be labeled as unbelievable.

Even the most ardent Masters lover will find something on this list they weren’t aware of.

Without further delay, here are 10 completely bizarre Masters facts that don’t seem real.

1. There was a hostage situation in the clubhouse

We’re coming in hot here.

In October of 1983, Ronald Reagan was playing a round of golf at Augusta National when a man named Charles Harris crashed his ’74 Dodge pickup through the front gate.

Harris found the pro shop and threatened to use his .38-caliber revolver, disarming Secret Service agents and taking seven hostages. He demanded to talk to President Reagan, hoping to persuade him to fix the mass layoffs happening to American steelworkers. Harris, an alcoholic at the time, was out of a job and upset at Reagan.

Reagan called the pro shop, trying to diffuse the situation, but Harris thought it was a scam (he was, as you can see, not thinking well). Eventually the Secret Service got Reagan off the property and Harris put up no further protest.

The stunt cost Harris five years in Georgia state prison, although he was reported to have cleaned up his life after being released.

2. There is a random house in the Masters parking lot

Parking is free at the Masters. ANGC bought land west of the course (and has continued to buy land over the years), partly in an effort to make it easy for patrons to access the gates.

To do this, the club offers property owners well over market value, persuading them to sell.

Everyone takes the deal and goes on their way—especially those who lived in a neighborhood of modest houses that turned into the parking lot.

Just about everyone, that is.

A small, three-bedroom home belonging to Herman and Elizabeth Thacker sits in the middle of the parking lot. Despite multiple generous offers from the club, the homeowners have refused to move (Herman passed away in 2019 but Elizabeth lives on).

Making the story even stranger is that their grandson is Scott Brown, a PGA Tour player who has made over 300 starts. He even won a tournament in 2013.

Sadly, he never qualified for the Masters. He would have enjoyed a great housing location if he did.

3. Cows roamed the course during World War II

You may remember that the land Augusta National sits on used to be a nursery called “Fruitland” prior to it being a golf course.

But a lesser-known fact about the land is that, early in the club’s existence, it transitioned into a pseudo cattle ranch.

The club closed after the 1942 Masters and remained closed for several years during World War II. ANGC was in poor financial shape (update: that did not last) and bought 200 cattle and 1,000 turkeys to graze, which would keep the grounds respectable.

I’ll leave the rest to an account by Masters.com:

“Things did not turn out as planned. With the Club closed, workers stopped the annual planting of winter grass, and as the bermudagrass on the grounds became dormant, it provided little in the way of food and nourishment for the cattle. That led to a problem: the cows started eating the famous azaleas and the bark off young trees at Augusta National.”

A few dozen German POWs were brought in to restore the course. Members of a bridge-building engineering crew in Erwin Rommel’s Nazi Afrika Corps helped erect a bridge over the 13th hole.

4. A patron was once arrested for stealing sand

I do not, under any circumstance, recommend trying to take a physical part of Augusta National home with you.

After Bubba Watson won the 2012 Masters in a playoff, patron Clayton Baker made an all-time terrible decision by wandering inside the ropes and grabbing a cup of ANGC’s pristine sand out of a bunker. He wanted to give the sand to his son as a souvenir.

Well, Baker was immediately arrested. If you’re wondering whether the Masters has a patron jail that is the equivalent of a mall jail—which isn’t exactly legally binding—you would be underestimating the green jackets.

There was a legal case that was eventually settled but Baker had to pay about $20,000 in fees and other costs associated with the sand stealing.

And he did not get to keep the sand.

5. Rae’s Creek namesake has a controversial past

Among the most famous bodies of water in the world of golf, Rae’s Creek and its tributary serve as defining features of Amen Corner.

Augusta National has largely tried to distance itself from its, let’s say, more unsavory parts of its history—despite that, the name “Rae’s Creek” has stuck.

The creek was named after property owner John Rae, who emigrated from Ireland in the 1730s. Rae owned a nearby home on the creek and accumulated 8,000 acres. He went on to establish a grist mill (a mill for grinding grain) in the area.

The slave owner murdered a woman, Ann Simpson, but was pardoned due to his outsized influence and good standing in the community.

In 1836, a geologic survey noted there was gold in Rae’s Creek—and during the course’s construction in 1931, workers found small amounts.

In addition to the gold, many Native American artifacts have been found along the banks of Rae’s Creek. Due to the connection with the Savannah River, Rae’s Creek was a place where many tribes settled some 3,000-10,000 years ago.

6. Clifford Roberts committed suicide on property

Roberts, the club’s co-founder, was deeply (and self-admittedly) racist. He famously said that as long as he was alive, golfers at the club would be white and the caddies would be Black (although Lee Elder broke the color barrier at the 1975 Masters and, in 1997, two decades after Roberts passed, Tiger Woods won the tournament with a white caddie).

At 83, Roberts was extremely ill with cancer and nearing the end of his life. He took matters into his own hands by shooting himself beside Ike’s Pond where the Par 3 Contest takes place annually.

The weapon, a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, was confiscated by the club’s security force but found its way into an auction catalog of golf memorabilia. The club bought the gun for $15,000.

7. Architect Alister MacKenzie never got to see the Masters

It is something of a contradiction in that MacKenzie—considered among the greatest golf architects—built his masterpiece and then never saw it fully complete.

MacKenzie and Bobby Jones quickly agreed on a routing although the nines would be flipped a few years later. Greens were shaped in March 1932 and MacKenzie would leave for England two months later before seeding was complete—he never even saw the course with grass.

There was no return trip for MacKenzie who passed away two months before the inaugural Masters in 1934.

Imagine what he would think if he saw the current version of Augusta National.

8. Players could not bring their own caddies to the Masters until 1982

Although it’s unimaginable in today’s world, the Masters used to be the sole provider of caddies in the Masters.

Prior to 1982, players were assigned local caddies. As mentioned in the section about Roberts, the caddies were predominantly Black and the players were white. Many of those local caddies became a part of Masters lore—and the decision to allow outside caddies was a difficult transition for some who had relied on the income from working at the Masters but were no longer selected.

The change was driven by pressure from PGA Tour pros who wanted to bring their own caddies. ANGC chairman Hord Hardin said that Augusta National did not want to take a position that would appear unfair to players or the golf public. 

9. Augusta National once sought to host a U.S. Open

Facing financial issues as they opened during the Great Depression, Augusta National made many decisions based on money.

For instance, Jones initially wanted the course to be 19 holes so losing golfers could win back money with a double-or-nothing hole. That idea was scrapped because of the cost.

Another idea was to host the 1934 U.S. Open to bring in revenue. But ultimately that idea got rejected because playing in the Georgia heat would be insufferable and logistics to get everyone to Augusta was going to be a nightmare.

Instead, they opted for an invitation-only tournament called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Roberts pushed for it to be called the Masters. Although Jones hated the term, it stuck—and so did the tournament.

10. It has been 37 years since a hole-in-one on the 12th hole during the Masters

Despite only being 155 yards—just a short-iron for today’s players—the 12th hole has been mysteriously stingy with allowing aces during the Masters.

While the 16th hole has allowed 24 holes-in-one, the 12th hole has only given up three in Masters history. And the last one came all the way back in 1988 when Curtis Strange holed out with a 7-iron.

The Masters has a smaller field than most professional golf tournaments but there have still been many thousands of attempts at the 12th hole in the nearly four decades since Strange’s ace. Swirling winds are certainly among the top reasons why that is the case.

Strange, indeed.

Have any other Masters facts? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: The Masters and Augusta National have a peculiar history. (GETTY IMAGES/David Cannon)