In various parts of the city of Augusta the lingering impact of Hurricane Helene, some seven months on, are evident: sagging electricity wires from pole to pole that have yet to be tightened back to their original state; stumps of trees by the roadsides, where the arborists and tree surgeons were left with no other option.
Inside Augusta National Golf Club, where more than 1,000 trees were felled by the more than 80mph winds on that September night, the damage has long since been cleared. But the impact of the storm has, in its own way, brought changes to the famously manicured course, with literally more light cast on its terrain, most notably around the 16th where some of the towering cathedral pins were downed.
The green has been rebuilt, as pristine as it ever was, with no evidence of the tall pine which fell on to the putting surface and destroyed it. Now, though, those towering pines no longer frame the 16th so that those shadows on the green, traditionally cast on those later finishers in the final round, won’t be a factor on this occasion. Where there were nine pines to the right of the green, there are now four.
The damage caused a two-week delay in the course reopening to its members – golf is only played from October to May – and while the club planted hundreds of smaller pines to fill in gaps, the treescape remains much thinner than it was in places before the Category 1 storm’s arrival.
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There was also a decision not to replace some trees, most notably that area between the adjoining first and ninth fairways and also to the right of the 11th hole where that line of trees is sparser than it was.
“It looked a lot thinner. I remember when we came back in 2014 after the ice storm it looked thinner. Maybe a little more so now. Little more so on the front nine,” said Adam Scott, the 2013 champion, after playing a practice round on Sunday.
Will it change the playing characteristics? Most probably not. As former champion Patrick Reed observed after a reconnaissance visit: “There’s definitely some trees gone, some areas that were really, really thick and now you can see a little more through them. But the actual playability of the golf course hasn’t changed. All the trees that come into play, all the trees down the edges of the fairways ... all those are still there. All of those that are in the way.”
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“As far as the impact, the long-term impact, we have not quite as many trees as we did a year ago,” Fred Ridley, the chairman of Augusta National, said. “As far as the golf course goes, it’s in spectacular condition. I think we had minor damage to the course, the playing surfaces themselves, but we were able to get that back in shape, but I don’t think you’re going to see any difference in the condition for the Masters this year.”
A more recent thunderstorm, not with the same catastrophic consequences, hit the Augusta area overnight on Sunday but the course was – however briefly – opened to players and patrons on Monday for the first official day of practice.
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Due to inclement conditions, though, Augusta National Golf Club was forced to suspend Monday’s practice round and evacuate the grounds.
Shane Lowry has paid a couple of advance visits to Augusta and managed to get in some work on the range and the practice area. However, Rory McIlroy – who has also made familiarisation visits between tournaments – kept to his plan to only arrive into Augusta, on his private plane, on Monday.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods, who is not playing this year due to suffering an Achilles tendon rupture last month, will partner with Augusta National and the Masters tournament to provide access to educational programmes and affordable golf in Augusta.
Augusta National and Woods’s non-profit, TGR Foundation, will construct a TGR Learning Lab which will provide access to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (Steam) education and opportunities for young people to prepare for their future. Additionally, Woods and his course architecture firm, TGR Design, will design a new, nine-hole short course as part of the renovation of the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, commonly known as “the Patch,” for the community to enjoy and learn the game of golf.
