If you ever hit the Powerball and decide to build your own golf course, do the world a favor: Don’t name your golf holes. Stick with the hole numbers, because they are sufficient. Golf holes don’t need names, which tend to lean toward Devil's Demise or Shoreline Crescendo – you likely won't be able to prevent yourself from getting that corny. Who do you think you are, Augusta National?
Of course, every rule needs an exception, and at the home of the Masters this practice makes perfect sense because of its natural sensibility. Each hole has a name, and if you’re a real Augustaphile, you know them all. Flowering this, dogwood that. Golden Bell sounds lovely.
Augusta National Golf Club named its holes because each has at least one example of a type of tree or shrub planted alongside it. Once known as Fruitland Nurseries, the land upon which the course sits was owned by the Berckmans family. Louis Alphonse Berckmans returned after the course was built to help rehabilitate the trees and shrubs, and he was given a membership at the new club.
In 1932 as a member of the club's Beautification Committee, working alongside Augusta National founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, Berckmans helped select the 18 varieties of tree or shrub for each hole. Some specimens already were in place, while others needed to be relocated. Worth noting: The club has said more than 80,000 plants of over 350 varieties have been planted around the property.
With the greenery in place, the holes had their names. It works so well at Augusta National as part of a tradition that would be tough to match anywhere else.
The names of the holes at Augusta National Golf Club
- No. 1, Tea Olive: Par 4, 445 yards
- No. 2, Pink Dogwood: Par 5, 585 yards
- No. 3, Flowering Peach: Par 4, 350 yards
- No. 4, Flowering Crab Apple: Par 3, 240 yards
- No. 5, Magnolia: Par 4, 495 yards
- No. 6, Juniper: Par 3, 180 yards
- No. 7, Pampas: Par 4, 450 yards
- No. 8, Yellow Jasmine: Par 5, 570 yards
- No. 9, Carolina Cherry: Par 4, 460 yards
- No. 10, Camelia: Par 4, 495 yards
- No. 11, White Dogwood: Par 4, 520 yards
- No. 12, Golden Bell: Par 3, 155 yards
- No. 13, Azalea: Par 5, 545 yards
- No. 14, Chinese Fir: Par 4, 440 yards
- No. 15, Firethorn: Par 5, 550 yards
- No. 16, Redbud: Par 3, 170 yards
- No. 17, Nandina: Par 4, 440 yards
- No. 18, Holly: Par 4, 465 yards
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What is the inspiration for the names of the holes at the Masters?
