If it feels like you keep stumbling on new stories about Augusta National Golf Club buying up local properties, well, you probably have. There was a church. Some homes. A Stein Mart. Part of the adjacent golf course. A strip mall that included a Publix and a Hooters. And now? A Wendy’s — for US$3.4 million.

During these buy-ups, the world’s most famous golf course isn’t exactly Value Menu shopping. In its latest spree, the Augusta Chronicle reported that in addition to the fast-food restaurant, Augusta National purchased six residences and a vacant lot, each for between US$300,000 and US$400,000 — an amount three to six times their assessed value.

The latest buys continue the club’s pattern of purchasing to the north and west of the property and adds to a sum of more than US$200 million spent acquiring land the last 20 years.

Why overspend on a Wendy’s? Presumably for the same reason Augusta has been spending and spending: to increase its sphere of control around the Masters.