A family has refused countless offers to buy their modest home set right next to the famed Masters golf course – even though each would have made them instant millionaires.
The several seven-figure attempts have so far failed to sway the clan of Herman and Elizabeth Thacker, who built the home at 1112 Stanley Road way back in 1959.
In the 65 years since, the Augusta National Golf Club has bought up some 270 acres surrounding their seminal course in the city of Augusta, Georgia, near the South Carolina border.
But the unassuming three-bedroom home across from Gate 6-A has remained the sole standout – a 1,900-square-foot eyesore for club brass.
In an interview offered just before the tournament’s conclusion Sunday, a member of the family proclaimed their steadfastness, seemingly unaffected by the $200 million spent by the club over the years to buy out their neighbors’ properties.
The couple – Elizabeth and Herman Thacker – have refused to entertain a series of offers to buy their modest Georgia home located right next to the Masters – even though each would have made them both instant millionaires
The several seven-figure attempts have so far failed to sway the family, who built the home at 1112 Stanley Road (seen here) way back in 1959
‘Yes, we still own it, and, yes, mom still lives there,’ the couple’s daughter, Robin Thacker Rinder, confirmed in an interview with FOX Business Friday.
The family patriarch, Herman, died in 2019 aged 86, she went on to reveal – stating that mom, Elizabeth, now 92, is now the sole occupant.
The home, moreover, is only estimated to be worth only $330,000 – but that fails to take into account the one-story property’s unrivaled desirability, if you’re a golf fan.
It sits on just two-thirds of an acre, a stone’s throw away from where the best golfers in the world compete each spring – a vantage seemingly enjoyed by Rinder and company and displayed in photos posted on social media showing the family enjoying the tournament over the years.
The pictures also show her posing with her parents and other relatives, as she told Fox Business that a rep from Augusta National still visits the property every so often to express interest.
However, she said that she and her mom are still steadfast in their intent not to sell, as the club has reportedly shelled out an additional $40million to repurpose land surrounding the course into a parking lot for its world-famous members and patrons.
Herman previously expressed some similar stubbornness when asked the same question back in 2016, telling NJ.com, ‘Money ain’t everything.’
‘Yes, we still own it, and, yes, mom still lives there,’ the couple’s daughter, Robin Thacker Rinder (left), confirmed in an interview Friday
The family patriarch, Herman, died in 2019 aged 86, she went on to reveal. The home – seen in the background – sits on just two-thirds of an acre, a stone’s throw away from where the best golfers in the world compete each spring
She said that mom, Elizabeth, 92, is now the sole occupant, and still refuses to sell. She is seen here in 2021, two years after her golf-loving husband’s passing
Photos show Rinder and company enjoying the tournament over the years, while also gathering for holidays to revel in each other’s company
Herman previously expressed some similar stubbornness when asked if he would ever sell the house he built back in 2016, telling NJ.com, ‘Money ain’t everything’
This map of the Augusta National Golf Club shows why the Thacker’s home is so desirable. It sits on just two-thirds of an acre, a stone’s throw away from where the world’s best golfers compete each spring
Herman, a golf fan, died three years later, but the home he built continues to stand.
A legacy to his memory and those created since, the home now serves as one of the last-standing obstacles in the way of an organization that is rarely told ‘no.’
The Wall Street Journal calculated how more than 100 properties across 270 acres have been purchased by Augusta National Golf Club since 1999, in deals calculated collectively in the nine-figures.
The deals increased the golf club’s total land size by 75 percent for a total price of $200 million, making most residents extremely wealthy.
‘They’ve made quite a few homeowners millionaires,’ said Augusta realtor Venus Griffin of the phenomenon seen over the years.
Yet, despite the club’s interest and generous offers, the Thackers have stayed put, with Elizabeth echoing her husband’s stance to NJ.com in 2016.
‘We really don’t want to go,’ she said at the time.
In the meantime, the neighborhood surrounding them has been bought up and bulldozed, to make room for the spectacle that attracts roughly 40,000 each year.
Pictured: Augusta National and Masters chairman Fred S. Ridley
The home is worth about $300,000 were it located anywhere else, but because the club are so desperate to obtain the plot of land, they have been offering in the millions
In the meantime, the neighborhood surrounding them has been bought up and bulldozed, to make room for the spectacle that attracts roughly 40,000 each year
Rinder’s daugher’s are seen playing on the unassuming property in a photo snapped in 2019
In total, the club are thought to have spent $40 million in an effort to buy up and bulldoze the homes in the area in the hope residents will find it hard to turn down their offers
Patrons leave the course during a weather delay in the second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday
Scottie Scheffler of the United States poses with the Players Championship trophy and wife Meredith Sunday, following his second consecutive win at the tournament played every year
Herman and his wife built the house in 1959 watched as their neighborhood slowly vanished. Elizabeth and the rest of the family still refuse to part with the home
That said, it’s not like the family hasn’t capitalized on the home’s closeness to the preeminent playing grounds.
Speaking to Fox News, Rinder revealed that a family sold another property they owned next to the golf course for $1.2 million – a smaller house located down the same street,
It was razed within a week, she recalled – a fate she and her mother do not want for 1112 Stanley Road, where she was raised.
‘[An official from the course] comes by here every so often, and he’ll say: “Just want to let you know we’re still interested in your property,”‘ Herman said in 2016, not long before his passing.
‘And we’ll tell them the same thing again.’
The home has remained in the family since, playing home for 65 Masters tournaments. On Sunday, American Scottie Sheffler won the last, his second in the same amount of years. DailyMail.com has reached out to Rinder for comment.
