Fishing The Ponds At Augusta National Must Be What Dreams Are Made Of
Yesterday was one of the most incredible days of internet in a long time, and at the center of it was Tiger Woods’ win at The Masters. His first major since 2008! What a cool ass moment to be able to witness… but did you see those ponds in the background? I couldn’t stop looking behind the golfers as they stood around waiting for someone to putt or behind the digital leaderboard as the showed who was winning.
Augusta is obviously known as one of the most exclusive courses in the entire world. You can’t even dream of playing there, let alone desecrating the course by walking around fishing, right? Do these fish just live completely untouched and un-messed with? Look at these sexy ass ponds and creeks!
Look at that water. That water looks like the type of place that holds FAT hogs that set up shop and bust off people’s rattletraps for decades. When Tiger was walking across Hogan Bridge I was staring below looking for a 6lb. hog to just smoke something off the top.
Now I’m sure the Augusta National CIA already has me on a list for even tweeting that yesterday, but there’s always a chance! When you google it, there are surprisingly a fair amount of results…
This tweet from Golf.com that leads to a deleted article (hmm…)
Fishing holes. We’re talking fishing holes. Yes, fishing. On the famed, hallowed grounds of Augusta National. Prim and proper Augusta National.
Where such an activity would probably be considered sacrilege. Where as a member, if you dared pull out a fishing rod instead of a pitching wedge, you’d probably see your membership revoked. And where the fishing is said to be quite good. How do we know this? From the caddies.
The first time Tripp Bowden stepped foot on the hallowed grounds was to go fishing. The club’s caddie master, the legendary Freddie Bennett, took him as a 10-year-old. Bowden, in his memoir “Freddie & Me” about his time as an Augusta caddie, wrote that Augusta National was a “fishing haven.”
President Dwight Eisenhower used to fish for bream and bass in the pond around the eighth and ninth holes of the par-3 course, according to Monte Burke of Forbes.com. In fact, it was Eisenhower who suggested to then Augusta National chairman Clifford Roberts that a dam be built to create the pond. About.com says Roberts liked the idea, built the dam and created a fishing hole.
But Bowden told Burke that some of the best fishing was found on the mother course, famous for the Masters, a tradition unlike any other. Who knew there was another tradition — fishing — to talk about at Augusta?
No. 12 is a 155-yard par-3 that is fronted by Rae’s Creek. It is said to be full of bream.
“The caddies loved to fish there,” Bowden told Burke. No. 16 is a 170-yard par-3 with a pond stretching from tee to green, and it is full of bass. “You ain’t never seen fishing like this,” Bennett told a 10-year-old Bowden. “We’ll catch ‘em so fast you’ll be huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. “Best fishing in the world.”
Well GODDAMN!!! I don’t know about you but I’m salivating over here! The part about Eisenhower is so awesome. There’s nothing cooler than a President who can do pretty much whatever he wants pulling up to the most exclusive course there is, just to catch a shitload of fish. I’m told you can’t even ask to be a member at Augusta or else they blackball you, so I am not asking… but if ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS, my DMs are open!
h/t @aBroham_lncoln on Twitter for the article