Jerry and I have taken a lot of great trips, but this was a "bucket list" item. Although April was already a busy travel month with Capitol 10K weekend in Austin and Crescent City Classic weekend in New Orleans, when presented with two tickets to The Masters ... you GO!
It's not easy to get tickets, it's not easy to fly there and it's certainly not easy to find a place to stay IN Augusta, but one-by-one all of these elements fell into place. Andy Lane's uncle (now deceased) was once Chairman of Augusta National and from time to time he's able to secure passes through a cousin who still lives nearby. Once we had the passes lined up, we began the research on airfare ... flying into Atlanta was reasonable, but required a rental car and 2.5 hour drive to Augusta ... flying into Columbia, SC cost twice as much and still required a rental car with a 1+ hour drive each way. We opted for Atlanta. Onward to the hotel lottery!
We had never stayed in a Home2Suites by Hilton and, frankly, it sounded and looked like a $129 a night motel charging 6 times that price for Masters Week. We could have stayed an hour away for 4 times the price, but that would have created a new set of issues ... where would we park? ... how long would it take to get to the course each day with traffic? ... where WAS the course? After talking with the hotel and learning they'd shuttle us to and from the tournament, we opted for Home2Suites and never regretted it.
AMAZING experience from start to finish! Along with taking us to and from the course, Home2Suites fed us dinner each evening and breakfast each morning (included) and we enjoyed 1970's pricing on the pimento cheese, egg salad and cold fried chicken sandwiches - on WHITE BREAD - that Augusta National is known for. Admittedly, I haven't eaten that much white bread since the early 70's, but they were delicious. There's something fun about attending one of the most prestigious golf events in the world and grabbing a sandwich at the concession stand for $1.50!
By now, you're probably wondering why there aren't any photos of this blessed event and the reason ties back to the 70's pricing. Augusta National is a place of reverence, it's the church of golf. Absolutely, positively no cell phones or cameras are allowed into the club on tournament days. Period. And a camera does not do it justice anyway. Here's a shot of No. 16 from The Masters website.
The course is pristine, every blade of grass is bright green and the azaleas are timed to be in full bloom on Masters Sunday. There is not a leaf on a fairway. If one blows down, someone picks it up. As the golfers hit their shots, the caddies pick up any divot - or clump of dirt - that may be uprooted. On one green, a golfer had hit out of the sand and an attendant shows up with this long, expandable fiberglass whip-like thing and - I kid you not - whipped the end of this device all around where the sand had sprayed onto the green to get rid of it before the golfers putted out. This place is incredible!
Everything about the process of moving guests in and out of the tournamet each day is done with precision and a smile. The gift shops were a madhouse, but prices were surprisingly reasonable. Even the male patrons were shopping, because there's no "buying it online" when it comes to Masters merchandise. You can only get it "the hard way" ... or buy used merchandise on eBay for 4 times the original price! The best part was the shipping - you walk out of the gift shop and into the shipping station where your bags are measured while you're in line and by the time you get to the counter they whip out a box, some padding and in 60 seconds you're back on the course with your stuff safely packed away and headed to FedEx to be sent home!
We walked the course and saw some great golf - Fred Couples had a great first day and that was fun to see. Bubba Watson was on fire, building up a sizable lead, and everyone was cheering him on.
Thursday morning we even managed to position ourselves on the fourth row around the first tee-box to see the ceremonial tee-off with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.
Now THAT is a bucket list item for sure!
