Augusta National’s Master Plan for The Patch

Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley announced on Monday that the club would be teaming up with Tiger Woods and his TGR Design firm to build a nine-hole short course called “The Loop” at Augusta Municipal Golf Course–locally known as “The Patch.” In addition, an extensive renovation of the existing 18-hole golf course is being carried out by Tom Fazio and Beau Welling. This continues Augusta National’s initiative to provide education and access to the local community through a public golf facility.

Initial discussions for a revitalization of The Patch began in 2023 and course renovation work began in January of this year with hopes to complete the project and open in April 2026. Last year, I visited the Patch and outlined what I’d like to see happen with the renovation to best suit the local community and its golfers. With the release of Fazio and Welling’s master plan for the golf course and adjacent facilities, let’s dive into the details.

Plans for The Patch.

Right off the bat it’s clear that there will be holistic changes to the entire golf facility with the relocation of the clubhouse and entrance, plus a rerouting of the golf course and reshuffling of the golf adjacent facilities. The clubhouse, parking, and start of each nine will move from the existing central-southern location up to the northern part of the property near the old third green and fourth tee. This will create a hub of activity around the clubhouse. On a recent Designing Golf Podcast, Welling spoke about how he aims to make the design of his courses and facilities more socially welcoming and to promote human interaction. The master plan shows this concept in action, with the clubhouse surrounded by the short course, driving range, putting course, event lawn, practice green, and first and 10th tees. This design layout will certainly promote a very lively and active scene around the clubhouse, similar to The Park in West Palm Beach.

The press release also states that 11 holes from the existing layout will remain in the same corridors, with several newly designed holes being added. Based on the master plan, it appears that these 11 will include the old second, third, fourth, sixth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, and 16th holes. I noted last year that the routing of holes 10 through 14 on the southern side of the golf course were problematic to the flow of the round, but it seems that this issue will not be solved with the redesigned course. My hunch is that a buffer zone towards the end of the airport runway is necessary for safety, thus leaving a dead zone where 100-plus yard walks will be required between the new third green and fourth tee along with the new seventh green and eighth tee. In addition, there’s a lengthy transition between the eighth and ninth holes, plus the 10th and 11th holes on the new design. I suspect the relocation of the clubhouse created a more complex puzzle to figure out with the routing but I would have liked to see closer green-to-tee transitions prioritized to promote more golfers walking the course.

A few things that I wanted to see in the new design were an economical use of bunkers to keep maintenance costs down and playability up, along with open fronts to greens to allow for beginners to run shots along the ground onto the putting surfaces. Both of these seem to be answered within the master plan, with a total of 36 bunkers and wide openings to the greens on the vast majority of holes. While a master plan is not always 100% reflective of what is actually going to happen, it appears there will be a considerable amount of rough as opposed to the more naturalized sandy areas that I had suggested last year. If this is the case, I hope it is maintained at a low height to help make the course approachable for all types of golfers.

Additionally, we will see the existing six-hole First Tee of Augusta course get replaced with a more robust 380-yard driving range and short game range. Tiger’s new short course will replace the First Tee of Augusta’s driving range.

All of these proposed changes are very exciting and reflect the more dynamic golf facilities that are becoming more prevalent in today’s golf development. The stereotypical 18-hole championship golf course and driving range are a thing of the past, and The Patch seems to be striving for a more diverse and inclusive golf facility, which will greatly benefit the local community. While the new routing may not utilize the wonderful rolling landscape to the absolute maximum, the facility as a whole will be an enormous upgrade from what existed before. This will ultimately help give access to more golfers while providing a high-quality avenue for newcomers to the game.