Imago
Fred Ridley, Image Credit: IMAGO
Imago
Fred Ridley, Image Credit: IMAGO
When they say the Masters “is a tradition like no other,” they mean it. You’ve got patrons banned from using their phones, well-dressed patrons digging through trash for plastic cups to resell on eBay, and the iconic gnomes, priced at $49.50 (full size) and $30 (small size), disappearing almost immediately from the concession shops. But even among these, parking lots at Augusta carry over a quarter of a billion dollar mystery.
Before we begin this one, let’s return to the comment made by former Augusta National chairman (2006-2017), Billy Payne, who stated at the 2016 Masters, “Corporately, we plan 20 years down the road. We have plans for every couple of years of iteration going all the way out to 20 years. That, of course, is subject to dramatic change depending on who the chairman is at the time.”
This came in response to a question about the club’s purchase of an entire neighborhood, acquired parcel by parcel over 30 years, and eventually converted into a parking lot. But several members and former employees say the plan stretches back more than 20 years. One person familiar with the club’s business dealings said the project has no finish line; it is continually expanded and keeps moving forward.
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Fred Ridley is the current chairman, and if it makes Payne any happier, Ridley is continuing that plan.
A 2019 Wall Street Journal report pegged Augusta National’s neighboring land buys at over $200 million across the prior two decades. Longtime members, however, insist that the total falls well short of reality. So, what’s the figure?
“Whatever you want to guess, it’s going to be wrong,” one veteran member said.
Reports suggest Augusta has spent a quarter of a billion dollars on developments
According to an investigation by Golf.com, however, the figure easily passes the $280M mark. For the past 25 years, Augusta National has quietly reinvented itself every month, as detailed in a Golf.com video. The club has built a roughly $500M empire through over $280M in property acquisitions. Even more intriguing, these deals hide behind a shroud of real estate secrecy, obscure LLCs with nondescript names. And that’s where the Berckman family comes into play.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Breckmans family owned the land now known as the Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC). They cultivated a nursery, Fruitland, on that land, bringing novel plants to the U.S., some of which the holes at Augusta are named after. Breckmans Place now provides luxurious hospitality for the Masters elite in the southwest section; meanwhile, Breckmans Road was realigned along the club’s west side, which helped expand the Masters parking by the 2010s.
But the Breckmans family’s purpose was hardly over, as it seems. That, of course, you can blame on Augusta and its obsession with providing the patrons a “tradition unlike any other.”
For decades after the first edition of the Masters took place in 1934, Augusta provided free parking as a patron benefit. But, as the popularity grew in the 1980s and 1990s, Augusta National realized the parking space for the patrons was scarce. The lots were filling up fast on a first-come, first-served basis, and any unfortunate late arrival meant you would have to hunt for a perfect spot to park your car in the neighborhoods beyond Washington Road.
So, in the early aughts, most patron parking occupied the property’s northwest corner. But if you go and check the place now, the area now houses a driving range and a media center. It was workable, but the parking problem was not a good look for the private club.
It’s unclear exactly when Augusta decided to change that narrative, but Payne was definitely a force behind it. A real estate attorney and savvy businessman, Payne was also progressive. His Olympics stint taught a key lesson: rampant unauthorized vendors flooded the South, tarnishing the games’ image while profiting off others’ efforts. Payne found it appalling.
A turning point came during the dawn of the 2000s, some five years before Payne became the chairman of Augusta. On July 3, 2001, Georgia records showed the creation of “Berckman Residential Properties” LLC, a shell company, which has since snapped up nearby plots.
As per the records, the shell company bought numerous homes and lots on the west side of ANGC, securing rezoning to commercial and converting them to parking during the Masters. Of course, that happened after city approval. But that also means that for the rest of the 51 weeks of the year, these expensively constructed areas are mostly idle, with just mowed grass and neat borders.
And although it seems clean on paper, it wasn’t obvious that Augusta National was behind the buys. The club never stamped its name on the deals.
But they did leave a clue behind, their address.
As per city property records, nearly all parcels (plots) acquired near the club repeatedly point to the actual owner. Most of these properties list the owner’s address as “2604 Washington Road,” and you hardly need to take a guess to understand which elite golf club that address belongs to. The remaining properties cite P.O. Box 2086, a post office box. Again, you hardly need to guess whose commercial post office box address that is.
But Augusta did not stop with Berckman Residential Properties. Over the years, dozens of obscurely named LLCs formed around the area, and they all had the same addresses in Georgia Corporations Division filings. But more work had to be done. So, as time wore on and deals faded from view, these entities merged into Berckman Residential Properties, only to later reemerge under Augusta National’s direct control.
Let’s take examples of two of these specific shell companies, “Big Tree LLC” and “The Greens on Washington Road Ventures LLC.” They teamed up to spend over $16M to buy an IHOP (chain restaurant) and strip mall to build the Masters’ lavish global broadcast hub and content center.
It was only the beginning, and as per reports by Golf Digest, in the next 30-40 years, the land will only expand on the west front.
The bulk of the residential lots west of the course were snapped up within the past 15 years, typically for $300,000 to $500,000 each. Though selling prices usually ran two to three times above appraisals, a few commanded far higher sums. Privately held in 2012 amid neighbors’ buyouts and demolitions, it fetched $3.56M in 2013. By 2015, a fresh road cut straight through its former backyard pool area.
Lately, these acquisitions have drawn more public scrutiny, focusing on Washington Road businesses, the four-lane artery by the main entrance. Augusta bought a 15-acre shopping plaza opposite the club for $26 million, plus a former Wendy’s at the Washington-Berckmans junction for $3.4 million. ANGC also bought a public park in 2024 along its eastern border, and almost every other plot adjacent to it.
Through WSQ (real estate), LLC, the club acquired the National Hills Shopping Center and turned one part of the building into a new corporate hospitality space called “Map and Flag.” Farther down Washington Road, WSQ, LLC also bought the land that now houses a Publix, next to the rideshare drop-off area for Uber and Lyft. ANGC hasn’t pushed Publix out yet, but we know the gig by now.
After Hooters of America filed for bankruptcy in early 2025, the chain began shrinking its national reach. That left the Washington Road site, owned by WSQ, LLC, vacant; about eight months later, the restaurant was gone, and the lot had been reduced to gravel. Whatever comes next will likely be determined by Augusta National.
Naturally, that means Augusta is still carrying out Payne’s plans, having already bought 190 parcels. Starting from some 100+ properties in 2022, that’s an increase of approximately 80 properties by 2026, or about 20 properties per year on average.
Augusta National’s real estate is super interesting.
Since 2000, they have:
• Spent $200M+
• Acquired 100+ properties
• Gained 270+ acresThey’ve bought strip malls, restaurants & homes, often paying 3-4x their actual value.
Total acreage has increased by ~75%.
(h/t @WSJ) pic.twitter.com/DFM7Axarxi
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) April 10, 2022
But it also means Augusta earns a ton of money from the Masters and doesn’t know what to do with it. Sure, the intention is right, as much as it could be when it comes to a private club, and it’s done to elevate the experience during the Masters, but not everyone buys the agenda.
That one house in Augusta that just won’t go away
One thing about Augusta National is that it has a long memory and can outlast just about any nearby homeowner. That means it rarely needs to push people into selling their homes for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, just to acquire the land. Instead, it often waits until a property becomes part of an estate or trust, then steps in with an offer, usually at two to three times market value.
Over the past 16 years or so, ANGC has spent a reported $40M to expand its border. In October 2024, Jay’s Music, after 25 years at Old Berckmans and Washington Road, sold its 0.73-acre lot to Berckman Residential Properties LLC for $5.35 million. Months later, the Pep Boys auto shop fetched $6.9 million for its site.
There are hundreds of such stories, but there’s one particular one that stands out: the house at 1112 Stanley Road, a three-bedroom brick home built in 1959, formerly owned by the late Herman and Elizabeth Thackers, PGA Tour pro Scott Brown’s grandparents.
Most of the landmarks around the house have vanished. Or, will soon. However, during an interview in 2016, Herman said, “Where are we going to go? This is home. We love it here.” After he passed away in 2019, the house was automatically transferred to Elizabeth. She owned it until she passed away last summer. Now, no one knows to whom the house was transferred.
Many of the homes in the area are placed into a trust or estate and are often sold in the years after the original owner’s death. In some cases, agreements are made for the homes to pass to Augusta National immediately upon that owner’s death. Now, only a few properties southwest of the course remain outside Berckman Residential’s ownership.
But, of course, the business must go on.
The club wanted to reroute Breckmans Road, and to do that, they lent the city $17M to ease tournament traffic. Of course, this meant that the residents were going to face some trouble, and so did Jerry Thackers, Herman’s brother. The club then made an offer to him, purchasing his two-story white colonial, along with two other family-owned properties, for $3.6M.
In late 2024, the club brought in a crane and work crew to plant a dozen holly trees and an oak along Berckmans Street, screening the 16th hole from the Thackers’s house. George Ransom, who lives near Margate Drive, told Golf.com, “They’ve got a 50-year plan, which we are a very small part of.”
Fred Ridley’s 2024 vision for Augusta and the surrounding area appears to be the framework behind the “plan.” It calls for player housing during the Masters, a redesigned fan village, and possibly a second course for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Ridley also said in 2024 that a three-story player facility would open in 2026, following the underground parking structure that debuted in 2025.
Another likely piece is a dedicated I-20 exit that would send spectators directly to club parking, keeping traffic away from the crowded ticketing and parking zones on Washington Road.
Yes, the parking lot again.
Written by
Edited by
Parnab Bhattacharya