A Tradition like none Other….

A Tradition like none Other…. (Charles's Masters Experience post)

From green grass to green jackets; from green buildings to green chairs; from green scoreboards to… well the most ridiculous greens I have ever scene… was Augusta National Golf Club. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the hollowed grounds where greatest in the game have walked and played.

I was fortunate enough to go to the Masters Friday with my cousin Vince. Now… everyone who reads this knows that Pinehurst is my favorite place on earth! And they also know how much I love the game of golf. I had 3 pages typed out about my experience but figured no one was really that interested. So, I have condensed it into this version…

First of all, forget what you THINK you know about the course from TV. There isn’t an HDTV on earth that can display the absolute beauty, terrain and mystique of Augusta National. Everyone knows it is beautiful, and it is. But the most unbelievable aspect of the course is the terrain. It is basically built on the side of a mountain. The clubhouse, putting green, first and tenth tee are the highest point and everything goes down to the lowest point, the left side of thirteen and Ray’s Creek. The greens are the most ridiculous I have ever seen. I can’t even type anything that would be worthy of describing them. Amen corner was everything I thought it would be in person and more. It is almost surreal as you stand there and look at #12 green and #13 fairway and green because you can’t get close. It is like you are looking at a picture. #15 green and #16, which is a par 3 has a stadium setting with several large grandstands and even more “seating only” areas. Almost anywhere you sit at #16 gives you a clear view of #15 fairway and green, #16, #17 tee box and #6, which is also a par 3. We sat behind #16 green most of the afternoon and saw a lot of great shots, but also saw some that made me feel a lot better about my game for sure!!! We ate a lot… mainly because everything was $1.00, and I am dead serious! You have a choice of a chicken, BBQ, ham/cheese, egg salad, chicken salad or a club sandwich. A bag of chips were $.50, candy bars $.50 and peanuts were $.50. Drinks were $1.00 for a coke, “sport drink” (which is fruit punch Gatorade, but remember, they don’t do the sponsor thing) lemonade or beer… that’s right, a beer was $1.00. You could pay $.50 more for a plastic souvenir cup which had the 50^th anniversary of Amen Corner. We ate and drank enough for a family of 5 and spent like $20 total!!! The atmosphere is also special. Everyone is polite and speaks in a soft voice. No one cheers for bad shots and there isn’t any annoying “you da man Tiger” idiots standing behind you shouting after every shot. If you place your seat at a specific hole and leave it to walk around, you are not to touch it. There must have been 2,000 seats around #18 green Friday morning and no one was sitting in them. Try leaving your chair like that at any other golf tournament and you will be looking to buy a new one! We walked every hole on the course and the only hole we didn’t see any putt on was #18, only because we were up by the clubhouse early in the morning. I feel very lucky because Trevor Immelman was playing early Friday and we got to see him play a lot without the massive crowds. Little did we know that he was going to win! We saw most of the big names play through #16… and yes, we got to see Tiger play #7 late in the day. You won’t find any sponsor labels anywhere inside the grounds. The chip bags say “Masters” as do the peanuts, candy bars and cups. The scoreboards are white and manually updated. There are significantly less trees then it appears on TV, especially around #14 green and #17 green. In another touch of class, all the members wear their green jackets as they walk the grounds so the patrons are able to identity them in case someone needs to ask a question or needs help. As we made our way back to the car, we stopped at the merchandise store…. WOW!!! I could be purchased one of everything but only left with a belt. Reluctantly, we walked through the gates and out to Washington Rd towards our car. It really didn’t sink in that I was actually at the Masters until I was alone on my car driving back to Durham. I feel fortunate to have now been to two of the four majors in the 2005 US Open in Pinehurst and the 2008 Masters. Everyone should have the opportunity to go The Masters one time because it truly is a tradition like none there.