Next Thursday, the world’s best golfers will convene at Augusta National Golf Club to play in the 2010 Masters Tournament. The Masters is the first of four major championships in professional golf, and unlike the other three is played at the same location every year. The storied and exclusive club is one of the most revered courses in the world.

The course is located in Augusta, Georgia. It was founded by professional golfer Bobby Jones and investment banker Clifford Roberts. The club opened for play in 1933 and became the site of the Masters in 1934, when Jones and Roberts would personally invite friends to play in the tournament. Roberts was a friend of President Dwight Eisenhower, and Eisenhower and his wife made Augusta National retreat during the 1950s.

After his retirement in 1930, Bobby Jones wanted to build the golf course both to make a contribution to the game and to express his ideas of how golf courses should be made. Jones had met Clifford Roberts several times in the previous decade and the two went to work on fulfilling Jones’s dream. They decided to build the course in Augusta, Georgia, on the site of a former indigo plantation.

Augusta National Golf Club is a very exclusive one. The only way to become a member is by being formally invited. The Club generally keeps its membership at around 300 people. Notable members include Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Jack Welch.

The Club has been the subject of controversy over the years. Lee Elder became the first black player to play in the Masters in 1975 (after the tournament had been around for 41 years). Co-founder Clifford Roberts is reported to have said, "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black." It wasn’t until 1990 that the Club accepted a black member.

More recently, in 2002, a great deal of press was devoted to the conflict between Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson and National Council of Women's Organizations chairwoman Martha Burk. Burk took issue with Augusta’s status as a male-only club, stating that it was sexist. Johnson maintained that they were exercising their rights the same as any private club. To this day, no women have been admitted into Augusta.

Each year, the winner of the Masters is presented with a green jacket. He is presented with the jacket by the previous year’s winner. The jacket is the same jacket given to all members of Augusta National Golf Club. The idea for the green jackets was Clifford Roberts. He grew weary of seeing men wear flashy clothing on the golf course and decided that the solution was for them to wear the same jacket.

Jack Nicklaus has won the Masters the most times, with six victories. His first Masters victory was in 1963 and his last came 23 years later in 1986. Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have won four times, and Nick Faldo has won three. Tiger Woods 18 under par score in 1997 is the tournament record.