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Have you ever played golf at Augusta National, home of The Masters?
Me neither. My father stayed on property and played it a couple of times in 2002 and, unsurprisingly, considers it a highlight of his golf life.
The three Augusta National golf course reviews in our database come from way back in 2013, when three Golf Channel folks played it: 5 Clubs host Gary Williams, senior writer Ryan Lavner and former GolfChannel.com editor Jay Coffin.
"Let me begin by saying this is simply not a fair fight," begins Williams' review. "There is not another golf experience on the planet, including the Old Course and Pebble Beach that conjures up the memories of great moments in golf history more than Augusta National. Every hole, every fairway, and every green have a scrapbook of images that race to your mind as you experience ANGC for yourself."
All three reviews are well worth your time to read. Lavner's review reflects on the hilliness of the property and the diabolical greens, while Coffin's focuses on memories of every shot, the chilly weather and his world-class caddie, Steve.
For the rest of us, who only know Augusta National Golf Club's greatness through broadcasts of The Masters and, more recently, the Augusta National Women's Amateur, we can meekly compare certain high-falutin golf experiences we have had to what those lucky few who have drawn divots from its pampered-beyond-belief turf. Without true first-hand experience, we must rely on approximations from aspects of design (especially the work of Alister MacKenzie) to conditioning to general aesthetic.
We scoured GolfPass reviews to find references of "Augusta" mentioned by everyday golfers. Most of the time, the context mentioned how the course they were playing was distinctively "not Augusta", although there were also plenty of times when golfers complimented the public courses they were playing as similar to Augusta in one way or other.
The Augusta experiences I've played
I have played a few courses with attempted replicas of Augusta National holes, including the private Legends at Chateau Elan, which has a take on the par-3 12th, while the public Mystic Creek Golf Club in southern Arkansas has a mirror-image version. But I reckon the most Augusta-like overall golf experience I have had would be the November 2021 round I played at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. Home of one of the LPGA Tour's premier events, the course was redesigned by Beau Welling, a former design associate of Tom Fazio, Augusta National's consulting architect for the last few decades.
Pelican's color palette mirrors Augusta's: expanses of deep green turf where fairway-length or "first cut" grass dominates, creating strategic interest off the tee and a variety of greenside challenges. The graceful scooped-out look of the bunkers is accentuated by bright-white sand. Tree lines give way to deep red pine straw. One of Pelican's founding members is current Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley.
Now, let's dive into other public and private playgrounds that had similar characteristics to Augusta, according to YOU and your fellow golfers.
7 golf courses that reminded golfers of Augusta (and one that didn't)
Shoal Creek Golf Club
In June 2022, all-time top-10 GolfPass course review contributor 'BrandonWebb' played the private Shoal Creek Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama, one of many clubs across the south with ties to Augusta National. In a lengthier review of the Jack Nicklaus design that is worth your time to read, Brandon wrote, "Because of the Augusta-like green complexes, missing the appropriate level of the putting surface can be costly."
Carolina Lakes Golf Club
"We felt like we [were] playing Augusta," gushed one May 2025 reviewer of Carolina Lakes Golf Club, a public course in Indian Land, South Carolina, just east of the city of Rock Hill. "From the tees the fairways were undulating and lined with white candy bunkers. Green[s] were perfect condition with different elevations. It's a gem." Carolina Lakes opened in 2006 and was laid out by Timothy Freeland.
The Club at Pine Forest
Downstate, in a March 2023 review titled "Best in Charleston Area," golfer 'ChadGolt' had succinct but high praise for The Club at Pine Forest, a semi-private Bob Spence design from 1992 in the town of Summerville: "The best by far in the Charleston area. Augusta like. Gorgeous, tough."
Sewailo Golf Club
One would not expect a golf course in Tucson, Arizona to draw comparisons to Augusta National, but it was understandably on the mind of 'nickesquire' during a round at Sewailo Golf Club on...Masters Sunday, 2021. "Appropriate I played this course on Masters Sunday, because these fairways were very Augusta like with great roll out," reads his review.
Lake Nona Golf & Country Club
'Snaphook417' was moved to invoke the home of the Masters after a January 2020 round at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, a private club near Orlando's airport that has been home for dozens of touring pros ever since it opened in the 1980s. "Condition wise I would rank it in my top 2-3 courses I have ever played and would compare to almost Augusta like conditions," reads the review. Lake Nona is a Tom Fazio design - one of about a dozen in which Mike Strantz was heavily involved.
Natadola Bay Golf Course
How could a golf course more than 7,000 miles away remind a golfer of Augusta? "I say Augusta because of the elevation changes," according to an April 2019 review of Natadola Bay Golf Course in the country of Fiji. Of course, Fiji is also the homeland of Masters champion Vijay Singh, who was involved in Natadola Bay's design.
Metropolitan Golf Club
Although a December 2017 review by golfer 'Roadhole313' does not explicitly mention The Good Doctor, the mention of "Augusta like speed" on the greens of Australia's Metropolitan Golf Club makes sense. "Metro" is one of a handful of courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt on which Dr. Alister MacKenzie had considerable design influence.
Often times, golfers will invoke Augusta National as an unreasonable standard for the sort of affordable public golf most of us play. I saw several negative reviews sarcastically using Augusta National to complain about overzealous marshals or snooty staffers, while others use it as a moderating factor. "Overall, a good experience at the price," reads a 4-star August 2025 review of a public Delaware course named for midcentury pro Ed "Porky" Oliver. "Not Augusta National, but also not a municipal dog track either."
Reviews like that one are a nice reminder that while it's great to fantasize about someday teeing it up at Augusta National Golf Club, blue-collar golf courses like one named after the rotund 1953 Masters runner-up can be more than sufficient.
Have you ever played Augusta National? Have you ever played somewhere you would consider "Augusta-like"? We welcome and appreciate your comments.
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Texarkana Country Club, Texarkana, Ar.
Texarkana Country Club, Texarkana, Ar.