North Carolina People, Places, and Things-April 5
I am the dad to five adult children. As they were growing up I attempted to remind them they were special and to implore them to learn something new. My goal was to do that daily.
In 2016 my goal is to learn something new daily on the people, places, and things that make North Carolina special.
This week the golf tournament called The Masters Tournament will begin in Augusta GA at Augusta National Golf Course.
There are 44 bunkers at Augusta National, each majestic and hazardous in its own right. The glistening sands look impossibly white, radiating in such a way that only nature could produce something so pristine. The fact is mother nature didn’t produce that sand in Georgia it is from North Carolina.
Just before the 1975 tournament, the common beige sand in the bunkers was replaced with the now-signature white feldspar. It is a quartz derivative from mining feldspar that is shipped in from Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
It’s called Spruce Pine sand named for the mining district in Western North Carolina in which it’s found. It’s actually quartz, and it’s so pure that it prevents golf balls from burrowing into devious lies and has played a major role in computer technology.
When you watch The Masters know that part of that famed golf course is actually from North Carolina.
Great Article on Feldspar mining in a past issue of Our State Magazine written by WRAL reporter Bryan Mims.
coach4aday 
[…] the Master’s yesterday, it made me remember a past post on Augusta National about the material found in the 44 pristine bunkers on that golf course. It is called “Spruce […]