At the first playing of the tournament that is now known as the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club needed to borrow chairs from a funeral home. The club needed money to buy grass seed, and the only reason we now know Augusta National’s clubhouse as one of golf’s most iconic buildings is because the club at first didn’t have enough money to tear it down. In the latest episode of Local Knowledge, Alex Myers talks to David Owen, author of “The Making of the Masters,” to learn how profoundly Augusta National struggled in its early years, and how desperation led to some of golf’s most important innovations.
