Pro_V_wan_kenobi
Assistant Pro
Is anybody else getting a bit fed up with the fawning comments and sickly descriptions of the course at Augusta National? There is no doubt that it is a wonderful golf course and I am not arguing that it is a true test of a golfer’s mettle but it is a typically American example of extravagant elitism. Oh yes, I will sit “glued†to the TV, as I do every year, and I will relish the theatre that is produced by the gathering of the world’s best at this magnificent venue. It is the first of the majors; it is the start of the golf season, as we know it. It makes us all want to get out there with a card in our hand after a winter of bad bounces and frozen extremities. It is a ray of sunshine, but when the last ball hits the bottom of the solid gold cup, that’s it for another year. Augusta National is rolled up with the grease paint and the beautifully arranged pine needles, the lights are switched off and the audience and cast vacate the premises leaving the hallowed turf to the members to play for months of the year.. It is not real. It is a deception, a two ring circus. Some call it “America’s premier golf eventâ€, nonsense; the US open is the bench mark in The States, and the Open Championship in the world. The Open and the US Open stand apart and untouchable because they are glued together with history and the very fact that they are open. I would not swap one of our great links courses for Augusta national, nature has been maturing St Andrews since the late 15th century; it takes its place amongst the places where it all began. I am sorry Augusta but all the make up and money in the world will never get you to the hallowed position of the traditional British Links.
