Forget Greg Norman not being invited and Gary Player saying he’s not welcome at Augusta National despite winning the green jacket three times.

Forget Viktor Hovland’s five straight birdies Sunday morning and Cam Smith’s incredible 3-wood from a bunker to set up eagle on the 8th hole Saturday.

Forget all those things, and all the other exciting moments from four days in Georgia, because they’re short-term memories.

Aside from Jon Rahm’s dominating and determined performance, most will be forgotten before next year’s par-3 competition.

A much more important moment came before a competitive ball was struck at the 2023 Masters, during the Chairman’s press conference on Wednesday.

For all the talk of LIV and world rankings and changes to the 13th hole that dominated the media’s questions to Fred Ridley, it was his announcement of a new initiative involving a local public golf course which could have the greatest – and longest lasting – impact on both the town of Augusta and the game globally.

"In so many ways clubs around the world have taken their cues for generations from Augusta National and what we see on TV at the Masters ... This, however, is an initiative it is to be hoped all clubs take on board." - Rod Morri.

The details are sketchy, but the concept is simple.

Augusta National, one of the richest and most exclusive clubs on the planet, will partner with the local public course (known as The Patch) to both improve the facility’s offering and encourage more people to try the game.

Also in the mix is the local First Tee facility and the local technical college’s golf course program which will move to the site.

It’s a powerful message for one of the game’s most influential establishments to send to the broader golf community and one it is to be hoped will be taken on board by others.

Ironically, the announcement came just a day after a lengthy discussion I had with Anthony Lawrence, CEO of public course management company ClubLinks, about changing golf culture.

That phone call was about the company’s renaming of tees at the Centenary Park public course in Melbourne (a subject for another column) but within the discussion the notion of private clubs helping to grow and protect public golf came up.

For many private or semi-private clubs, public golf courses have historically been seen as competition, which they’re not.

In reality, they are the feeding ground for the majority of private facilities.

According to Lawrence 86 percent of people who play the game are not club members though almost 100 percent of club members likely started their journey at a public facility.

In an environment where public golf – and particularly urban facilities – are under increasing threat, private golf clubs have an important role to play not only in sustaining the game but their own futures.

It’s called investing in the future and it is at least as – and perhaps more important than – many of the course and clubhouse improvements memberships often seem so obsessed by.

Those things aren’t unimportant but without healthy future membership they may well be redundant.

In so many ways clubs around the world have taken their cues for generations from Augusta National and what we see on TV at the Masters.

And let’s be honest, not all of that has been to the good of the game (think overly green and overly manicured surfaces, for a start).

This, however, is an initiative it is to be hoped all clubs take on board.