Martha Burk calls it "that pit" - the 5.1-acre lot pocked with weeds and a few large anthills where Washington Road winds uphill and curves left, hiding the entrance to Augusta National from sight.

It appears the lot is the closest spot where the women's activist can legally protest Augusta National's men-only membership policy Saturday.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled against Burk on Wednesday. She has hoped it would overturn a U.S. District Court ruling that consigned her protest to the out-of the-way location.

It's a site that lies in the outer orbit of Masters hoopla.

Stretched between a title pawn shop on one corner and an apartment complex entrance on the other, the lot Sheriff Ronald Strength picked for hundreds of anticipated protesters faces a quiet row of 13 small houses with blooming dogwoods.

Few pedestrians trudged past during the final practice round Wednesday. Cars cruised by at the posted speed limit of 45 mph.

"They're in a very bad spot," said a ticket scalper, who identified himself only as Nickel, trying to flag down cars outside the pawn shop. "Who's going to see them? What are the going to do? Shout through a bullhorn at the traffic passing by?"

The sheriff, who has approved permits for up to 900 demonstrators, has said the vacant lot is the closest he's comfortable allowing protests without endangering ticket holders walking and driving to the course.

About a block from the corner of the lot nearest the course begins Washington Road's promenade of restaurants and strip malls, which resemble an endless parking lot during Masters week. Across the street is the northeast corner Augusta National's perimeter fence.

Behind the bamboo thicket shrouding the fence, golfers and fans on the course would be well shielded from protesters, said Roy Hickman, a vendor selling tripod folding chairs near the protest site.

"You can hear the crowds occasionally when they're screaming about things," said Hickman, standing across the street from the course. "But there's so much thick growth along the fence, it really cuts the noise."

To Burk, chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, it all adds up to being choked off from her target audience - the pro golfers and club members who enter Augusta National through wrought iron gates.

Burk asked to place 24 protesters outside the main entrance, with 200 more across the street. The sheriff denied her permission and U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. refused to overrule him.

She then turned to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected her motion late Wednesday.

As the ruling stands, Burk's group will have to settle for the lot or brave the gate and risk arrest - a possibility she doesn't rule out.

Strength has approved permits for eight groups to protest. The Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition plans to support Burk. Others plan to oppose Burk, or oppose Jackson. Another intends to support U.S. troops in Iraq. And a Ku Klux Klan splinter group plans to show support for Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson.

They'll all have plenty of room. Along Washington Road, the protest grounds stretch about 350 yards - the same length as Augusta National's par 4 hole No. 3.

About 100 officers - Augusta deputies buttressed by reinforcements from neighboring Columbia County and the Georgia State Patrol - plan to park their patrol cars between opposing groups to deter any violence, said Augusta sheriff's Capt. Ray Myers.

Myers said there will be plenty of traffic - cars and pedestrians - for Burk to have her share of the spotlight. He pointed to a worn footpath on the edge of the lot beside the road.

Eva Evans, who can see the field through the window beside her desk in the title pawn shop, agreed. She said the street was so crowded Monday she was afraid to leave for lunch.

"They will be seen. They will be heard," Evans said, wearily. "Not that it's going to do much good."

But the lone protester to show so far, self-appointed Burk nemesis Todd Manzi, hasn't had much attention.

Manzi's trying to sell hats, shirts, buttons and golf balls emblazoned with Burk-bashing slogans. But business has been a bust at the parking lot where Manzi's opened shop next to the protest grounds.

"We rented the parking lot and were set and good to go. But there was absolutely no one there," Manzi said.

He still believes it's a fine spot for Burk's protest, but admits "it's a terrible location for selling stuff."