The Amen Corner At Augusta National
Why is the Amen Corner called the “Amen Corner”?
Answer: c. It was named after a Jazz Record.
“Amen Corner” was named like that after the 1958 Masters by writer Herbert Warren Wind in an article in Sports Illustrated.
That was the Masters where Arnold Palmer earned his first major championship.
Wind gave the name of “Amen Corner” to Holes 11, 12 and 13 because of the spectacular way Mr. Palmer played those Holes on the final day of the 1958 tournament.
After Palmer had some Ruling conflicts, everything went his way and ended up winning his First Major.
Mr. Wind’s Sports Illustrated article described the tournament, and the events in that part of the golf course this way:
“On the afternoon before the start of the recent Masters golf tournament, a wonderfully evocative ceremony took place at the farthest reach of the Augusta National course—down in the Amen Corner where Rae’s Creek intersects the 13th fairway near the tee, then parallels the front edge of the green on the short 12th and finally swirls alongside the 11th green.”
But the Name came to Mr. Wind after a lot of thought, and this is what he said when asked about that particular name for these incredible Golf Holes…
“With plenty of time to think out the article, I felt that I should try to come up with some appropriate name for that far corner of the course where the critical action had taken place … The only phrase with the word ‘corner’ I could think of (outside of football’s ‘coffin corner’ and baseball’s ‘hot corner’) was the title of a song on an old Bluebird record.”
The song that came to Wind’s mind was called “Shoutin’ in that Amen Corner,” and so “Amen Corner” is the turn of phrase he used to describe the part of Augusta National about which he was writing.
This is an incredible story and as we all know, Augusta National and The Masters itself means a lot to all Golfers, Pros and Amateurs.
It is always great to hear and read Stories as well as the History of The Masters; this is why I am sharing this one with you.
I hope you enjoy this Story as much as I do.
Enjoy your Golf!
