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Downtown Augusta, Georgia as seen across the Savannah River, on the Fifth Street Bridge

United States · North America

Augusta

A mid-sized Georgia city whose one April week is golf's most watched.

A destination page is organised around time: when the place matters, which events make it matter, and how it changes across the year — then the practical geography (airports, marinas, neighborhoods, hotel areas).

Augusta's ordinary population figures undersell what happens here every April, when a single week reshapes the city before fifty-one quieter weeks resume. The city itself was established in 1736 on the Savannah River, on the border with South Carolina, and named for Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, mother of King George III. About 202,000 people live in the consolidated city and 611,000 across the metro area, Georgia's third-largest urban center behind Atlanta and Savannah.

In the early twentieth century the city built a second identity as a mild-winter resort town, part of why Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts chose a former plant nursery here to build a golf course in the early 1930s. That course, Augusta National, and the Masters it has hosted every April since 1934, are the entire reason this record follows Augusta: the tournament is run by invitation on a small field, with the club controlling access to a degree unmatched by any other fixture in this record.

01When Augusta matters

Twelve months of activity computed from the events on this destination’s calendar — each event’s importance spread over the days it occupies. The events responsible for each month are listed beside the bar.

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr The Masters
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Masters week · Apr
Old Richmond County Courthouse, Augusta This is the The Jessye Norman Amphitheater, which is located along the riverwalk in Augusta, Georgia 699 Broad Street, Augusta, Georgia (Augusta University Building) 100 Grace Hopper Ln Augusta GA Riverwalk Augusta Riverwalk Augusta

02The calendar here

Coming up

  • 8 Apr → Apr 11, 2027
    Augusta · United States · Golf The Masters Expected
    Major

Every event on the calendar

The 2015 Masters Tournament was the 79th Masters Tournament, and the first of golf's four major championships, held April, The Masters Golf The Masters Apr 8–11, 2027

Subscribe to this destination’s calendar (ICS) · Open in the calendar

03Why it matters

Augusta's claim on the calendar is total but narrow: outside one week each April, the city plays no part in the international social season at all, and everything this record can say about it is really about what a single private club chooses to do. In our reading, that concentration is itself the point worth recording, since almost nowhere else in this calendar does a single week so completely define outsiders' entire perception of a place the other fifty-one weeks leave alone.

04The year, month by month

JanuaryA quiet month, with no dated fixture from this record.
FebruaryStill quiet, though Augusta National's azaleas, timed to bloom for the tournament, begin budding as the club's own preparations start.
MarchThe city's attention turns toward April, as patrons finalize badges and corporate tenants move into leased houses near the club.
AprilThe Masters, golf's first major of the year, is played the first full week of the month at Augusta National, roughly doubling the city's population for the week with patrons, players, media and corporate hospitality.
MayA quiet month as the city returns to its ordinary pace once the tournament's infrastructure comes down.
JuneEarly summer heat builds, with no dated fixture from this record.
JulyHigh summer and generally quiet, with Georgia heat and humidity at their most intense.
AugustStill hot and quiet, with the year's visitor attention entirely elsewhere.
SeptemberA cooling shoulder month as summer heat eases.
OctoberA quiet, mild autumn month.
NovemberA quiet month, with Thanksgiving the main civic date.
DecemberA quiet holiday season, with modest seasonal activity downtown.
Downtown Augusta from Augusta Riverwalk

05Weather by month

MonthHigh °CLow °CRain mm
January15.31.897.5
February17.53.493.2
March21.76.7103.6
April25.810.374.2
May29.915.377.5
June32.920.1120.6
July34.522.0113.8
August33.721.7117.1
September31.018.391.4
October26.111.765.0
November20.65.767.6
December16.42.998.3
 Source: Wikipedia climate table for Augusta, Georgia (Augusta Regional Airport station, NOAA 1991-2020 normals, converted from Fahrenheit). Long-term averages; a given week can differ.

06Getting there and around

AirportsAugusta Regional at Bush Field (AGS) · 9 km · commercial — about fifteen minutes from Augusta National, with substantial added seasonal service during Masters week.Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) · 260 km · commercial — the larger gateway many Masters visitors use instead, roughly three hours away by the standard I-20 drive.
Private aviationAugusta Regional and Daniel Field both take on heavy business-aviation traffic during Masters week under published slot and parking restrictions, with aircraft routinely repositioned to Columbia, Aiken or Atlanta between arrival and departure.
HelicopterCharter operators run shuttles into the Augusta area from surrounding airports during Masters week; there is no landing at the club itself.
Getting aroundA car is essentially required outside the small walkable downtown core; the standard approach for Masters week is the drive from Atlanta on I-20. There is no useful passenger rail service to Augusta.

07Where things are

Neighborhoods

Summervilleknown locally as the Hill, a historic district northwest of downtown built in part as a cooler, healthier retreat from the river.
Downtown/Broad Streetthe city's small hotel, restaurant and bar district along the river, about ten minutes from the club.
Berckmans Road/Country Club Hillsthe residential area immediately around Augusta National where most Masters-week corporate housing sits.

Hotel areas

There is very little conventional hotel stock near the course, so Masters week runs largely on leased houses around Berckmans Road and Country Club Hills, within walking distance of the gates. Downtown Augusta along Broad Street holds the city's small hotel stock and its restaurants and bars, about ten minutes from the club.

Dining districts

Broad Street downtown carries most of the city's restaurants and bars, busiest during Masters week and comparatively quiet the rest of the year.

Cultural institutions

Augusta Museum of Historydowntown, covering the city's civic and industrial history.
James Brown statueon Broad Street, honoring the singer, who was raised in Augusta.

Shopping

Downtown's Broad Street holds a modest run of independent shops; conventional retail is concentrated in suburban centers outside the historic core.

08How the place changes

Augusta's year is almost entirely flat except for one week: April's tournament briefly doubles the population and fills every leased house for miles around the club, and the other fifty-one weeks pass with no equivalent draw at all.

09History

Augusta served as a Revolutionary and early Republic trading town before becoming, during the Civil War, the site of the Confederacy's principal gunpowder works. Its mild winters made it a resort destination for wealthy northerners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the same appeal that drew the golfer Bobby Jones and businessman Clifford Roberts to convert a former indigo plantation and plant nursery into Augusta National, which opened in 1932. The Masters has been played there every year since 1934, with a wartime gap in the mid-1940s, on essentially the same membership-controlled model throughout.

In the press

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Sources

  1. Augusta, Georgia, Wikipedia encyclopedia accessed 9 September 2026
Confidence: Medium · Updated 10 September 2026Report an error on this page