Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia has been buying up surrounding properties to the iconic golf course for more than 20 years, splashing out more than $200 million on more than 100 properties covering 270 acres.
The purchases have almost doubled the size of the course and made many property owners instant millionaires in the process.
However, one family, the Thackers, who live next to a free parking lot, have refused to sell their property despite being offered million-dollar deals for their home from club officials.
Herman Thacker, who passed away in 2019, and his wife Elizabeth built the house in 1959 watched as their neighborhood slowly vanished around them.
The area used to be a beautiful neighborhood with plenty of green space with room for a backyard and swing set, but now the area is a massive parking lot as it fills with cars for one week every year during The Masters tournament.
Herman Thacker, who passed away in 2019, and his wife Elizabeth built the house in 1959 watched as their neighborhood slowly vanished – but are refusing to sell their home
Although their 1,900-square-foot, three bedroom home has an estimated value of $348,000, its location has made it sought-after among golf fans. The Augusta National have offered several million dollars
This map of the Augusta National Golf Club shows why the Thacker’s home is so desirable
Although their 1,900-square-foot, three bedroom home has an estimated value of $348,000, its location has made it sought-after by the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club.
Herman’s brother, William Thacker, also once owned four properties in the area now claimed by the club after initially refusing to sell, suspecting that the club planned to build nine new holes there.
The club offered him $400,000 but suspected he was being given a low-ball offer.
He had a feeling something was amiss with the club seemingly buying up every property in sight, believing it to be part of a course expansion.
He was right and eventually he sold his house and two other properties to the club for $3.6 million.
His brother, Herman Thacker also sold a second property across the street for $1.2 million.
In total, the club are thought to have spent $200 million in an effort to buy up and bulldoze the homes in the area in the hope residents will find it hard to turn down the offer.
The Wall Street Journal calculated how more than 100 properties across 270 acres have been purchased by Augusta National Golf Club since 1999.
The deals increased the golf club’s total land size by 75 percent for a total price of $200 million, making many residents extremely wealthy.
“They’ve made quite a few homeowners millionaires,” Augusta realtor Venus Griffin told The Journal.
The home is worth about $400,000 were it located anywhere else, but because the club are so desperate to obtain the plot of land, they have been offering in the millions
In total, the club are thought to have spent $40 million in an effort to buy up and bulldoze the homes in the area in the hope residents will find it hard to turn down their offers
Patrons leave the course during a weather delay in the second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday
Yet, despite the club’s interest and generous offers, the Thackers are staying put and holding firm saying they have no intent to sell up.
‘We really don’t want to go,’ Elizabeth Thacker told NJ.com in 2016. ‘Money ain’t everything,’ Herman is believed to have once said.
‘[An official from the course] comes by here every so often, and he’ll say: “Just want to let you know we’re still interested in your property,”‘ Herman explained. ‘And we’ll tell them the same thing again.’
There is definitely some sentimentality at play with the couple having built a lifetime of memories at the home having raised their two children, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren in the house.
‘The mystery and allure of the property is something that everyone talks about every year,’ Peter Larson of Summer House Realty told Insider.
‘As I walk into The National year after year, I typically have someone visiting for the first time and it is something that they always point out and have questions about.’
For now, the Thackers are holding out but know eventually that the club will win.
