‘They knew it was all of us’: Pro talks sneaking into Augusta National, putting on 12th green

Charles Howell III has played in 10 Masters at Augusta National during his career, but he also apparently spent some time on the exclusive course long before he turned pro.

Howell, the 42-year-old three-time winner on the PGA Tour, was the guest on this week’s GOLF Subpar Podcast with co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. In the show they discussed Tiger Woods, what led Howell to turning pro and, of course, what it was like growing up in Augusta, Ga., with the world’s most famous course in your backyard.

Stoltz asked the question that Howell has probably heard a million times in his life: Did he ever sneak onto Augusta National?

“So, the 9th hole at Augusta CC, where we all grew up, ran right behind the 12th green at Augusta, so we could kind of slip in through there a little bit, run down to the 12th green,” Howell said. “The back bunker we usually got to before we got in trouble. Little bit of chipping, little bit of putting, and then run back. Inevitably, security is top of the hill on 11 as we are out there for about 10 minutes. But, oh yeah, they have since bought more land back there and fixed that problem, but yeah we had some fun back there.”

But did Augusta National know it was Howell on the property?

“Of course they did. They knew it was all of us. But we never got caught per se, but in today’s Augusta National there would be lasers, there would be cameras, there would be everything,” he joked. “You would never play there again, let’s say that.”

You can check out the entire interview with Howell below.