Augusta National may ultimately lengthen its iconic 13th hole, but that change won’t be made ahead of the 2020 Masters. Nevertheless, the club will unveil its latest modernisation to the property come April.
Last year Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced the addition of the Global Broadcast Village, a state-of-the-art television and digital compound. The space, almost 16 hectares, was previously occupied by a Big Tree shopping centre, the Savannah West apartment complex and Lakemont Presbyterian Church.
The area, located outside club walls (near the par 3 course) and separated by the busy Washington Road, necessitated the installation of a tunnel. Connected to the golf course to Gate 1, Ridley introduced this endeavour as the “Washington Road Underpass Project”.
“This project is the first of its kind in the state of Georgia,” Ridley said in 2019. “Thanks to modern engineering, we will be able to excavate under Washington Road without any impact to the flow of traffic above.”
With the 2020 Masters to begin in eight weeks, MetroSpirit.com was able to capture some photos of the tunnel from its development to its completion.
The tunnel is eight metres deep and 37 metres long, with an interior five metres high and eight metres wide. Additionally, the blueprints submitted to the city last year detailed the club adding more than 200 pines, oaks and holly as landscape to the renovated area. More photos of the tunnel can be found on Metrospirit.com.
Augusta National has been active in buying surrounding real estate to expand the club’s footprint. In the past few years the club’s purchased a 11-hectare strip mall, a Pep Boys and music store, and a part of neighbouring Augusta Country Club.
