The year 1958 was eventful at the Masters Tournament.
Two bridges across Rae’s Creek were dedicated in honor of Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. A young pro named Arnold Palmer won the tournament for the first time.
And Amen Corner was born.
Actually, the famous stretch of holes — Nos. 11, 12 and 13 — had been in existence for 25 years, but a catchy nickname didn’t exist until Sports Illustrated golf writer Herbert Warren Wind came up with the term in 1958.
The three holes where Rae’s Creek meets the National played a vital role in the early years of the Masters.
The Nelson Bridge commemorates Nelson’s charge of a birdie at No. 12 and an eagle at No. 13 to win in 1937. The Hogan Bridge honors Hogan’s score of 274 in 1953, then the lowest 72-hole score in Masters history.
The 1958 tournament proved to be equally important.
After playing two balls on the 12th hole amid a rules controversy and making eagle on the par-5 13th during the final round, Palmer claimed the first of four Masters wins by one shot over Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins.
Wind, a veteran golf writer who also was a jazz buff, decided to combine his interests to describe the Sunday action.
He took the name from a jazz recording, “Shoutin’ in That Amen Corner.” (Wind wrote that the album was recorded by Milton Mezzrow, but research has shown Mezzrow did not make a record by that name.)
The nickname became part of the tournament’s lore. Wind died in 2005 at age 88, but his lengthy essays and many books are still popular reading for golf fans.
“Herbert Warren Wind was one of the greatest golf writers that ever lived,” former Augusta National and Masters Chairman Hootie Johnson said. “For many years, he wrote wonderful stories about the Masters and the players that competed in the tournament.”
(Editor’s note: This story originally ran on the Augusta Chronicle’s former Masters site.)
