Augusta National Golf Club was not as badly affected as the suburbs nearby. But it did not escape. "After the storm when you rode around Augusta National, on Washington Road, the pile of trees was above your car for mile after mile," said Bonitatibus. Trees came down in their hundreds on the famed course, damaging one of golf's most famous greens on the par-three 16th. Walking the course now is a lighter, less claustrophobic experience. You can see through wooded areas that previously screened individual holes and made them their own isolated stations. The separation of the ninth and first fairways is less cluttered. Coming down the 11th hole it is possible to see into the neighbouring Augusta Country Club course. The wooded area to the right of the newly-laid 16th green will have fewer shadows when the world's best golfers begin their challenge for the famous Green Jacket on Thursday. Speaking in January, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said: "As far as the golf course goes, it's in spectacular condition. "We had minor damage to the course, the playing surfaces themselves, but we were able to get that back in shape. "I don't think you're going to see any difference in the condition for the Masters this year." Kovac, who recently wrote a vivid account of the city's recovery process,, external agreed. "I was struck by how emerald-green it is, at least the periphery. It is as if the grass never flinched," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter told BBC Sport. "The kerbside lawn around the course perimeter looks manicured to the hilt. Only regular patrons will really notice trees are missing. "But further into the miles of neighbourhoods ringing the National one cannot help but see the wreckage and its remains."