AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Two years ago, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced plans to enhance the Augusta Municipal Golf Course that has served the local golf community for nearly a century. On Monday, Tiger Woods joined a project that has grown significantly beyond upgrading a course known fondly as “the Patch.”
Just more than three months since designers Tom Fazio and Beau Welling broke ground and cleared the land for a complete redesign of a new Patch, Ridley announced in a special Masters week Monday press conference that Woods and his TGR Design team will design a new nine-hole short course on the corner of the combined property where The First Tee Augusta practice facility currently is situated.
“Tiger’s design will be called The Loop at the Patch, a name that will pay tribute to caddies [loopers] who have used the course as a gathering spot for decades,” said Ridley. “With the scheduled completion a year from now, this nine-hole par-3 course will be great fun and serve all golfers, ranging from those being introduced to the game to the most avid players.”
In addition, Woods’ TGR Foundation will partner with Augusta National Golf Club to create a fourth TGR Learning Lab in Augusta to deliver STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) to the more than 23,000 students in Augusta-Richmond County public schools. Woods was unable to attend Monday’s announcement as he recovers from Achilles’ tendon surgery that forced him to withdraw from this year’s Masters, but he spoke via recorded video wearing his green jacket.
“What an honor to be here and to have this moment to be able to be part of Augusta National but just in a different way,” Woods said. “To have the ability to be able to design something that’s going to impact the community, something that I truly believe in, in education and STEAM and giving back to the underserved, and to be able to do this with Augusta National, what an honor.”
Tiger’s association with the project took root a couple of weeks before the 2024 Masters when he and Ridley played a round together at Augusta National. The subject of the Patch was broached and it immediately piqued the five-time Masters champion’s interest. The concept of his design team creating the short course, as he has done with The Hay short course at Pebble Beach, took shape quickly and that grew into the larger idea of partnering with ANGC to create a fourth TGR Learning Lab in Augusta to go along with the original in Anaheim, California, a newly opened one at Cobb Creek in Philadelphia and another one being built in Los Angeles.
“We also recognize the importance of deepening Tiger’s legacy in Augusta and with the Masters, and this we felt was an enduring way that we could be forever connected with Tiger and all he’s done at the Masters and now all that he’s going to be doing in this community,” Ridley said.
With an expected 2028 opening, TGR Learning Lab Augusta will be located less than two miles from Augusta National in the Harrisburg neighborhood at the former Lamar Elementary School and add a complementary program to the local school system.
“There are 27 Richmond County schools within a 10-mile radius of the proposed location of the lab that together can serve more than 23,000 students from the school system,” Ridley said. “Students at the lab will have access to The Loop to learn the game of golf as well as the values of the game that will positively influence them throughout their lives.”
Ridley released a course map for the Patch redevelopment as well as a new course logo depicting a head of cabbage atop a golf tee. “We are leaning into the nickname the Patch, as the course was fondly referred to by local golfers,” Ridley said.
Augusta Municipal was first built in 1928 by Scotland native David Ogilvie, who more famously designed Augusta’s original 18-hole Hill Course for Augusta Country Club in 1908. Ogilvie’s ACC course – which sits above Augusta National’s Amen Corner – was redesigned by Donald Ross in 1927 and later renovated by Brian Silva. Augusta National first opened in 1933 after being co-designed by Alister MacKenzie and club co-founder Bobby Jones.
Meanwhile, the Patch evolved on a meager budget without any big-name course designers clambering to put their name and imprint on it. It came by its nickname honestly, originating from the late Red Douglas, who ran the course for decades and grew a vegetable garden left of the par-3 10th hole at the end of the Daniel Field runway. Folks started calling it “The Cabbage Patch.” The nickname suited a golf course with its share of weeds covering the rest of the acreage as well in its many leaner years.
“We know once this project is complete, it will strengthen this nearly 100-year-old public golf facility while keeping it affordable.” – Fred Ridley
Once Augusta National, with its ample coffers, took an interest in the Patch, the tenor changed around the muni that helped hone the game of caddies and homegrown pros like Jim Dent. In 2023, Ridley announced a “joint partnership” between ANGC, Augusta Municipal Golf Course, Augusta Technical College and The First Tee of Augusta “to usher in a new era for public golf in our city” that he hopes “will be a model for other communities.”
Ridley announced last year that Fazio and Welling were retained “to lead the renovation of this historic municipal course.” It took nearly two years for the renovation project to start, with the Patch finally closing Dec. 29 for a comprehensive yearlong “transformative overhaul” that broke ground on New Year’s Day. It is expected to reopen before the 2026 Masters next April.
A new Jim Dent Way entrance will be moved to the opposite corner of the property that is bracketed on two sides by runways at Daniel Field Airport. A brand-new clubhouse and outdoor pavilion will be built in the northeast corner near where The First Tee currently resides, along with a driving range and expansive practice areas for local schools and the general public. The completely new 18-hole routing – which Ridley said could extend to roughly 6,800 yards – will incorporate the existing corridors of 11 of the original holes that hug closest to the airport.
“We know once this project is complete, it will strengthen this nearly 100-year-old public golf facility while keeping it affordable,” Ridley said. “This preservation will uplift those who have loved playing here while fostering opportunities for others to come enjoy the game.”
Renderings of the future at Augusta Municipal Golf Course (Courtesy Augusta National)
The collaboration with the Patch and the adjacent First Tee Augusta goes beyond just building a better golf course, as Ridley originally outlined a three-component partnership plan in 2023. Augusta Technical College will relocate its golf course management program and create educational opportunities aligned with The First Tee to train and develop the next generation of golf’s workforce. The community engagement collaboration is designed to produce programming that will provide affordable and welcoming pathways to anyone who wants to learn or be involved in the game.
As for the regulars who’ve long cherished the Patch’s and First Tee’s affordable access to the game, Ridley promised that will remain the case despite the enhancements. “I can promise you that the word ‘affordability’ will continue to be the watchword,” Ridley said. “We realize that this is an asset for the community and everyone in the community, and we have every intention and we will – I commit to you that we will continue to have it be an affordable place for people to play golf.”
Renovation plans include rebuilding and re-sodding greens, improving tee boxes, and addressing fairway conditions that have long been a challenge for the underfunded municipal facility which offered public rates ranging from $20 (weekday walking) to $37 (weekend riding) and monthly memberships at $155 (plus a $3 Trail Fee for carts).
Regulars hope it will remain affordable after all the renovations. “I don’t want prices to get rid of those guys who’ve been here through the storm,” said Ira Miller, the former longtime general manager at Augusta Municipal. “I feel very strongly that’s gonna happen, that they will not change.”