Stacie Zinn Roberts reports from Augusta Municipal Golf Course, which has reopened its golf facilities following projects by Tom Fazio, Beau Welling and Tiger Woods’ TGR Design
By Stacie Zinn Roberts |
This past spring in Augusta, Georgia, the focus shifted away from the azaleas at Augusta National – at least for a moment – to a municipal facility 10 minutes down the road.
Augusta Municipal Golf Course, otherwise known as The Patch, reopened after a year-long renovation by Tom Fazio and Beau Welling. A new nine-hole short course called The Loop at The Patch designed by Tiger Woods’ TGR Design, has also been added to the facility.
Funding and support for the project came from Masters Tournament Charities, Augusta Technical College, The First Tee of Augusta and the city of Augusta. The goal of the partnership is to offer the next generation of golfers from the Augusta region an affordable and welcome place to experience the game of golf. More than just a municipal golf course, the facility is slated to include a learning centre that gives back to the community through educational programmes and will serve as an engine for golf and turfgrass industry workforce development.
The course and practice facilities have been designed to cater for the varied skill levels of golfers who will play there. Junior golfers and students, who may be taking up the game for the first time, have been front of mind for this project.
“One of the cool, unique things in the mission of this property is for the game to be fun,” says Will Guererri, director of golf course and grounds at The Patch. “The driving range is at a 45-degree angle so that when juniors are hitting off the tee, they get some air under the ball and can see it go in the air for a little bit.”
Intentional design elements like that add to the facility’s inclusiveness. “It’s a fun, come shoot your best round and enjoy yourself kind of place,” says Guererri. “There’s nothing that would be too daunting at all for a beginner, an amateur, or a seasoned player while also being an engaging golf experience. It’s very forgiving.”
The Patch has elevation changes of 150 feet, rolling fairways and picturesque corridors. “There are a lot of great holes out here,” says Guererri.
Aside from greens and native areas, all surfaces on both The Patch and The Loop were sodded with Tahoma 31 bermuda (Photo: Augusta Municipal Golf Course)
The site offered its own unique design attributes – it is intersected by the airport runways of the adjacent Daniel Field. Planes manoeuvring for take-off and landing can be seen from several holes.
The Loop at The Patch, the new nine-hole short course by TGR Design, loops around itself on a recently added section of property. From an aerial view, The Loop resembles an elephant’s ear with the fifth and sixth holes of The Patch forming the elephant’s trunk.
As Augusta National is renowned for its meticulous maintenance standards, Guererri acknowledges that comparisons to the hallowed property down the road are inevitable. “Yes, we get that question a lot,” he says. “Having the affiliation is great, and the relationship is great, but we’re two different properties.”
The Patch is expected to be open year-round, with some of its heaviest play coming in the early spring and summer. To withstand the rigours of play during a Georgia summer, greens were grassed with TifEagle bermuda. Native areas have centipede grass. All other surfaces on both The Patch and The Loop were sodded with Tahoma 31 bermuda, known for its ability to withstand heat and survive drought-like conditions.
Tahoma 31 was grown at Legacy Turf Farm, a sod farm in nearby Cartersville, Georgia. As many as 14 trucks transported fresh-cut sod every day from June through October 2025. It was harvested as sod, instead of sprigs, to present a mature golf surface in time to unveil the course in early April.
Sodding began in June 2025 and was completed in September 2025, allowing 90 days to sod 27 holes of golf. The driving range was sodded in October. By then, autumn dormancy was setting in. Guererri was surprised at how early it started to break winter dormancy. He says: “As soon as we got the first warm spell in February 2026, we really saw it take off.”
This article first appeared in the July 2026 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.