5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Masters (and 5 Things You Maybe Do)
This may have been my Best Sports Week Ever: a trip to the Final Four last weekend and a trip to the practice rounds of the Masters this week. My Final Four experience was great, watching my Michigan Wolverines* defeat Sister Jean and the Loyola Ramblers on Saturday night. Thanks to Arturo Gomez and Big Game Air for getting me down there and back (they’re a great resource for sports bucket list trips).
*I’m omitting any reference to the carpet bombing that Villanova did to Michigan in the Final game. I’m an “accentuate the positive” kind of guy.
After my trip to San Antonio, I followed the Jim Nantz commemorative trail down to Augusta, Georgia to watch the Monday-Tuesday practice rounds of the Masters. Playing a round on Augusta National is on my and every golfer’s bucket list. I still hope that will happen someday. But watching the Masters live is a nice runner-up prize.
A lot has been written about the Masters, but I thought I would pass along a few observations from having been there in the form of 5 things you probably knew, and 5 things you probably didn’t.
5 things you probably know:
1. The course is a lot hillier than it looks on TV. Everyone says this, but you really see it once you are there. Hole 1 looks pretty flat on camera, but has a massive valley between the tee and fairway bunker.
2. The food is really cheap. A light beer is $4. A famous pimento and cheese sandwich is $1.50. I calculated that if you bought one of everything on the menu, it would cost you just $56. Try duplicating that at any MLB ballpark or NBA arena. Heck, the parking alone might cost $56.
3. You can place your chair on a hole, leave it, and return to it at any time. People rush — but don’t/can’t run — to place chairs in the prime spots as soon as the gates open. Just make sure it’s the right type of chair though. No arms, folding, cloth. They’re available for sale for $30 and also make a nice souvenir.
4. The greens are fast, like putting on glass. The grounds crew won’t tell you how fast they are on the Stimpmeter (a device used for measuring the speed of a green). They’ll just say “tournament speed.” If you’re short-sided above the hole, it’s like putting from the top of a car and trying to stop the ball on the hood.
5. You can’t bring your phones on the course. Which makes it impossible to meet up with people. I guess that’s part of being old school. They do have courtesy phones stationed throughout the course where you can dial 1 and connect to anywhere in the U.S., in case you have pressing business when on the 15th fairway.
5 things you didn’t know:
1. You can take photos during the practice rounds. As mentioned, you can’t bring on any form of smart phone or tablet. And you can’t take photos during the tournament. But you can use a traditional camera during the two practice rounds. I went to Best Buy and bought an old school Canon digital camera to mark the occasion. I literally may never use it again.
2. Volunteers at the Masters are unpaid and by invitation only. It is one of the most coveted gigs in the world because if you volunteer, you are allowed to play a round at Augusta during the last week it is open in May. People wait years to find a way onto the invite list, and once on, they never leave. Volunteers travel in from all over the world to preserve their spot. I met a guy who travels in from Nashville each year to do it. His dad has traveled in from South Carolina for the past 35 years.
3. Crowd etiquette is hugely important and strictly enforced. Officials even go so far as to ban certain phrases from being yelled. You do it, you’re kicked out. This year they actually added the phrase “Dilly dilly.” Don’t even think about “Baba Booey.”
4. During the practice rounds, after hitting their normal shots, the pros try to skip a ball over the water on the par 3 16th hole. They take a drop in front of the pond, choke down on what is probably a 7-iron, and try to send a “Jesus ball” skipping fifty yards across to the green. What amazes me is every one of them skips it. I mean, they are pros, but you figure at least one of them would plunk it straight into the drink. Probably 50% get the bounces just right such that the ball jumps onto the green. And a few even come close to holing it out.
5. Tiger and Phil may actually be on friendly terms now. On Tuesday morning I got to watch Tiger, Phil, Fred Couples and Brandon Pieters play nine holes together (they permit foursomes in the practice rounds). Pros pick whoever they want to play with, so this means Tiger and Phil actually wanted to play together. And they seemed to have a good time, fist bumping on several occasions. I guess age and a few Ryder Cups make the heart grow fonder. I will also say that Tiger’s presence on a course makes the atmosphere electric. People lose their shizzle watching him play. And woe to any golfer in the group in front or behind him given the size and jockeying of crowds around him.
All in all, it was an awesome trip and will enhance my viewing of the Masters on TV each spring. Hopefully I’ll make it back someday soon. Eventually, with my own clubs.
Dilly dilly!
