Augusta: Home of the Masters Tournament [Hardcover]

Steve Eubanks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Golf fans from around the world, here is a book of almost everything you want to know about the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club, home of the arguably number one golf course in the world and site of the notable Masters Tournament. Steve Embanks, author of Augusta: A Revealing Look Inside America's Most Intriguing Golf Club and long time attendee of the Masters Tournament, began researching the book ever since his first term paper as a junior in high school eighteen years ago. Since then, "he has done exhaustive research and interviewed many people to make the book come together, Crisp writing makes it a page-turner like a good mystery novel," says the Huntsville Times.

Being an unauthorized book about Augusta National, it is natural to assume the book focuses on the negativity of the clubs secrecy, and gender and racial issues. Although Eubanks does detail the negatives, the book is hardly a slam on the club. It reveals all of the positive aspects, discloses some of the clubs secrets as well as citing the negatives. "Eubanks' candid, detailed anecdotes about the powers behind Augusta National-particularly iron-fisted chairman Clifford Roberts-make this an appealing book," says the Tribune & Times. The next time you are watching the Masters and are awed by the ethereal aura of the Augusta National Golf Club read Augusta for as the Tribune & Times says, "it brings the heavenly course back to earth and that's refreshing."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Augusta was first published in 1997, Steve Eubanks was summarily fired from his job as a club professional in Alabama. Given golf's tight fraternity, it's no surprise. With skillful and thorough reportage, he was the first to throw open, with detail, the dark corners of Augusta National's musty, humorless, arrogant closets. Augusta, updated to include Tiger Woods's masterful defeat of the course in 1997, chronicles the story of a private enclave of power, privilege, and prejudice that still seems to operate under the tight fist of co-founder Clifford Roberts more than 20 years after his suicide. Even so, the great tournament held on its grounds--the Masters--remains a true jewel in the international sporting crown. Eubanks is not afraid to juggle the apparent contradiction of cause and effect; in fact, it is his willingness to do just that that keeps Augusta several strokes under par. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

If there were a Mecca for golf in America, players would undoubtedly turn toward Augusta, GA, to worship. Beginning as a Depression-era project, the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters tournament it hosts have become preeminent in U.S. golf. The history of this club is steeped in Southern tradition and political influence. Eubanks, a former PGA member, provides an insider's knowledge of club incidents, including the recruitment of General Eisenhower into the Republican Party, the shooting of an African American youngster who was fishing in the wrong spot, the suicide of one of the club's founders, the apparent racism that brought on the wrath of the Atlanta City Council, and the ascendancy of Tiger Woods. Narrator Tom Parker provides an entertaining account of this intriguing American phenomenon. Recommended for golf fans.ARay Vignovich, West Des Moines P.L., IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Rutledge Hill Pr (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558534695
• ISBN-13: 978-1558534698
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,497,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gutsy book! The first to take an HONEST look at Augusta., April 2, 1999

By 

Orlando Switzer (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Augusta: Home of the Masters Tournament (Paperback)

It seems there's a new "unprecedented" book on Augusta and the Masters coming out every April these days, but this one was the first of its "investigative" ilk and it remains the best. Anything I had ever read in book form about Augusta/the Masters before this read like so much puff because they were written by authors who wanted to remain friends with Augusta's secretive powers-that-be. Eubanks examines and explores Augusta National with a lot of gusto and tells me dozens of things I didn't know about this place. Like the hush-hush shooting incident involving some black youths who had trespassed on the course just so they could take a dip in one of the ponds. Or how the myth surrounding Charlie Sifford's alleged exclusion from the Masters field by racist manipulators assumes facts Eubanks proves wrong. Or Bert Yancey's real obsession with the course itself. Or the suicide by the ticket scalper in 1997. There's also a lot of nice stuff about Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, as well as a chapter devoted to Ike and how his presidency was pretty much launched in the inner bowels of Augusta National's clubhouse. Buy this book--it's wonderful!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of the history of the Masters & ANGC, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Augusta: Home of the Masters Tournament (Paperback)

Provides and awesome in depth history of how Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones put Augusta on the map, and along with this, formed one of the most powerful clubs in the world.

Also gives strong accounts of the history of the US Masters tournament.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as "insightful" as I was led to believe., January 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Augusta: Home of the Masters Tournament (Hardcover)

If you've read the Clifford Roberts book and are an ardent follower of the tournament, you will be disappointed. What I was expecting versus what was delivered were 180 degrees apart. Mr. Eubanks would have done better to explore more of the relationship between the National and the residents and town of Augusta. Eubanks needed to delve more into more recent tournament history (post 1980) as opposed to dedicating more to the period from 1933-1960. I'll be attending my fifth Masters Tournament in 1998 (4th in a row) and I hope to talk with some residents/patrons who have attended many tournaments throughout the years.