The Augusta National Golf Club; Alister MacKenzie's Masterpiece

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In 1931, Alister MacKenzie teamed with golf legend Bobby Jones to design the game?s ultimate test, the Augusta National Golf Club and this book reveals the true genius of the course like no other. Working together, MacKenzie and Jones created what could not have been achieved singularly; a design capable of showing its teeth in humbling the best golfers in the world, while at the same time playable to members of much lesser skill. Rare photographs shine a spotlight MacKenzie's Masterpiece and Bobby Jones? dream. The Augusta National Golf Club will help you understand why the course has a reputation of legendary proportion and how MacKenzie single-handedly changed forever the way courses are built.

Drawing upon his military background as a camouflage artist, MacKenzie incorporated hidden elements seamlessly into the natural lay of the land. In an era when the use of hazards as a means of penalty was popular, Mackenzie injected a new design perspective. His utilization of bunkers, trees and water was sparing and then only to insert a measure of strategy. MacKenzie?s cost effective layouts called for a minimum of artificial features and a maximum of mental labor, and his thirteen rules of Golf Architecture were so simple in concept they were regarded as revolutionary.

Author, Stan Byrdy served as Sports Director at WJBF-TV in Augusta from 1985-1994 and at NBC Augusta from 2006-2009. During that time Stan won 12 concurrent ?Best of Augusta? Magazine awards and numerous Georgia and South Carolina AP and UPI honors. He covered the Masters Golf Tournament from Jack Nicklaus? historic win in 1986 through 2009 and is the author of two historical golf books on Augusta. Stan also served as coordinating executive producer for the Emmy-nominated documentary, ?Augusta?s Master Plan; From Sherman?s March to Arnie?s Army?, which represents the first full-length documentary in Georgia Public Broadcasting?s 50-plus year history. Stan?s work has been featured on PBS stations, ESPN, CNN, The Weather Channel and ABC News affiliates.