SFO777

Madone59's wonderful trip report from last year's Masters inspired me to want to make a trek to holy grail of golf, Augusta National. And sincere thanks to Madone59 for arranging a Monday ticket from a colleague. I was skiing with our SFO son and grandkids at Copper Mountain last Friday when I got his text which said "call immediately". So I did, from the chairlift… on a frigid April 1st in the Rockies.

The grandkids left Saturday morning and headed out for DIA just after noon on Sunday. With a nearly empty parking garage and no line at PreCheck, I was in the B concourse a few minutes later.





Denver-Atlanta
United 1444
A319
2:24p-7:32p (sked)
2:24p-7:05p (actual)
Lunch

Five minutes to boarding and no one has lined up to board? No gate lice? At United? Never seen this before in my life.





Excellent DEN-based crew but what a piece of garbage is United's A319. Two rows of First and with a last minute booking, I was relegated to 1F. Terrible legroom and spotty Wifi and no power. It was better than Y and Delta which wanted ridiculous 4 figure prices for an F ticket. Yikes.









Meal orders were taken by status. Fortunately, all the 1K and PM elites chose the dopey chicken salad while the rest of us had the delicious hot cilantro chicken sandwich.











The always great baked-on-board chocolate chip cookie, so much better than USdbaAA's disgusting warmed-on-board Chips Ahoy cookie.



The good news is we landed at ATL nearly 30 minutes early. The bad news is that we landed at ATL and in particular the depressing far end of the T concourse. Wow, talk about a long walk to the main terminal and then to ground transportation and the train to the Rental Car Center.





















And up to Avis Preferred where my name wasn't on the board. No worries, the agent offered me an upgrade to a Mustang. I must be getting old as I declined and went for a regular full size sedan.



And we're off for the roughly 2 hour 143 mile drive on I-20 to Augusta. I thought that the projected ETA was a little optimistic but then I learned why. A 70 MPG speed limit with cars passing me when I was doing 80. Welcome to Georgia!











Sure enough, I got to my north Augusta exit at just after 9:30p and headed to my ticket pick-up location, a rented house on a dark street with hard to street numbers with the instructions "ticket will be under a cushion on a chair by the round table on the porch". Fortunately, no one called the cops or worse, pulled out shotgun, when I first went to the wrong house. Yikes.

Second time was the charm and ticket in hand, I headed toward downtown to drive by Augusta National and then back to my hotel for the night, the Staybridge Suites. I was prepared for outrageous prices but was pleasantly surprised when I found a 3-star with 95% satisfaction on hotwire.com for only $165… with free Wifi, free hot breakfast and free parking. And only 1.5 miles from the main gate at Augusta National. Definitely 3-star at best but friendly staff. Not remotely Mrs. SFO777 luxurious but clean, spacious and comfy.













I headed down to breakfast at 7:30a. Ticket brokers even working the elevators.





Not a bad basic spread with lots of serve yourself options





And then up to room to pack and head out, ticket in hand.

SFO777

Tickets anyone??













Lots of pros and former stars in town this week including John Daly who very appropriately was staying at Hooters. My how the mighty have fallen… relegated to hawking merchandise from a Hooters parking lot.





Didn't see this until I was editing pics but it did seem a little ironic.



And Fuzzy now apparently in the alcohol business, which seems appropriate.



Continuing the walk up Washington.

















I had read the rules and considered hiding my cell phone but in the end, decide to leave it in the car. Man 6 hours without a cell phone is an eternity. But they didn't say no iWatches. LOL.

















Early morning is the biggest crush of people but this place is amazingly well organized and staffed by hundreds, probably thousands of diligent yet friendly security and event staff. Despite the crowds, it was one of the most pleasant major event experiences I have ever had.







After the security bag check and metal detector screening, I was at Augusta National. I've traveled a lot and seen many wonderful places all over the world, but there was something about today and Augusta National. It was an emotional experience. Simply stunning and beautiful grounds and so much sports history. Indeed magical. Even the tens of thousands of people didn't bother me.











To the practice tee and green.









































Then over to the course passing by the Golf Shop where there must have been 1,000 people waiting to get in. OK, the place is a license to print money.













Then the main concessions stand. Wow, look at those prices. Are you kidding me. These look like prices from the 1980's!!









Cell phones are not allowed but Augusta National has a bank of land line phones with free long distance calls courtesy of AT&T.

MickV

This is the only thing you have ever posted to make me jealous!! I cant wait to get back there.

Funny story about Chris Wood, who is in one of your photos. Delta lost his clubs on the way over and told him to rent a set and they would cover the cost.

mkjr

Nice. Hopefully my BIL will pull some strings and get me full access tickets for the Friday of the US open...he was unable to for this major... ;-(

jacobac00

Wow! Thanks for posting SFO777. Thank you for the pictures. One of these years my number will come up in the ticket lottery.

ASUDan130

Why are the food prices at the Masters so cheap? They could charge 5 times that and get away with it with the clientele that attends those events.

MickV

Outside the merchandise tent you do not rip the patrons off. Unless you've been there it's hard to describe. One of the few places that has lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations.

SFO777

Thanks MickV. I recall United lost Rory's clubs a couple years ago. My first thought was... he flies commercial??

Thank you mkjr. Good luck on Open tickets.

Thanks jacobac00.

I have no idea other they make so much money on other things that they decided to keep "throw back" pricing.

Indeed, it is very hard to describe. Madone59 mentioned magical. That it is with an atmosphere that is so unique. Everyone from volunteers to security to the spectators seemingly enjoying themselves. And 30/40K people relaxing and just soaking the experience. I would agree that it exceeded my expectations. I would love to go back and spend a couple of days.

Madone59

SFO777 I am so glad you not only found your ticket down that dark twisting road but that you got the chance to point your lenses on Augusta National. Your photos, especially of the tree shadows, are amazing and have renewed my excitement for The Masters as I sit in The Roadway Inn off Washington Road hoping I don't get something from this mattress . I just wish I could have my camera with me tomorrow.



Because it never was and never has been about money; it's about tradition.

worldtraveller73

Umm.

There's less people in India that there were in those photos of Augusta!

Glad you had a good time. ^

flyupfrnt

My brother pledged to get us tickets next year. Cannot wait.

roadwarrier

Stunning photos - thank you.
And yesterday, Gary Player, at the age of 80 managed a hole in one on the 7th hole.

stevie

Great TR - it is a dream of mine to walk around there some day. Out of interest were there any tickets for sale around?

SFO777

And then to the beautiful course itself.





Lots of people taking pics to memorialize the visit.











And famed Butler Cabin, where the green jacket is presented to the new Champion every Sunday afternoon.















Looking down the 10th fairway.





Looking back up the 10th.











Over to Amen Corner.

























Time for lunch. Wow, still can't go over these prices.









Sandwich, chips, water and chocolate chip cookie... all for $6.00 including tax. Amazing.





Then off to what I think is the best spectator place on the course, the 15th, 16th and 6th.





















And the most fun of the day, the crowd coaxing players to try water skipping shots on the 16th. Great fun.



















The view a wonderful vantage point on the downslope of the 6th, with great views of the 6th and 16th greens.



And great people watching as Rory McIlroy walks by on his way to the 6th green, with playing partner Chris Wood.









Now over at the 7th tee.

















And back to my vantage point on the 6th downslope.















Time to head back towards the clubhouse.









And the practice tee and green.































Now approaching 2PM and 6-5 miles later, I decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. But first another golf shop... with a lot fewer customers now.



Lots of cashiers eager to ring up sales.




For lots more pics of Augusta National and a complete HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com


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mkjr

and the one place where marketing does not infiltrate every aspect of the tournament down to monetizing the space on pretty much everything that has space within the view of the TV cameras... added TV...