The annual Masters tournament is less than a month away, and that means locals have several options on what to do.
Since it’s spring break for students, many work at the Augusta National to make some extra money. Blake Lewis, a sophomore at Grovetown High School, will be working at the Masters for the first time.
“I heard it from my teacher, and it sounded like an excellent idea to make money,” Lewis said. “I also wanted to see golf in person and was like, I can apply my skills of being an amazing driver to drive the golf carts.”
Lewis said his job will include picking up trash and driving the golf carts. But what he’s looking forward to most is the money he will make.
“I don’t have school. Nothing is going to conflict with this. It was easy to get the job,” he said.
Janita Wells will be working at Champions Retreat during the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Masters. During the year she works as a bartender and events coordinator at Champions, but during the Masters, she works primarily as a bartender.
“During ANWA and Masters, ANWA is pretty much bartending outside for that tournament every single day,” Wells said. “Then that Sunday after ANWA, we go straight into Masters. We have a venue called The Barn, and we usually use it for weddings for 200, 300 or 400 people, so we turn that into a steak house.”
She said that at The Barn, they usually serve a couple of hundred people a night. While working at Champions, Wells said she has met people from all over the world, including family members of professional golfers.
“It’s fun. It’s a lot (of work), but it’s fun,” Wells said.
Because so many people come to town for the tournament, many locals rent out their houses to patrons. For Kyle Rogers, this will be the first year he and his girlfriend are renting out their house. He said there is a lot that goes into getting the house ready for the week.
“We had to clean it extremely good just to get pictures for Airbnb. We had to move stuff around. We had to make changes,” Rogers said. “…it’s a lot of work to get the pictures done, and if we actually rent it out we’ll hire a maid service to do a deep clean.”
As for why he wanted to rent out the house, Rogers said it was for the money. Any money made from renting will go toward updating the house.
While Rogers is renting his house out for the first time, Jack Deese, owner of the New York Butcher Shoppe, and his wife have rented their house out for the last several years. They did it the first time because a friend has a situation come up where she needed a house.
“She actually takes care of some of the golfers and had a last minute situation come up and asked if we were interested in renting, and we had already been discussing it and said yes,” Deese said. “It was to one of the well-known golfers, and it went very well…we’ve been renting to the same group ever since.”
Like Rogers, Deese said a lot of work goes into getting the house ready for Masters week.
“We spend the either month of March cleaning and (doing) repairs, and you know, we do all the home repairs that you’re supposed to do anyway, but we’re forced to do it because we have to get ready for our guests,” Deese said. “…we have the benefit of being forced to take care of our house. I think it’s a win/win for everybody.”
Visitors looking for non-golfing activities for the week can take in one of the 14 parks in Columbia County, including Evans Town Center Park, Patriots Park, Lakeside Park, Gateway Park and at Savannah Rapids. These parks offer a variety of activities, including playgrounds and trails for walking or jogging. Many of the areas have picnic tables, pavilions and restrooms. At Savannah Rapids Park, visitors can take the Augusta Canal Trail all the way from Savannah Rapids into downtown Augusta. In downtown Augusta, visitors can walk along the Riverwalk. Just across the river in North Augusta, S.C., visitors can stroll along the North Augusta Greeneway. For more information on the parks, visit https://www.columbiacountyga.gov/community/parks-the-environment/parks-greenspace.
Besides parks and walking/jogging trails, there are several museums’ visitors can stop by. In Harlem, patrons can stop by the Harlem Museum and Welcome Center, which is home of the Laurel and Hardy Museum. The museum features several exhibits including the Genesis of Harlem, Harlem Did It First, Celebrating Our People and The Marvels of Education. There are also some interactive parts of the museum, including a cinema room, photo options, a “Where in the World were Laurel and Hardy,” and What does “We Are Harlem” Mean to You? The museum is located 135 North Louisville St. in Harlem. For more information, visit https://harlemmuseumandwelcomecenter.com.
The Grovetown Museum features a history of the city. The museum is located at 106 E. Robinson in Grovetown next to Grovetown City Hall. The museum is open Thursday – Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
The Augusta Museum of History is located in downtown Augusta at 560 Reynolds St. in Augusta from Thursday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum features a variety of exhibits and programs. For more information, visit https://www.augustamuseum.org.
Also downtown is the Morris Museum of Art located at 1 Tenth St., Augusta. It is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The art museum features a variety of exhibits, including a permanent collection. For more information, visit https://www.themorris.org.
For those wanting to venture outside the area, there is the Robert Toombs House state historic site in Washington. Robert Toombs had a career as a U.S. congressman and senator and served as the Confederate Secretary of State for five months before resigning to serve as a brigadier general in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was one of the top contenders for president of the Confederate States of America, but because he was drunk for most of the convention, delegates decided not to vote for him. Before the Civil War, Tombs was one of the highest paid attorneys in the South, which is obvious from the architecture of his house. During the Reconstruction Era, he believed Georgia should have its own constitution. For more information, visit https://gastateparks.org/RobertToombsHouse.
Also in Washington is the Callaway Plantation, 2160 Lexington Road, Washington. This is a 56-acre plantation where visitors can learn about Job Calloway, who built a log cabin at the location in 1787, and the history of Wilkes County. For more information, visit the Callaway Plantation Facebook page. Across the river is Redcliffe Plantation, a South Carolina State Historic Site, 181 Redcliffe Road, Beech Island, S.C. Redcliffe was completed in 1859 and was the home of James Henry Hammond and his descendants. For more information, visit https://southcarolinaparks.com/redcliffe.
