This past week, we enjoyed yet another edition of one of the most unique and best-loved traditions in our part of the United States. Every year, The Masters Golf Tournament, held right up the road in Augusta, is a part of the welcoming announcement of Spring by all the azaleas, camelias and other colorful flora. It’s also a reminder of our own Pine Tree Festival celebrating the importance of the timber industry in our area. You need not be a golfer to fall victim to the charms of the Masters experience, and if you think there is nothing for you there, you are missing a great treat. Even if you only see it on TV, a Sunday afternoon spent watching the final round of play, I believe, automatically qualifies you as a fan and a semi-expert of the game. We all know the Masters is one of the premier sporting events of the year, but you may not know that it also has an obscure historical connection to Emanuel County.
The extravaganza that is now the Masters Golf Tournament grew from seeds planted before the Civil War. The 400 acres of what is now Augusta National was once a nursery that raised all manner of trees, shrubs, and exotic flowers, and was known as Fruitland Nurseries. Baron Louis Berckman was the proprietor who operated the business with the help of his sons and a staff of laborers. After his death, the business and the land lay dormant for many years until golfer Bobby Jones and his partner Clifford Roberts purchased the property in 1931 and immediately began work on the dream of developing a one-of-a-kind course. Even though the country was then in the grips of a paralyzing depression, work proceeded at a startling pace. So much so that by December of 1932, the golf course was finished. Somewhere in the midst of this 20-month project, most of the landscapers and nursery owners in the general area of Augusta were called on to participate in the intricate design of the course as specified by Bobby Jones and the course architect, Dr. Alister McKenzie who had designed the course at Pebble Beach, Californaia. An army of local laborers from many of the communities around Augusta was attracted to the steady pay offered in very lean times, and left the farm to work on the golf course. Among those laborers was a young man who was working at a nursery in nearby Thompson, Georgia. He signed up to help on the Augusta project and following its completion, his talent and interest in the work led to many other similar jobs in the surrounding area including Swainsboro. From the mid-1930s until the late 1960s, he practiced his craft on the grounds of residences and businesses in this area, applying the same skills he had learned while working on a magnificent “one-of-a-kind” golf course in Augusta, Georgia that would become the crown jewel of the golfing world.
Life is full of fascinating people who live fascinating lives often in a calm, reserved manner. Then, they are gone, leaving little more than fascinating tales consigned to history. The young man whose resume included planting trees and azaleas at one of the best-known golf courses in the world also carefully tended yards in and around Swainsboro. He quietly worked around here until he became an old man still full of life and amazing stories. Thanks, Uncle Elick for making this world a little more interesting and fascinating doing just what you loved most.