The Masters: Golf, Money, and Power in Augusta, Georgia Paperback – March 16, 1999

Great book. Have read it twice now.

I liked learning about the relationships that grew between Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts. I did not like the type of person that Cliff Roberts was as portrayed in the book. Their relationships with President Eisenhower were also very telling. This was a good golf study but not a favorite. It kind of lessened my view of the Mastersbandnthe arrogance of those that ran it.

What a gut check sports book. This portrait is so much more than a shrewd indictment of Augustan golf elitists. With an expose tone that takes to task the southern good old boy mentality behind the Masters mystique, this book outs all the wheeling and dealing of a Wall St. businessman's tournament that played favorites and treated outsiders who were different, unliked or unwanted as subject to inside power play influence. In other words, talent and luck weren't enough to wear a green jacket. The big wigs had to like you for you to get a fair shot or you had to shock the world.Take for instance a telling excerpt from the story of Gene Sarazen, who in a scene straight out of The Natural was visited at night by a mysterious lady Masters week. Who sent her and what was her mission? Was it perhaps to temp the little guy off of his golf game because he was not white enough for the local blue bloods to win? This brings to mind a statement of Johnny Miller who never won there and once said that guys like Rocco Mediate cleaned your pool and did not get their names on champion trophies. Were snobs who think like him gatekeepers of Augusta National?Eugenio Saraceni who put the Masters on the map in 1935 with his famous double eagle Shot Heard Around The World and was the first champ to win all 4 modern majors had to change his name because of guys like this. This along with many other interesting tidbits leaves you with the feeling this that this tournament was once run by hard, cold rogues with too many biases and prejudices. Today the event is too international in scope and global in scale to get away with that. But the history of its exclusionary evolution is as fascinating as any story in American sports lore. Must read.

It’s a fantastic book!

The Masters is an interesting read, but surely the first rule of writing books like these is to provide both points of view. The average person has no chance to find out what Augusta National is really like, so we need to rely on authors such as Curt Sampson to go behind the myth and reveal the truth.If you compare "The Masters" with "The Making of the Masters" by David Owen, you wouldn't believe the two authors are writing about the same golf club. Most likely the truth lies somewhere between the two books - Owen could be the chief cheerleader for Augusta National, while Sampson isn't likely to be on the Chairman's Christmas card list.I would recommend the book to the serious golf fan, but have an open mind when reading it.

I've watched the Masters on tv for over 40 years and this book details who were the real powers behind the scenes. This book tells the history of Augusta National and the leading characters that kept it the most sought after membership of any club in the world. If you like reading about tournament golf, which I do, you will love his book. I would recommend the book to a friend.

The author has written a compelling book about one of golf’s great golf courses and how it came to be what it is today. What strikes me is the irony of history past and the present status of people of color, when the subject of systematic racism is brought up. The author had no way of knowing that events of today so validate, the racism of the past, and all of the great black players that never got their chance. I highly recommend this book. A great read about the background stories.

I bought this book for someone who is a great golfer, has attended the Masters championship and who golfs almost every day of the week. Even with all that knowledge and experience, he sat down with the book and read it cover to cover right after he opened the gift. He enjoyed the pictures and enjoyed the memories the chapters of the book brought to him about this great course and annual event. It makes a great gift for beginners as well as long-time golfers.