Recalling a most Masterful win

Being the golf course superintendent at Augusta National carries with it a certain honor that only an elite few in this business will ever achieve. It might just be the top position a superintendent can reach. And being the superintendent at Augusta National in 1986 must have been even more special, thanks to that magical run by Jack Nicklaus.

The man who holds that honor is none other than Billy Fuller, who was the superintendent at Augusta National from 1981 to 1986.  In the early ‘80s, it was Fuller who  was credited with the smooth transition of Augusta’s greens from Bermuda grass to bentgrass. And he knew Nicklaus even before he made his memorable run at the ’86 Masters.

“I got to know Jack really well prior to my going to Augusta National,” Fuller told me, “when he and Bob Cupp designed Turtle Point at Kiawah Island, where I was then Director of Golf Maintenance. Once I got to Augusta, that relationship continued.

“Jack always came in a week before the tournament to practice. Typically he would climb in the cart with me sometime during that week to look at various tree limbs that he recommended be pruned.”

Fuller said that before the 1986 tournament even began, Nicklaus felt like he could win it. That was despite the fact that Nicklaus hadn’t won a major since the 1980 PGA Championship six years earlier, and he hadn’t won a green jacket in 11 years.

Following the ’86 Masters, Fuller left to pursue other golf interests. Today he is one of the top design men in the field at Billy Fuller Golf Design, which he founded in 2004.

To read more of Furlong’s piece on Jack’s win at the Masters 25 years ago, check out the April issue of Golfdom.