I've read several places online about waiting around the gate at the Masters and grabbing a badge from someone leaving to get in using one of the two re-entrys per badge or ticket. Has anyone here actually made it in this way? Thinking of adding on an extra day to a vacation in April and diverting to Augusta for the afternoon.

Are there really people that are leaving early on a Sunday afternoon at Augusta?

Yes, there are. When I went in 2018, I sat next to a couple on the 1st tee who left after Rory teed off so they could go watch the rest of the round on tv.

I was there on Sunday and heard it was common for locals to go to the course in the morning and go home to watch the coverage on TV.

Makes sense that locals who've had tournament badges for decades might do that. But I doubt they would hand over their laminated badge to a stranger. It's my understanding that they tend to collect those. I suspect you'll need to find someone with a single day ticket that is leaving to talk them into handing it over to you. Probably not as many of those (although I suspect there are some).

Don't know about Sunday, but I've done this before for a practice round. Granted, this was 20 years ago.

Easy to do this for a practice round. I'm 3 for 3.

I've never tried it for a tournament day.

The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

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Are you saying that in order to get your ticket for next year, you have to turn back in your badge? That you don't get to keep your badge?

That is inaccurate. I know people (myself included) who have consecutive years and years of Masters badges displayed at home or in their office.

NOW ... if you buy a ticket from a ticket broker, and you don't return it to him, you could be asked to pay thousands. Because he wants to have the original ticket on hand as proof that he didn't let someone else use it, which would mean the permanent loss of the ticket. Is that what you are referencing?

oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

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While I'm no expert, I'm virtually positive that's not right. The badge holders are essentially season ticket holders. Each year they get a laminated badge that gains you entry to every tournament day. After the tourney is over, they keep the badge as a keepsake (you'll see people at the Masters with dozens of them pinned to their hats). They don't have to turn them back in to stay on the list.

JCA1 said:

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oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

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While I'm no expert, I'm virtually positive that's not right. The badge holders are essentially season ticket holders. Each year they get a laminated badge that gains you entry to every tournament day. After the tourney is over, they keep the badge as a keepsake (you'll see people at the Masters with dozens of them pinned to their hats). They don't have to turn them back in to stay on the list.

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It's not right. And I have the badges to prove it.

aginlakeway said:

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oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

---

Are you saying that in order to get your ticket for next year, you have to turn back in your badge? That you don't get to keep your badge?

That is inaccurate. I know people (myself included) who have consecutive years and years of Masters badges displayed at home or in their office.

NOW ... if you buy a ticket from a ticket broker, and you don't return it to him, you could be asked to pay thousands. Because he wants to have the original ticket on hand as proof that he didn't let someone else use it, which would mean the permanent loss of the ticket. Is that what you are referencing?

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I know we were threatened literally just short of our life, if we lost the badge. Was told the masters could check for the badge upon request before renewing tickets. Yes you can keep the badge, but might have to show proof you did not give it away. Thats what I heard, clearly things could be different.

oldschool87 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

---

Are you saying that in order to get your ticket for next year, you have to turn back in your badge? That you don't get to keep your badge?

That is inaccurate. I know people (myself included) who have consecutive years and years of Masters badges displayed at home or in their office.

NOW ... if you buy a ticket from a ticket broker, and you don't return it to him, you could be asked to pay thousands. Because he wants to have the original ticket on hand as proof that he didn't let someone else use it, which would mean the permanent loss of the ticket. Is that what you are referencing?

---

I know we were threatened literally just short of our life, if we lost the badge. Was told the masters could check for the badge upon request before renewing tickets. Yes you can keep the badge, but might have to show proof you did not give it away. Thats what I heard, clearly things could be different.

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Badge holders often re-sell them on a daily basis. When I went, the "ticket" I bought on stubhub ended up being a badge. Had to pick it up in the morning and return it that afternoon. They do threaten you with huge fines if you lose it for a couple reasons. One, unless it's Sunday, it has probably already been sold for the next day to someone else. And even if it's Sunday, the badge holder wants their badge back both as a collectible and also in case AN asks for it for some reason.

oldschool87 said:

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aginlakeway said:

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oldschool87 said:

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The badges are worth Gold. In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in. Now, for the right price, you might make a deal, but you would still have to return the badge to the owner.

That is a lot of risk and a lot of effort by someone, who probably does not need the money anyway.

No badge, you lose your tickets.

---

Are you saying that in order to get your ticket for next year, you have to turn back in your badge? That you don't get to keep your badge?

That is inaccurate. I know people (myself included) who have consecutive years and years of Masters badges displayed at home or in their office.

NOW ... if you buy a ticket from a ticket broker, and you don't return it to him, you could be asked to pay thousands. Because he wants to have the original ticket on hand as proof that he didn't let someone else use it, which would mean the permanent loss of the ticket. Is that what you are referencing?

---

I know we were threatened literally just short of our life, if we lost the badge. Was told the masters could check for the badge upon request before renewing tickets. Yes you can keep the badge, but might have to show proof you did not give it away. Thats what I heard, clearly things could be different.

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Were you the original badge holder?

Your post said that the "In order to get ticket for the next year, that physical badge must be handed back in."

That was what I was questioning. HUGE difference between being asked to show proof that you still had it vs. handing it back in.

Bumping because I took a peak at Stubhub last night to see how prices are vs past years. Crazy. Every day is at least double or 2.5x relative to the years just before covid. Lots of pent up demand. The weakest day Monday is over $1000. You could do Saturday or Sunday for not much more than that not long ago

Whoa, that's crazy.

Monday $1050, Tuesday $1300, Wednesday $1800, any one of Thursday to Sunday $3600

Just a few years ago, you could find Monday for $500, Tuesday $700, Wednesday $1100, Thurs or Friday about $2000, Sat or Sun around $1600.

I went in 2017. Bought Wednesday in advance ($1500) so we were guaranteed one day and rolled the dice that Thursday ticket prices would drop by Wednesday night. Picked up Thursday for $1200.

Anybody know if this year is back to full occupancy? Not only are the tickets much more expensive, there just seems to be less of them as well.

Pretty sure it's full occupancy, but after 2 years of restricted, I think we're just seeing more folks plan to attend vs sell along with 2 years of pent up demand scooping up availability