Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Founded in 1933, the Augusta National Golf Club is the perfect course. Co-designed by legends Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, Augusta boasts gorgeous fairways and perfectly manicured greens, set against a breathtaking backdrop of azaleas and pines. Every April, the invitation-only Masters Tournament is watched by millions of avid viewers around the globe. But the exclusive club, with a membership comprising some of the world's most powerful and influential men, is also notorious for a legacy of secrets and controversy.

Journalist and novelist Steve Eubanks used all of his investigative and storytelling talents to get to the heart of Augusta's turbulent history, including its 44-year rule under the iron fist of Cliff Roberts and his suicide on the club's grounds; the Masters' impetuous yet long-standing relationship with CBS; allegations of racism; and the club's countless, rigid rules (members can even be expelled for wearing their green Augusta blazers outside the club).

With 45 inspiring photographs, Eubanks's balanced account also captures the historic moments that evoke deep affection for Augusta, from Dwight Eisenhower teeing off in the days before the Masters was televised to Jack Nicklaus's emotional victory at age 46, 23 years after he won his first green jacket. With a new chapter on Tiger Woods's 1997 triumph and published just in time for the 1998 Masters, Augusta is essential reading for anyone who wants the complete story of American golf's most hallowed ground.

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.

Rating : - Gutsy book! The first to take an HONEST look at Augusta.
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!