A substantial commitment from Augusta National has transformed The Patch.
COURTESY Augusta National Golf Club
By scott michaux
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Take a piece of property with good golf bones going back almost a century, a faithful following of municipal golfers of all stripes and the committed financial backing and support of Augusta National Golf Club and you have the perfect recipe for a grow-the-game initiative.
On April 15, the all-new Augusta Municipal Golf Course – now more formally known by its long-standing nickname The Patch – reopened for public play after undergoing a complete redesign by architects Beau Welling and Tom Fazio. It also opened a new nine-hole short course called The Loop at The Patch, designed by Tiger Woods and TGR Design.
Augusta National – in partnership with the city of Augusta, the First Tee - Augusta and Augusta Technical College – has delivered a first-class public-access golf course that’s playable and affordable.
“[The Patch] will be a community destination where golf is accessible, affordable and fun for everyone.”
Fred Ridley
Masters and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley has been spearheading the Augusta Municipal course project for three years. After all the permitting and planning was completed, they executed a complete makeover of the course and facilities in only 367 days. Ridley said what inspired the home of the Masters to become involved in something that will benefit the community for years was the club’s core values and mission statement.
“We state clearly in our mission statement that … we feel that one of our obligations is contributing to our community. So that opens up a number of opportunities,” Ridley said ahead of last month’s Masters.
“The Patch, the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, has been a fixture in this community for many years, has so much history. We felt that there was an opportunity to take a wonderful piece of property and to transform it into something that was just really life-changing for many people in this community. We can’t think of a better way to promote the game of golf than doing it right here in our own town.”
Joe Toth, Augusta national golf club
Ridley promised all along that the new Patch would remain as affordable as the old Patch despite the incalculable upgrades to the course and amenities (the overall price tag is undisclosed). Consider it a promise kept, as local residents pay $25 to walk 18 holes from Monday to Thursday and $35 on weekends and holidays ($18 and $23 for nine holes) while junior and senior residents pay $20 weekdays or $30 weekends ($15/$23 for nine). Cart fees are only $10 every day ($7 for nine holes). Non-residents can play it for $85 weekdays or $95 Friday through Sunday or holidays.
The Loop short-course rates are $15 for residents, $10 for seniors/juniors and $30 for non-residents, with those rates doubled on select nights when the lighted course is open.
Beyond the courses, there is a plush, state-of-the-art, 17-acre practice facility with a range as well as 20 covered Trackman bays with full-size television monitors connected to the ball-tracking system that allow patrons to view the details of every shot struck without having to connect a device. There’s also a 12-hole putting course that is open free of charge to the general public (putters and balls are provided in the golf shop).
A new clubhouse – with fully equipped pro shop, covered outdoor dining areas, a card room for the legacy members and a snack bar that serves fare including pimento cheese and fried bologna sandwiches – sits at the highest point on the property with Jim Dent Way reaching it.
“It will be a community destination where golf is accessible, affordable and fun for everyone,” Ridley said.
“If you want to know the truth, this golf course does not exceed expectations because I expect greatness from Augusta National in the first place. What I see is what I expected from Augusta National.”
Bob West
Before the idea of Augusta National came along when Bobby Jones first toured the Fruitlands Nursery site in 1930 and decided to build his dream course there, the community saw a need for a municipal course as the popularity of golf and Augusta’s place back then as a tourist destination grew. On July 7, 1927, The Augusta Chronicle heralded the proposal for a municipal golf course: “One of the greatest needs of the city, from a recreation and amusement standpoint, is a municipal golf course, placing golf within the reach of the home people and the winter visitor who is not able to pay the price of playing on the Country Club and Forrest Hills-Ricker links.”
The Patch first opened as a nine-hole course with sand greens on Dec. 20, 1928, built by Scotland native David Ogilvie, who more famously designed Augusta’s original 18-hole Hill Course for Augusta Country Club in 1908. Ogilvie’s ACC course was redesigned by Donald Ross in 1927 and later renovated by Brian Silva.
The municipal course was so popular that it expanded to 18 holes the next year. The greens were converted to grass in 1936-37 as part of a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression.
The new course at The Patch was rerouted on the same footprint as the old course.
The original Patch came by its nickname honestly. The origin comes from the late Red Douglas, who ran the course for decades. Douglas grew a vegetable garden left of the par-3 10th hole, so folks started calling it “The Cabbage Patch.” The nickname suited a golf course with its share of weeds covering the rest of the acreage as well in leaner years. The story goes that course conditions declined so severely that a local rule was implemented allowing players to lift and place their ball on the closest “patch of grass.”
It had improved under course superintendent Scott Giles before Augusta National stepped in with its overhaul plan. “We’ve got rough, an improvement I never thought I’d ever see and wish I hadn’t seen,” Bob West, one of the Patch’s most longtime and faithful members who runs the 40-man Bob West Group that plays every week, said two years ago before the course shut down for its redesign. “The golf course has got grass on it but the nickname the Patch is not for nothing.”
That is no longer the case now that Augusta National took over the lease (for the princely sum of $1 a year for the next 50 years). Under the direction of Welling and Augusta National’s preferred design consultant Fazio, a new course was rerouted on the same footprint as the old course. The new clubhouse, practice facilities and short course sit on the former adjacent First Tee - Augusta property. Augusta National spared no expense, as every square inch of the course including fairways, tees and greens was sodded.
“They got more grass on one hole now than they had on the whole damned Patch,” James “Buck” Buchanan told The Augusta Chronicle after the soft opening in March, labeling the new course “top shelf.”
Jim Dent, who grew up playing the Patch before winning 12 events on the PGA Tour Champions, was present three years ago when Ridley first announced his plans for Augusta Municipal. He played the old course weekly with friends before he died in 2025, while the project was in progress. But he believed in what was happening and considered it the best news for the Patch since it was integrated in the 1960s.
Jim Dent
Dave Martin, Getty Images
“When they redo it, this could be one of the finest public golf courses in Georgia,” said Dent in 2024. “Whatever they do is going to be a blessing for this golf course.”
Said Ridley: “I know he would be pleased to see the positive impact for many of The Patch’s regular golfers and community leaders. Jim will be missed, but his legacy as a central figure in Augusta’s golf history will endure in perpetuity.”
The new course is ideal for municipal play where anybody from beginners to single-digit handicappers can have fun playing it. It’s about 600 yards longer (6,650) than the former course and wide open with room to miss and larger greens. There are familiar remnants of the former layout, with the new par-4 fifth and par-5 sixth holes between the Daniel Field runway and Highland Avenue being pretty much rebuilt versions of the former 11th and 12th holes, while the new par-5 16th adjacent to Damascus Road is essentially the old 15th. The finishing hole is a rebuilt version of the former uphill third hole, with the familiar pond in play to drive over but a new green that is an homage to the two-tiered 18th at Augusta National, complete with the traditional front left Sunday pin placement.
While many regular Augusta Municipal patrons were worried that the rebuilt course might push them away from a cherished retreat for golfers who had nowhere else to play, West always believed that everything would turn out well.
“I’m an optimistic man, and I don’t think Augusta National wants to be associated with anything negative,” West said two years ago. “Augusta National will not want a municipal golf course that is not up to their standards. We’ve been assured that the rates are going to be reasonable for the locals.”
Having seen both the legacy affordable rates and the completed course, West’s beliefs were justified.
“This golf course is a dream come true,” West told the Chronicle on the first day it reopened.
The new Patch is not quite done yet. Later this year, they will break ground on the TGR Learning Lab of Augusta, which will be the fourth location for the concept Tiger Woods and his TGR Foundation started more than 20 years ago near his childhood home in Los Angeles. Augusta’s Learning Lab will provide underserved youth with access to STEAM education and workforce development opportunities. Ridley said mobile programming will begin next year with the opening of the lab targeted for 2028.
“I would like to thank the Richmond County School District and the TGR Foundation for sharing our belief in the potential for golf to make a difference well beyond the course,” Ridley said.
