Jim Nantz built an homage to Augusta National’s 13th green in backyard

Every home ought to have a backyard golf hole. At least that’s the way Jim Nantz looks at life.

When Nantz built his dream home at Pebble Beach several years ago, he created a replica of Pebble’s iconic par-3 seventh hole, which went viral thanks to his former CBS partner Nick Faldo posting video of his ace there during the 2018 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“The homage to Pebble Beach’s No. 7 made perfect sense given that from the perch of the tee across the Bay you can see the actual hole off in the distance,” Nantz said.

Nick Faldo celebrates making an ace at Jim Nantz’s backyard golf hole at his home in Pebble Beach. (@NickFaldo006)

Three years ago this summer, Nantz moved his family to a suburb of Nashville so he can spend less time on a plane and more time with his wife and two young children, daughter Finley and son Jameson.

That also meant the opportunity to build another backyard golf hole. He spent significant time plotting it out, modeling out different possibilities, including the sixth green at Riviera Country Club, before settling on an homage to the 13^th hole at Augusta National with a few twists of his own.

“It makes the backyard a playground,” he said, “not just for my kids but for me too.”

Nantz worked with architect Shane Whitcomb, who flew in from Arizona for site visits, and some of his favorite parts of the project consisted of figuring out the scale and drainage and the hidden truths of golf course architecture. To do so, they ripped up the back yard, hauled in a mountain of dirt, built a base, installed drainage pipes, cut out a replica of a creek bed – his version of Rae’s Creek – before they could shape the nooks and crannies and slopes and lay out the green.

Nantz decorated the property with 15 magnolia trees, an assortment of azaleas and pine straw wherever there isn’t green. Ultimately, his L-shaped backyard meant that the back right corridor was the best spot for the putting surface.

There are five tees in all – there was talk of building a tee off of the second-floor guest balcony but that plan got scratched. “It was an engineering nightmare,” he lamented.

Three of the five tees at Jim Nantz’s backyard golf hole. (Courtesy Jim Nantz)

Three tees represent the straight-away layup third shot that golfers would face at Augusta’s famed par-5 13^th hole. The one to the far left is hugging the Magnolia tree line, and a difficult spot for the back left hole location but a perfect spot to attack…