A Day at The Masters

Augusta in the morning

Back in April Eric and I (with my Dad and brother) had the opportunity to do something that a lot of people only dream of.  We got to go to The Masters in Augusta, Georgia! I knew it was a pretty big deal, but had no idea how big of a deal it was until we started telling friends we were going.  I had no idea how many people had that on their bucket list. I can't honestly say that it was on my bucket list but I thought it would be pretty cool to do someday. My parents went to the Masters Par 3 Tournament 4 years ago and said it was an absolutely incredible experience so of course it piqued my interest. My Dad's cousin drew 4 practice round tickets in the lottery this year and couldn't go, so she offered them to my Dad who offered to take Eric and I, and my brother. Since you either have to know someone with an "in" to the tournament or draw for tickets in a lottery, getting to attend the tournament is not an easy thing to do unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for scalped tickets.

We asked a scalper just for fun on the way in and he said he would buy practice round tickets for $400/each! We said sorry dude but we're going...

We drove over Sunday night and met them at a hotel right outside of Augusta. We were up and ready early (because golfers aren't the sleeping in type) to head to the course. Going to the Masters is kinda of like a time warp. They have very strict course rules, specifically NO CELLPHONES...like not even just silence your phone. You can't take it in with you at all. Period. I was shocked but people actually abided by the rule! In 2016! I even overheard a conversation between a group of guys who looked to be Eric's and my age about how weird if felt no to have their cell phones with them.  I didn't mind it so much...and it was kind of nice not to have to take it with me.

Their old school, non-digitized scoreboard

One of the major differences between the practice rounds (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and the tournament days (Thursday- Sunday) is that you can take a (non-cell phone) camera with you during the practice rounds, so I packed up my nice camera and extra batteries so we could get some pics at the tournament. The other kicker about the practice rounds is that any of the golfers can tee off whenever they want with whomever they want so you never know who you'll see when or where.  All I can say is thank goodness for the caddies' outfits having the golfers' names on the backs of them! The guys knew who most of the golfers were but yours truly was clueless.

We wanted to see the entire course so we started walking the perimeter, right next to the holes. We'd stop every time a group would come through and take pics to see who was there. This tactic worked out pretty well for us and we ended up see a bunch of big names: Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Jordan Speith to name a few...not that I'm name dropping or anything.

1) Scott Piercy; 2) Bryson DeChambeau (reigning U.S. Amateur Champion) and Vaughn Taylor; 3) Billy Horschel and Matt Kuchar; 4) Brandt Snedeker, Lee Westwood, and Graeme McDowell; 5) Jordan Speith (who came in 2nd), Justin Thomas, and Brooks Koepka (who lost the AT&T Byron Nelson Tournament this past weekend in a playoff with Sergio Garcia); 6) Smylie Kaufman (who made a run on Saturday and was paired with Jordan Speith in the final pairing), Zach Johnson, and Kevin Streelman; 7) Rich Beem; 8) Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson

There was one pair that I was convinced were following us at one point because we saw them on about 5 different holes, but I didn't mind because it was one of the most famous golfers on the tour....

Hello Rory McIlroy and Chris Wood! Rory is one that I can even pick out of a crowd!

One of the non-golf things that the Masters is famous for is the food, specifically their Egg Salad and Pimento Cheese Sandwiches that you can still get for $1.50 each. For such a big sporting event the food prices were amazingly affordable.  You could get a reasonable lunch for less than $10 that included a sandwich, drink, chips, and dessert. We tried our hardest to try almost everything on the menu of course, and did a pretty good job if I say so myself.

All of the food had it's own Masters Packaging, too, which was a tad odd, but when you're the Masters, people do what you tell them.

Clockwise from top left: 1) With golf, you're going to get some "style" and we got a bit of a taste. These guys were not golfers, just spectators. 2) This picture made me laugh so hard; these are the bathrooms. I have decided that this might be one of the few places on earth where the men's room has a line that goes out the door while I was able to walk right the women's restroom to a stall. Of course I was greeted by not one but 2 restroom attendants.  I told you the Master's was a different place! 3) Yes this is a picture of my feet, but look at the grass. No I did not sneak on to a green or even onto a fairway. This is the rough, specifically rough that has been designated for spectator standing. I'm pretty sure that rough was nicer that 75% of greens on most courses.

So say that the grounds were absolutely amazing was an understatement. The entire course was immaculate with not a weed in site.

This is 6th tee box and fairway where the golfers hit over the spectators to the hole. We ate lunch where those green trash cans are in the middle of the fairway.

One of the more famous holes is #13, affectionately known by the golfers as Amen Corner. Why? Because the hole does a 90 degree turn to the left. The top picture of the tee was taken straight ahead, the bottom picture of the green was taken in the exact same spot, I just turned to my right. 

Another famous hole and probably my favorite was #16. An old Master's tradition during the practice rounds is for the golfers to hit their tee shot and then go to the edge of the water to hit another ball, skipping it across the water. We got to see several try it.  Jason Day is on the left, and Kaufman, Streelman, and Johnson skipped theirs together all at once. It was awesome! Fun Fact: 6 golfers shot holes-in-one on #16 during Masters Week tournament play this year! During the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday Gary Player hit one and a little while later Zach Johnson and Ricky Fowler both hit one...in consecutive strokes! On Sunday another 3 players: Shane Lowery, Davis Love III, and Louis Oosthuzien put their names in the Hole-in-One Record Books. Personally, I think a hole in one is the way to go at Augusta because those greens were brutal...we saw golfers hit a ball one way that would turn 180 degrees back to the other direction!

 My dates for the day...they all had a blast!

 The Clubhouse....I decided after we got there that the lottery was a really wonderful idea because the course was not so crowded that you couldn't get around or see anything.  You could pretty much get wherever you wanted, when you wanted. 

This trip was certainly a once in a lifetime experience that I won't forget any time soon! We had an absolutely fantastic, albeit exhausting day. We will certainly continue to put in for tickets every year....you never know when you'll get picked!