At 88 years outdated, the Masters is the youngest of golf’s 4 majors.
Yet each inch of it’s steeped in custom, a wierd relic of a bygone period, remoted in as we speak’s hyper-commercial sporting world.
Augusta National is rather a lot like Wimbledon on steroids. Tradition and historical past are mixed with strict and generally strict guidelines, introduced in a picture-perfect setting.
Simply put, there’s nothing else prefer it. That’s a part of the rationale why tens of 1000’s of followers are scratching their heads questioning who might be chosen within the annual ticket lottery.
You cannot name them followers – Augusta requires you to name them “patrons.” This is a lesson broadcaster Jack Whittaker discovered the exhausting means in 1966 when he escaped a six-year ban for describing the gallery as a “mob.”
That’s simply one of many bizarre quirks of a novel match.
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rule
Phones can’t be used. Except for the payphones, which, regardless of the title, are supplied freed from cost by Augusta National. Other digital gadgets are additionally strictly prohibited. Cameras are additionally prohibited, however solely on the day of the match.
Patrons might solely ask for autographs at sure places close to the apply space.
Security guards are on excessive alert towards shouting by spectators (sorry patrons), and an extended listing of prohibited phrases is posted. In 2018, a listing was leaked that included seemingly innocuous phrases like “infinity and past” and “you are the person.”
Broadcasting stations even have strict guidelines relating to what may be stated. There are many different restrictions apart from calling a gallery a “patron.” If the participant misses the green, he’s within the “second minimize” somewhat than the “tough”. The course has “bunkers” somewhat than sand traps. Instead of a entrance 9 and a again 9, there’s a “first 9” and a “second 9.” This rule is claimed to have been launched as a result of the time period “again 9” may remind considered one of bottom. severely.
Patrons aren’t allowed to lie down on the grass, however they’ll carry their very own chairs, however solely folded chairs with no armrests. And if you wish to go to a spot with the very best view, it is higher to stroll. Running is prohibited.
Breaking any of those guidelines will lead to an instantaneous punt and you’ll in all probability not be allowed to return to Augusta National.
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meals
Despite the strict guidelines, there are numerous the explanation why followers love the Masters. The causes embody eating regimen.
Our well-known pimento cheese sandwiches and egg salad sandwiches price simply $1.50. The iconic Georgia peach ice cream sandwich prices $3, however the value has elevated this yr from his $2.50 final conference. Beer has gone up $1 in value, but it surely’s nonetheless $6 together with a wheat he ale brewed particularly for the match known as Crow’s Nest.
Sandwiches, cups, and all merchandise bought are packaged in inexperienced packaging. That means when the match is televised, all meals and drinks would be the similar colour because the grass.
At Augusta, appears are every thing.
course
Speaking of turf, programs generally use paint to make sure that the brown areas of the Bermuda grass match completely with the remainder of the course.
Former greenkeeper Andy Stranger as soon as instructed National Club Golfers:
“Everything seen on digital camera might be painted inexperienced.”
There is one space of synthetic turf on the course, simply throughout the long-lasting and picturesque Hogan Bridge that leads gamers to the twelfth gap inexperienced.
When it involves holding the course in good situation, there have lengthy been rumors that Augusta National dyes the water within the ponds all through the course. This is to account for the crystal-clear reflections from the darkish water floor. In 1996, a Golf Digest reporter sampled water from the fifteenth gap and examined it and located it contained what seemed to be blue meals dye. Augusta National, in fact, refuses to verify whether or not the dye remains to be in use.
The stunning white sand within the bunker shouldn’t be what it appears, however it’s truly a sort of quartz produced within the Spruce Pine mining space of North Carolina.
Professor Drew Coleman as soon as defined:
“Spruce pine quartz is the very best on the earth, and the quartz produced from the feldspar mining course of is extraordinarily white and pure.”
Adam Scott hits a shot from a bunker on the 18th gap within the second spherical of the Masters. (Photo by: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Augusta National’s grounds span greater than 365 acres, and the membership has bought roughly 100 close by properties since 2000. However, one neighbor famously refused to promote, regardless of receiving common multi-million greenback affords from the membership. The home now stands close to a big car parking zone on the outskirts of the course.
This is not the one attention-grabbing constructing at Augusta National. His one of many many white cabins on the course was used as his residence by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, a member of Augusta. His cabin had a basement that was utilized by the Secret Service every time they visited the membership.
He’s not the one president to play at Augusta. When President Ronald Reagan visited the professional store in October 1983, a gunman took a number of hostages inside the professional store and demanded a gathering with the president. President Reagan tried to talk to the person on the telephone, and the hostages have been ultimately launched.
membership
If you wish to turn into a member of golf’s most prestigious membership, changing into the President of the United States might help. Other than that, it is principally a matter of want. Membership is by invitation solely, and anybody who asks to turn into a member or who publicly expresses a want to turn into a member might be instantly added again to the listing of invitees. It wasn’t till 1990 that an African-American grew to become one of many 300-some members (Augusta National would not say what number of), and it wasn’t till 2012 {that a} girl grew to become a member.
Masters winners do not mechanically earn membership, however they do earn the long-lasting inexperienced jacket. However, the winner can solely put on the inexperienced jacket exterior of Augusta for one yr after successful. Their jackets are then saved on the membership.
plant
Augusta National is likely one of the most well-groomed and completely groomed programs on the earth. There are about 80,000 vegetation of about 350 varieties planted in complete. The bushes have all been deliberately minimize down in order that they lean inward, making the fairways seem narrower.
The most well-known plant is the azalea. It’s a shocking swath of pink, pink, and purple that stretches alongside the course. More than 30 of his varieties are on show across the course, particularly his thirteenth gap with greater than 1,000 bushes, aptly named “Azalea.”
One of the most important myths about Augusta, and there are numerous, is that the azaleas are lined in ice to make sure their quick two- to three-week bloom interval is ideal for match time. That has since been confirmed false.
There are additionally 1000’s of neatly trimmed bushes.
But among the many 1000’s of Georgia pines, one palm tree stands out. Each gap is known as after a plant or flower, and the par-3 fourth gap was as soon as named “Palm.”
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But the palm groves that when lined the best aspect of the outlet died in a winter freeze many years in the past — aside from one. The gap was renamed to a different plant, and the lone palm tree was hidden behind a clump of bamboo. It was one thing of a secret till the fifth gap was prolonged in 2019. Bamboo was minimize down to regulate the course, and out of the blue that single palm tree was open to the world to see.
Animals…or lack of animals
There is a big fence across the property, which means there are considerably fewer animals on the course. A deer has reportedly been noticed as soon as within the membership’s historical past, however by no means a squirrel. Even bugs are uncommon.
One of the large mysteries surrounding Augusta is the city legend that pretend hen calls are used within the Masters broadcast.
Numerous journalists investigated this and located no clear solutions, however in 2001 Augusta National took the weird step of declaring that no pretend noise was used. But regardless of the 1000’s of bushes and flowers, only a few birds are seen on the membership.
But Augusta has a minimum of some animals: fish. The ponds and streams surrounding the course are house to bream and bass, a minimum of way back to Eisenhower’s presidency. He is claimed to have fished this course, however snippets of different fishing tales have come to gentle through the years.
Tripp Borden, a former caddy on the course, wrote in his memoirs that Augusta National was a “fishing paradise.”
“The caddies liked fishing there,” Borden wrote.
Given Augusta National’s brutal historical past of punishing those that break its strict guidelines, attempting to fish there as of late looks like a nasty concept.
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rule breakers
In 1994, tv analyst Gary McCord was fired from Augusta National for describing the seventeenth inexperienced on reside tv as being “performed so quick that it appeared as if it had been ‘bikini waxed.'” He was given a everlasting ban. He additionally joked that the course had a “physique bag” of the sufferer’s golfer hidden behind the inexperienced. He will work for CBS till 2019, however is not going to be allowed to cowl the Masters once more.
He shouldn’t be the one participant to be banned for violating the foundations.
In 2021, Wayne Player, son of golf legend Gary Player, held up a branded golf ball sleeve on tv throughout an honorary starter ceremony. That yr, the Masters honored Lee Elder, the primary African-American to play within the match.
Wayne was instantly expelled and given a everlasting ban.
In 2012, revered golf author Alan Shipnack entered the long-lasting Butler Cabin simply as Bubba Watson was being introduced with a inexperienced jacket for successful a match. Only official broadcasters have been allowed to look at the particular ceremony, and Shipnack was suspended for one yr by Augusta National.
Back in 2012, a fan tried to get his palms on a sand cup as a novel memento. Patron Clayton Barker crawled underneath the rope to fill a cup with water and went to the bunker on the tenth gap, however was rapidly arrested. He was banned for all times and spent $20,000 in authorized charges.
And in 2011, a younger Rickie Fowler, then with lengthy hair and an uncommon type, appeared at a press convention carrying a backwards hat. He was instructed to show him round and tried to clarify that his look was to make it simpler for individuals to see his face. Augusta National officers by no means understood any of that, however thankfully for Fowler, he figured it out rapidly sufficient.
As Fowler discovered, Augusta is a particular place so long as you comply with the foundations.