The “augusta Effect”: Finding Tech In Unlikely Places

08 Apr 2015 | sigadmin

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The Masters at Augusta National have famously always given off an impression of an almost pathological aversion to technology. True, the scoreboards are still manually operated with old-fashioned rollers to minimise noise disturbance, and cellphones/ other electronic devices are banned on course year-round, but look a little closer and you’ll see one of the most technologically advanced courses to be found.

Each of the greens at August is fitted with SubAir equipment, an airflow technology originally assembled by Marsh Benson, the club’s senior director of golf course and grounds. The units are also independently exported to other clubs who can afford the technology.

The SubAir system uses an air pump to remove air from beneath the greens, which in turn creates a vacuum that draws out layering water or residual moisture from the surface. If you put the pump into reverse, the air is sucked in beneath the greens to produce subsurface cooling when needed, almost, but not quite, removing the need for Mother Nature.

The greens are not the only part of the course that get technological treatment – the fairways are not immune. Running beneath the fairways is a latticework of wire and pipes, directly wired to the club’s bespoke weather station. So, if a storm is predicted to pass on the weather station, the sprinklers are automatically shut off until the weather has moved through. When it comes to water, Augusta means business. Every single drop of water, be it deliberate irrigation, or something more natural, is measured and accounted for.

That’s not to say that Mother Nature isn’t involved somewhere in the course. Georgia benefits from a solid climate all year round, and the grounds of Augusta were once a nursery. Flowers like the dogwood and azalea bloom of their own accord around the Masters.

Water systems and climate aside, there is also a highly advanced network of cables running beneath the fairways to make the host CBS crew’s TV production as “plug-and-play” as you can get. Equipment simply gets plugged in at each hole, with no unsightly transmission towers or temporary rigging set up to spoil the Augusta vista.

Maintenance is not taken lightly at Augusta. Dozens of course superintendents and ground staff volunteer to work ahead of, during, and after the Masters. The arrangement is somewhat mutually beneficial as the old course gets the attention of multi-skilled persons who are determined to bring out the best in the course; and the staff in turn get a peak at what lies behind the façade of Augusta, including the gold standard equipment and design.

The “Augusta Effect” has been known to inflict some patrons after the Masters as they return home to their gardens and grounds, which are somehow a little less bright, and a little less well kept than Augusta. Not that it doesn’t come at a price. The Augusta National PTY are estimated to bring in around $10 million in profit from the Masters (and that’s erring on the more conservative side of the scale), and potentially even more from they’re various merchandising streams. Making the Augusta “glow” a little less attainable for the Average Joe.

Knowing how they do it and doing it yourself are two very different things indeed.