Augusta National

Augusta National Golf Club

The 10th fairway and green in 2006
Club information
Location	Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Established	1933
Type	Private
Total holes	18
Tournaments hosted	Masters Tournament (1934–present) PGA Seniors' Championship 1937–38
Website	masters.com
Designed by	Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie
Par	72
Length	7,435 yd (6,799 m) Longest hole is #2 - 575 yd (526 m)
Course rating	78.1 (unofficial)
Slope rating	137 (unofficial)
Course record	63 - Nick Price (1986), Greg Norman (1996)

7,435 yd (6,799 m)

Augusta National Golf Club, located in Augusta, Georgia, is one of the most famous golf clubs in the world. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on the site of the former Fruitland (later Fruitlands) Nursery, the course was designed by Jones and Alister MacKenzie and opened for play in January 1933. Since 1934, it has played host to the annual Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf, and the only major played each year at the same course. It was the number one ranked course in Golf Digest's 2009 list of America's 100 greatest courses and is currently the number ten ranked course on Golfweek Magazine's 2011 list of best classic courses in the United States, in terms of course architecture.

The golf club's exclusive membership policies have drawn criticism, particularly because the club successfully kept black golfers out of the tournament for forty years until Lee Elder participated in the 1975 Masters. Elder wasn't invited to participate in the 1975 tournament; he had automatically qualified by winning the 1974 Monsanto Open. Also, there were no African American members admitted until 1990, as well as a former policy requiring all caddies to be black. The club began granting membership to women in August 2012. Prior to the acceptance of female members, Augusta National defended its position by citing that in 2011, more than 15% of the non-tournament rounds were played by female players who were member guests or spouses of active members. In August 2012, it admitted its first two female members, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore. Augusta National has defended its membership policies, stressing that it is a private organization that has the legal right to set up its own bylaws and regulations.