I attended my first ever Masters by making the draw for the Monday 2017 Masters Practice round. In anticipation of it I combed the net and TexAgs for info to get the most out of my visit (kudos to booradley and his annual tips thread). Although Monday may not have the excitement and complete field like the tournament days, one of the advantages is that you can bring your camera in, which I did and I took a number of pics while I was there.

What I want to do with this thread is share my trip, as well as the Masters experience by dumping a lot of photos here (along with some commentary/explanation) and give the perspective of a general attendee. Hopefully this will be of some value to those of you attending, or those of you needing some golf crack to kill time at the office.

Before I begin, a few disclaimers:

1) I am not a pro photographer. If you want beautiful hi-res images of the Masters at perfect angles, you're better off using google. Since phones are not allowed in even on practice days, I had to resort to an old digital point and shoot which is probably less powerful than the cameras most of us have on our phones. The photo snobs will scoff, but I didn't invest in a DSLR to lug around the course. I was told beforehand that one of the difficult things to perceive prior to visiting is the elevation changes around the course, so I tried to take pictures that could capture some of that. I was successful for some pics, and for others I wasn't.

2) I'm breaking up the posts and pics according to how I chronologically went about my trip. (Including pre-game stuff) At one point I tried to go through all the holes in order to present it as 1-18 but that didn't work out. As I add to the thread, the order of the posts will be this so that you can skip to an area that you may be more interested in:

• Sunday
• Heading to the National
• Golf Shop
• First View of the Course
• Hole 5 with a few pros
• Hole 6
• Hole 7
• A little of Hole 8 and cheap eats
• Open area & more Hole 8
• Hole 9
• A Big Tree, VIPs and a Putting Green
• Par 3 Course
• Near Founders Circle
• Cottages
• Hole 10
• Hole 11
• Amen Corner cont.
• Weather Evac with Random Course Shots
• Rain delay and return
• Second Meal and second evac
• 18 & Exit

Hope yall enjoy.

Sunday


My kickoff to the Masters week actually started in a common place for all of us College Station. My graduate program orientation was on Friday (better a late Ag than never), so I headed down Thursday, played the campus course and spent the evening at a few different spots in Northgate. It was a great kick off to my trip because of the random Ags I met throughout the week, and all the looks from non-Ags that said "how do they know each other?" It also helped set the tone for the household college rivalry week the wife and I had (she's responded to my A&M admission by promoting her UH every chance she).

Anyways, we took off from Hobby airport in Houston Saturday, hung out in Atlanta Saturday evening, and then made our way to Athens Sunday morning to play the UGA golf course.








The home course of the UGA golf team was a great track to set the tone for Augusta as the elevation changes were completely different from the flat land of Houston I was used to, and the pins on some of the greens were placed in some pretty tricky spots. I was told the course was at one time used as a Nationwide qualifier. There was quite a bit of wind, and it was interesting how you felt you had made a good shot, only to see it land well short of the intended target.























Another unique thing about this course versus other courses I have played on, would be the large fans affixed on each of the greens to keep them cool during the summer and prevent the sun from destroying them.




After the round we had lunch in the clubhouse and watched some of the Sunday broadcast of the SHO.



They have a wall in the dining area that I forgot to take a picture of, which features bags from many of the UGA alumni golfers who made it to the tour. Of course Bubba's is right in the middle, and near his was Russell Henley's who happened to get the win at the SHO that day. I haven't played much in the area, but I definitely think it's a good course to get into the mood for the Masters.

When we were done we made the drive to Augusta and got settled in to our accommodations. Following boo's suggestions we headed to Rhinehart's on Washington Road for dinner. Rhineharts had a good crowd, and when I was looking for a table my Ag gear led to a number of comments and handshakes from other fellow Texans and SEC folks. We sat at a table and then ordered the fried shrimp that was recommended.




We got one order with fries and one with cheese grits. It was an excellent meal and the breading on the fried shrimp was perfect. We finished and headed in, looking forward to Monday.

The Golf Shop


Because of the potential for rain, my plan was to hit the golf shop first and be completely done with all my purchasing so that I could step foot on the course at 8:00 am sharp and maximize my time on the grounds. It was a great plan in theory, but it grossly underestimated 1) the amount of inventory contained in the shop and 2) the amount of time a wife can waste in such an establishment. We entered the golf shop past two more workers who once again welcomed us to the Masters and, and a third one who welcomed us and handed us shopping bags. We started making our way around the mini mall.





At the entrance there is a display showing an era of the Masters, video clips of that era and the corresponding clothing from that era. There was wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-partition of clothing and hats. The clothing items had corresponding numbers so you just stepped up and said which number you were interested in, and 2-3 workers were waiting to retrieve your item and hand it to you. There were pictures, bags, signs, crystal, dishes, jewelry, and much more. A guy even showed me a set of commemorative Arnold Palmer coins for $750. Just tons of stuff and tons of workers everywhere willing and ready to assist you in finding some more Masters products to add to your shopping bag. I met a few more Ags while shopping.































When it was all said and done we killed a lot of time and spent about $600 (lol poors). I was eager to get out to the course, so I proposed a pause in the purchasing, under the understanding that we would come back later. Our light haul consisted of:

• 2 Masters chairs
• 1 Umbrella
• 2 Masters lanyards
• 2 Masters wall pictures
• 3 Mugs
• 1 Tech Pullover jacket
• 1 polo
• 1 green Masters hat
• 1 pink Masters hat
• 1 refrigerator magnet
• 1 pink Masters shirt
• 1 pink tote bag

Next to the shop exit we discovered a check in where you could leave your items and they would provide you with tickets so that you could retrieve them later. Initially I had planned on shipping them (which is a service right next to the check in), but we decided to check in everything except for our chairs for when we returned to the shop later and then exited later in the day.

The UH wife decided to abandon her school hat for her new "prettier pink hat." The UH hat went in with the checked bag, and just like that the college rivalry was over.

First View of the Course


With shopping and stowing done, it was time to hit the course. But then someone had to go to the restroom so yet another delay took place. While waiting outside I noticed the best looking manicured bathroom area I could remember.



After an eternity, we finally were ready. Near this entrance there was an information board that displayed player names and times that they were supposed to tee off. This gate actually allows you to enter the course to two different areas. You can either head towards 16 green which would also put you close to Holes 3 and 7 and #6 tee; or you can head towards 16 tee which goes closer towards 14, 15 and Amen corner. We went down the path towards 16 green because I had been told of an ideal spot to leave our chairs. Coming down the path we got our first look at 16 pond and the green.

































We walked around the green to set up our chairs. There were some chairs setup but still plenty of room for other chairs. The grounds crew was cutting (or rolling pardon my agronomy ignorance) 16 green.





We then walked around checking out the nearby holes and areas near 16 green, including 17 tee box, 6 green, 7 crosswalk, 4 crosswalk, and others. We ended up catching a group on the 4th green.









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I'll pause there and continue to post if anyone cares to see anymore.

A little of Hole 8 and Cheap Eats

Coming off of 7 green I turned and took a quick shot down #3. I then went towards #8 and started taking a few pics. I spied an information board that now looked a little more filled than the one I saw earlier in the morning.











At this point we found ourselves near a general concession area with a phone bank, restroom, and the famous Masters food. The wife needed another bio break so I decided that it was a good time to partake of our first Masters meal. I ventured into the concession stand picking up a few items. I wanted to try out various items to compare them, and this particular stand was out of the BBQ sandwich. Oh well, it'd have to wait. They were also out of chicken sausage biscuits, but from what I heard it isn't one of the more popular items. They had snacks, various drinks in clear plastic cups and beer in green cups.



















Our first meal included:

• Egg salad sandwich
• Pimento cheese sandwich
• White chocolate chip pecan cookie
• Georgia peach ice cream sandwich
• 1 lemonade
• 1 sweet tea

This bill for this meal was somewhere around 10 bucks. The reputation for the excellent value of food at the Masters can not be overstated. The pimento cheese sandwich lived up to its cheap yet delicious reputation as a staple of the Masters. The Georgia peach ice cream sandwich was excellent - its a chunk of ice cream placed between two sugar cookies. Surprisingly, the only thing I wasn't fond of in this meal was the sweet tea. I guess being a Texan I'm a bit particular/biased about my sweet tea. The lemonade was good though.

I'll conclude this post with a close up of the pimento cheese sandwich.