That humiliation came with a $20,000 fine. He was surrounded by three security guards, brought to the ground and handcuffed, then taken to county jail. In 2012, Augusta patron Clayton Baker ducked under the ropes lining the 10th fairway and tried to abscond with a beer cup full of bunker sand. Owning a small piece of the Masters is a different story. Said Robin Townsend of the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce: “We always tell people that if you own a computer, a cellphone, or any kind of electronics, you own a small piece of Mitchell County.”

With the computer age came an appreciation for the region’s unique geological bounty. Must Reads: One house is still parked next to Augusta National despite club’s attempts to buy it These are the only companies in the world that do this kind of work.” “My company didn’t do that, but others did. “Even when a salesman was a rep for a machine and had to work on it, they would blindfold him and bring him to the machine,” Glover said. The company is largely hidden from the road behind a grassy hill, and a sign at the security gate instructs truck drivers to “turn to Channel 24 on your CB and wait for clearance to enter plant for loading.” The Quartz Corp., a Norwegian and French conglomerate, politely declined comment for this story, and Augusta National didn’t want to talk about the sand either. It may have a small imperfection of iron or a piece of feldspar, but you can’t tell with the naked eye.

The golf course sand is not the purest, but it appears to be the same. “It’s so crystal-faceted and so diamond-like. “If you look at it under a microscope, that tells the story of why it’s so glistening and bright,” Glover said. Cracks and fissures in grains of that premium sand allow acid to get inside and thoroughly clean them. The most valuable Spruce Pine sand is “leachable,” meaning it can be even further purified by an acid-washing process that removes a portion of quartz that has even the slightest impurities.

Sand of time mount