Owners of house next to Masters golf course turn down MILLIONS refusing to sell to Augusta course

Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club has been buying up surrounding properties of the iconic golf course for more than 20 years, splurging more than $200 million on more than 100 properties spanning 270 acres.

The purchases have almost doubled the size of the job and made many property owners instant millionaires.

However, one family, the Thackers, who live next to a free parking lot, have refused to sell their property despite being offered multimillion-dollar deals for their home by club officials.

Herman Thacker, who passed away in 2019, and his wife Elizabeth built the house in 1959 and watched their neighborhood slowly disappear around them.

The area used to be a beautiful neighborhood with lots of greenery and room for a backyard and swing set, but now the area is a huge parking lot, as it is filled with cars for a week every year during the Masters tournament.

Although their 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom home has an estimated value of $348,000, its location has made it sought after by golf fans. The Augusta National has 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, believing the club intended to build nine new holes there.

The club offered him $400,000 but suspected he got a low offer.

He felt there was something wrong with the club seemingly buying up every property in sight, believing it was part of a course extension.

He was right and eventually sold his home 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 is said to have spent $200 million in an attempt to buy up and flatten the homes in the area in the hope that residents will find it difficult to turn down the offer.

The Wall Street Journal calculated how more than 100 properties on 270 acres have been purchased by Augusta National Golf Club since 1999.

The deals increased the total area of ​​the golf club by 75 percent for a total cost of $200 million, making many residents extremely wealthy.

“They’ve made quite a few homeowners millionaires,” Augusta realtor Venus Griffin told The Journal.

The house is worth about $400,000 if it were elsewhere, but because the club is so desperate for the plot of land, they have bid millions

In all, the club is said to have spent $40 million in an attempt to buy up and flatten the homes in the area in the hope that 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

But despite the club’s interest and generous offers, the Thackers stand their ground and stand their ground by saying they have no intention of selling.

“We really don’t want to go,” Elizabeth Thacker said NJ. com in 2016. ‘Money is not everything’, Herman is said to have once said.

‘[An official from the course] comes by here from time to time, and he’ll say, “I just want to let you know that we’re still interested in your property,” Herman explains. “And we’ll tell them the same thing again.”

There is certainly some sentimentality at play as the couple have built a lifetime of memories at home after raising their two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren in the home.

“The mystery and allure of the property is something everyone talks about every year,” Peter Larson of Summer House Realty told me. Insider.

“As I walk into The National year after year, I usually have someone visiting for the first time and it’s something they always point out and ask questions about.”

For now, the Thackers are holding out, but know that the club will win in the end.