Making the Masters: Bobby Jones and the Birth of America's Greatest Golf Tournament

by David Barrett

Contested the second weekend in April each year since 1934, the Masters is the world’s most prestigious golf tournament and most-watched tournament on television. Tickets are in such demand that even the waiting list is closed, and players value the title above all others. In Making the Masters, award-winning golf writer David Barrett focuses his attention on how the Masters was conceived, how it got off the ground in 1934, and how it fully established itself in 1935. The key figure in the tournament’s creation and success was Bobby Jones, who was a living legend after winning the Grand Slam in 1930 and immediately retiring at the age of twenty-eight. He went on to found Augusta National and sought a high-profile tournament for his new course. But nearly as important was Clifford Roberts, a banker friend of Jones who not only embraced Jones’s vision but became his right-hand man in working to bring that vision to reality. 

Barrett explores how Jones and Roberts built the Masters from scratch, creating a golf institution embellished by the often surprising details of what that entailed as they were trying to establish a golf club and golf tournament in tough economic times. It also vividly chronicles the events of the 1934 and 1935 Masters, with Gene Sarazen’s spectacular victory in 1935 providing the climax. Set against the backdrop of golf, and America, in the 1930s, the book provides an informative and entertaining read for fans of the Masters and students of golf history.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Dan Shonka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid book that gives the reader an interesting history of the building of Augusta National. Imagine trying to build an exclusive golf course during the Great Depression. Naturally there were a lot of struggles. The proposed solution: starting up an invitational (elite) tournament. During the Great Depression. The 3 resources that gave this daunting task a chance-- the perfect property, Bobby Jones & McAlister to design, and Bobby Jones coming out of four years of retirement to play the first two (formative) Masters Tournaments. David Barrett does a nice job giving the reader mini-bios of all the key characters (admins and players). This is a smooth read that moves right along. I recommend it.

[Chris Organ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Masters is possibly my favourite sporting event of the year / all time especially as I was lucky enough to go there for the final 2 rounds of the 2012 event . This book was a very thoughtful gift and contained much information that I did not know about the genesis of the course and the event and a lot of interesting anecdotes . On the negative side there was too much detail about the description of some of the rounds of the 1934 / 35 inaugural events and believe me there is nothing more boring than a blow by blow account of another person’s round of golf no matter how good they are . One for the golf purist possibly

[John Pitcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stroke of Genius

My rating is skewed since I love sports; I've been blessed to attend the Masters nearly a dozen or more times (mostly practice rounds, but a few regular rounds). I'm buying at least three more copies to give as gifts. So I hope if you decide to read this book, you enjoy it as much as I did.

P.S. I also recommend the movies "A Stroke of Genius" and "The Greatest Game Ever Played".

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of the early days of Augusta National and The Masters. I had no idea of the very odd, humble beginnings of the club and the tournament. We listened to the audiobook on the way home from attending the actual tournament, which was a great way to do it so we could clearly picture each hole they described. Really great read for any golf fan.

[Corey Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid history. Jumbled story

Lots of name dropping and tangential deviations from the story. Definitely adds depth but it could be more tactful at times. The name dropping was occasionally frivolous. Such as listing all the board members after Roberts was outplayed by the chamber.

[Chad Ethridge]

I was hoping for more of an actual history of the creation of Augusta National and the routing of the course, architecture, etc. This was similar to reading statistics for the first few Masters tournmaents.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so disappointed in this book! I had been wanted to read something about the history of Augusta National for sometime, and when I went to select a book, is one stood out because it was written by a sports writer and it was the newest work on the topic. I was quickly disappointed as even the writing style here was bad - I really felt like it was written at about the junior high level. Additionally, it was very text-booky and boring - the author just didn't do a good job of "telling the story". The referencing also bothered me - he kept referring back to another book on Augusta, written by David Owen about 10 years ago; why not just read that book, then? Finally, I wanted to learn more about the later years of Augusta and what happened to it's key players, but this book just stops around 1936. Overall, VERY disappointing!

[Gonzaga Escauriaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very amusing and easy to read.

You learn a lot of anecdotes and and that Augusta had a humble beginning.

It is interesting to know that the course was designed with only 22 traps.

Know there are 44 which is still very reasonable and excellent for the greenkeepers.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read and listened to the audible book simultaneously. Slow moving but it was an interesting read if you are a golfer and interested in The Masters.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really informative but also really dry.

[Lance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually 2 1/2 would be fair, but this book was a struggle to finish. It was more a glowing bio of Bobby Jones - and in many golf circles, Jones is already bigger than life - than anything else. The chapters on the actual construction of the course at Augusta was the best part of the book and were good enough that they made me want to finish, but overall this book was disappointing for me.