Often imitated, Augusta National can never be duplicated |
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This morning while skimming through the golf articles of the day, I came across an article that offended me and couldn’t have been more incredibly wrong. The article’s title: Sage Valley a better play than Augusta National. It’s Masters Week so this type of buffoonery is expected just to drudge up some readers. I won’t bore you with Augusta’s history, being the most exclusive golf club on the planet and everything, I’m sure an introduction isn’t necessary. Aren’t they hosting some type of event this April? Sage Valley Golf Club is located just down I-20 from Augusta and was completed in 2001 by celebrated architect Tom Fazio who just so happens to be the consulting architect for Augusta National and has been since the course retained him to “Tiger-proof” the home of the Masters years ago.
Fazio carved Sage Valley out of a forest of longleaf pines, added roughly 9,000 azaleas and in a few short years had created the No. 78th ranked course in world according to Golf Digest. Since, Sage Valley has fallen to No. 91. I had the pleasure of visiting Sage Valley in the fall of 2006 as well as covering my first Masters in 2007. I was able to see Augusta National in its full glory but wasn’t treated to the same experience at Sage Valley because it was November and I noticed more morning frosts than I did blooming Azaleas. The story of Sage Valley’s origin isn’t exactly complicated; it’s a story of rejection leading to the pursuit of revenge. The course’s owner and CEO, Aiken, S.C., based developer Weldon Wyatt was denied membership at Augusta National. Hey, so was Bill Gates for a while. Instead of resting on his laurels, or azaleas, Wyatt set out to build something bigger and better than Augusta National. He succeeded in the sense that he was able to build a magnificent golf course; a true test of the game and a stunning beauty. Sage Valley Golf Club is spectacular and the service and amenities one can experience on the grounds are world-class. I got to experience this first-hand when I spent three days in Graniteville, where the course is found, covering the 2006 World Club Championships. The event featured golfers from 11 countries spread across five continents representing 18 of the most recognized golf clubs in the world for the event. Only club champions and accomplished guests from any of the Top 100 Courses in the World were invited to play. The list of the 18 participating clubs was a who’s who of the greatest clubs in the world including New Jersey’s Pine Valley, Seminole Golf Club, last year’s U.S. Open host Oakmont and international stalwarts like Ballybunion, St. Andrews and Valderrama, which hosted the most recent Ryder Cup competition. I guess Augusta National declined its invitation to participate.
The event must have been a notch in Wyatt’s belt, brining some of the greatest clubs in his course to the world but it’s not like one WCC compares with decades of hosting golf’s most prestigious major championship. Golf Digest’s Ron Whitten wrote in 2005 of the problem of trying to follow in Augusta National’s footsteps, “Imitation Augustas are nothing new in golf course ownership. A generation ago, rich guys had the exact same itch. The result was soda-pop king Jack Lupton’s The Honors Course in Tennessee construction giant Hall Thompson’s Shoal Creek in Alabama and oilman Jack Vickers’ Castle Pines in Colorado.” Sage Valley employs the same white caddie coats as Augusta, they installed a SubAirbrand air-circulation system, a device conceived at, you guessed it, Augusta National and even have the audacity to roam the grounds in green sport coats. Now where have we seen that before? I spoke with John Boyette, editor of the Augusta Chronicle which owns the coverage of the Masters, last month and I asked what is it that makes Augusta so special? He simply replied, “Augusta was blessed by Bobby Jones. He was Tiger personified before Tiger came along; one of the best of his day.” Aside from places like St. Andrews that literally gave birth to the game, Augusta National can’t be beaten in terms of history, lure and tradition. Plus it’s beauty is unmatched. On the other hand, Sage Valley can’t even manage to be rated No. 1 in its own state. Last month the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel named Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island as the Palmetto State’s top layout. Which brings me to why I’m so incensed when I read things like, “I hate to say that it’s more beautiful than Augusta, but I will have to say that I think Sage Valley has out-done Augusta in almost every way,”; that’s simply impossible. Augusta has seen Jack win six green jackets. People flock to Augusta, Ga. for this one week of the year many times spending money they don’t have for a once-in-a-lifetime trip just to catch a glimpse of that place.
Sure, wealthy dignitaries and businessmen may tee it up at Sage Valley during Masters Week, and so has Phil Mickelson by the way, but they didn’t come to see Weldon Wyatt’s creation. They’re in town to see the vision of the great Bobby Jones. It is said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery; well that old saying just doesn’t ring true here. Sage Valley doesn’t just want to be cast in the same light as Augusta; it wants to detract from golf’s Holy Grail. Another course was recently hailed as the “Augusta National You Can Play,” by Golf Magazine. That course was the Dancing Rabbit Azaleas Course which I had the pleasure of visiting earlier this month. This far less famous Mississippi course does the right thing when it comes to being compared to Augusta, remains humble and replies with an aw shucks attitude. “We’re honored just to be mentioned in the same breath,” said golf professional Sean Racki about his home course being compared to Augusta. Sage Valley is beautiful, a majestic new golf course that has moved nearly every golfer that has stepped foot on the course since it opened just seven years ago; but it will never be Augusta National and shouldn’t have tried. So if you’re out there about to make some asinine statement about some kid being the next Michael Jordan or wanting to tell me which place is just as special as Augusta National, save your breath. Like the commercials say, “A Tradition unlike any other.” There is only one. |
