Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
The Masters. For any golf fan, the words evoke the immortal greats of the game and their quest for the most prized trophy of all -- the green jacket of Augusta National Golf Club.

But behind the legendary links and timeless traditions is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood figures in the history of the Masters and Augusta National: Clifford Roberts, the club's chairman from its founding in 1931 until shortly before his death in 1977. Roberts' meticulous attention to detail, his firm authoritarian hand, and his refusal to settle -- even for perfection -- helped build the Masters into the tournament it is today, and Augusta National into every golfer's idea of heaven on earth.

David Owen was granted unprecedented access to the archives and records of Augusta National Golf Club. He has produced an honest and affectionate chronicle of the Masters, from its conception to its modern greatness, and a fascinating portrayal of Clifford Roberts -- whose perseverance and pride forged the Augusta National we know today.

Amazon.com Review:
Analyzing the legend and lore of golf's most celebrated tournament has become something of a cottage industry of late, but Owen, who displayed his personal golfing affections, frustrations, and obsessions so marvelously in My Usual Game, now goes where his competition hasn't gained access: to the source--via access to Augusta National's archives, records, and membership. The result is a sympathetic, yet still critical and complex portrait of the club and its founder, Clifford Roberts, to whom golf history has not been particularly kind. Indeed, for better--and for worse--Roberts and Augusta remain linked throughout what is essentially a volume that weaves biography with social history played against a sporting canvas. Naturally, finance, ego, Bobby Jones, television, and President Eisenhower figure into the tale, but Eisenhower's not the only leader of the free world to use the club's exclusivity to his benefit; Owen uncovers the delicious bit that Ronald Reagan and George Schultz helped finalize the invasion of Grenada there.

Of course, there is also some great golf. Augusta National would be just another golf club with a fancy pedigree and history of exclusion were it not for the remarkable tournament that it hosts every year. Owen, a graceful writer, tees up plenty of detail and anecdote in a hole-by-hole tour of the track, lined with perspective. Owen explains,

If the Masters seems older than it is, that's largely because the tournament, alone among the majors, is conducted year after year on the same course. Every important shot is played against a backdrop that consists of every other important shot, all the way back to 1934. Every key drive, approach, chip, and putt is footnoted and cross-referenced across decades of championship play. Every swing--good or bad--has a context.

Rating : - Fairly Good-is the "Yin" to Sampson's "Yang"
Picked this up by chance at the library...and realized I was reading the book that is the Yin to the Yang of the Curt Sampson book The Masters : Golf, Money, and Power in Augusta, Georgia.

Both books look at the same event. Owens focuses only on the beauty spots, while Sampson goes out of his way to find the warts. Owens keeps his story within the walls of the country club, while Sampson traces the development of the golf course and the town and how each impacts the other.

I can't help but feel that Owens book was written as a rebuttal to Sampson's book...and even there it seems to be a surgical strike method rather than a massive refutation type of rebuttal. Example: Sampson quotes specific sums of money in regard to Roberts worth, but is seemingly talking about the sums after factoring inflation...Owens takes these same numbers, uses what appears to be the original number without considering inflation, and then says Sampsons numbers are wrong. Example: Frank Stranahan finishes #2 in the Masters, then is banned the next year for taking multiple practice shots from the same spot (despite warnings). Owens focuses on the action, and says Cliff Roberts action in punishing Stranahan was appropriate. Sampson takes the issue and focuses on the fact that other people did the same thing, but were never punished. Example: Owens examines Roberts marvelous relations with Jones, Eisenhower, and the like, and asks how could a person that had the trust of such great men be the curmudgeon that Sampson and others have made him out to be? Sampson notes how Roberts treated people over whom he had power very poorly but worked hard to get into the good graces of people who could advance his goals.

These two books are as the results of two different men writing about the same pattern in a Rohrschach (sp?) test-they see the same facts and come up with different answers.

So if you want a balanced view of the Masters, don't read either this book or Sampson's book-READ THEM BOTH, then come to your own conclusion.