The city of Augusta sits on Georgia’s eastern border, just across the Savannah River from the South Carolina towns of North Augusta and Aiken. Most would consider Augusta to be a sleepy Southern town, with nearly 200,000 residents, which places it well outside the country’s hundred largest cities.
For 51 weeks out of the year, the city’s robust working-class economy gets undergirded by reliable employers, most notably Fort Gordon and Augusta University. Traffic moves freely past the strip centers that line Washington Road, the main north-south corridor that roughly parallels the river.
On the 52nd week, all hell breaks loose. That, of course, is the week of the Masters. This year, golf’s first major championship will take place April 11-14.
Augusta National Golf Club will never rank among the city’s largest employers. It’s not even open year-round, despite the region’s relatively temperate climate. The famously private club doesn’t discuss its A-list membership, which includes the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Condoleezza Rice, or its operations or constantly evolving golf course. Or much of anything else, for that matter.
But the Masters’ money and impact on the community speak volumes. Locals say the tournament’s economic impact exceeds $120 million annually, though no one is quite sure where that number originated. It didn’t come from the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce or visitors bureau, and Rick Franza, dean of the James M. Hull College of Business at Augusta University, said his colleagues hadn’t researched the subject.
Everyone, however, agrees it’s a significant number, given the tens of thousands of well-heeled golf fans who, each April, pour into a city that would not otherwise draw many tourists.
Thanks to the Masters, Franza said, “A lot of people make money here.” Here are some of the ways they do it.
With hotel rooms in short supply, many residents leave town during the tournament and rent their homes to visiting groups. Two weeks before the competition, the Masters Housing Bureau listed 498 properties for rent. On the budget end of the spectrum, renters can expect to pay at least $1,000 per night for a house during tournament week. A room at Holiday Inn Express in downtown Augusta rents for $696 per night during tournament week. Free spenders might want to check out the five-bedroom, 5,200-square-foot home three miles from the course, priced at $75,000 for a one-week stay.
The Masters has served as a marketing platform for city and state officials for decades. Franza noted, for example, that the state annually holds its Red Carpet Tour during tournament week to introduce corporate executives to Augusta and other parts of the state.
Area golf clubs have been drafting off of Augusta National for years. Private clubs that generally don’t allow outside play throw open their doors to corporate groups and individuals in town for the tournament. This once-a-year windfall can be substantial. During Masters week, Champions Retreat, which will co-host the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur April 3-6, is charging $3,000, including food and drink, for a foursome. Four-course dinners start at $150. West Lake Country Club is charging $1,900 per foursome.
The real money, however, is in real estate. Specifically the tens of millions of dollars Augusta National spends to expand its golf course, parking, and hospitality areas. The Augusta Chronicle reported that in 2018 Augusta National spent $41 million gobbling up two shopping centers on 42 acres near the course. The roughly $1 million per acre seems a bargain compared to the $5.35 million the club paid for a music store on a 3/4-acre lot near the course. That was quickly followed by a $6.9 million acquisition of a nearby Pep Boys. In 2017, Augusta National spent a reported $25 million buying about five acres from neighboring Augusta Country Club, all so that it could add about 50 yards to its 13th hole.
It has been going on for years. In 2015, Golf Digest reported the club spent $55 million over the preceding 15 years, acquiring 100 acres near the course. These land grabs resulted in a reshaping of Augusta’s infrastructure, some of which the club has been only too happy to accommodate. During the construction of the new Berckmans Road in 2015 on the club’s western periphery, Augusta National loaned the city $17 million to expedite completion of the project.
Franza said locals are “a little bit wary about how far the expansion will go.” For example, there is concern that the local community may lose the Publix grocery store that anchors one of the strip centers the club acquired.
Augusta National, however, has engendered a lot of goodwill within the community. With little fanfare, Franza said, the club annually makes seven-figure charitable donations to support local initiatives. The Masters also takes pains not to gouge golf fans attending the tournament.
“There are a lot of good things about it,” Franza said. “A lot of the expansion they’ve done has resulted in a lot of free parking that didn’t exist before. At the tournament, food prices look like they’re from the 1970s. They’re trying to make it a great experience.”
Martin Kaufmann has covered sports for more than two decades, including the past 16 years as senior editor at Golfweek.
