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Can You Tour Augusta National? A Guide to Visiting the Iconic Golf Course

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most iconic golf courses in the world. Located in Augusta, Georgia, it’s home to the Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf. Every year, thousands of golf fans flock to Augusta National to watch the world’s best players compete. But what if you want to experience the course for yourself? Can you tour Augusta National?

Exploring Augusta National: A Tour of the Iconic Golf Course

The answer is yes! The club offers public tours of the golf course throughout the year. These tours are a great way to get an up-close look at the course and learn more about its history and significance. On the tour, visitors can explore the grounds, take pictures, and even get a chance to hit some balls on the driving range.

When planning your tour, it’s important to note that access to the club is strictly limited. Tours must be booked in advance, and availability is limited. It’s recommended that you book as far in advance as possible to ensure you get a spot. The tours typically last two hours and run from 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday.

Behind the Scenes at Augusta National: A Tour Guide’s Perspective

On the tour, visitors will be led around the course by knowledgeable guides who can provide interesting information and anecdotes about the golf course. They’ll also have the opportunity to stop and take pictures at various points along the way. The guides are passionate about the course and are always willing to answer questions and help visitors get the most out of their tour.

The tour guides also offer tips and advice on how to make the most of your visit. They can provide tips on where to stand to get the best view of the course, what clubs to use when hitting shots, and other helpful hints.

A Guide to Visiting Augusta National: The Home of Masters Golf

When preparing for your tour, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, dress appropriately. The course is a private facility and has a strict dress code. For men, this means collared shirts, trousers, and no jeans. Women should wear skirts or slacks. Second, bring a camera. You won’t want to miss out on capturing photos of the beautiful scenery. Third, be prepared to spend some money. There are plenty of souvenirs and snacks available for purchase at the course.

If you’re planning to stay overnight, there are several hotels in the area that offer comfortable accommodations. Additionally, there are several restaurants nearby where you can grab a bite to eat. If you’re looking for other activities to do during your stay, there are several attractions within a short drive, including the Augusta Museum of History, the Morris Museum of Art, and the Augusta Canal.

Visiting Augusta National is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that shouldn’t be missed. Whether you’re a golf fan or simply looking for a unique adventure, the course offers something for everyone. With its stunning views, fascinating history, and knowledgeable tour guides, Augusta National is sure to provide an unforgettable experience. So, if you’re looking for a unique way to explore this iconic golf course, consider taking a tour of Augusta National.

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Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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Can You Tour Augusta National Golf Club? (A Complete Guide)

Can You Tour Augusta National Golf Club?

Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most famous and exclusive golf courses in the world. It is home to the Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf. The course is located in Augusta, Georgia, and is owned by the Augusta National Golf Club Foundation.

Because of its exclusivity, many people wonder if they can tour Augusta National Golf Club. The answer is: yes, but it’s not easy.

In this article, we will discuss the different ways to tour Augusta National Golf Club, including the requirements, costs, and availability. We will also provide tips on how to make the most of your visit.

Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most famous and exclusive golf courses in the world. It is home to the Masters Tournament, which is held annually in April. The course is private and only members are allowed to play on it. However, the club does offer a limited number of public tours each year.

This article will provide detailed information on whether you can tour Augusta National Golf Club. We will cover the history of the club, who can tour it, how to get tickets for a tour, and what to expect on a tour.

History of Augusta National Golf Club

Augusta National Golf Club was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Jones was a legendary golfer who won the Grand Slam in 1930. Roberts was a successful businessman who was passionate about golf.

The club was designed by Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones. MacKenzie was a Scottish golf course architect who is considered one of the greatest of all time. Jones was heavily involved in the design of the course, and he wanted it to be a challenging but fair test of golf.

The course opened for play in 1934. It was immediately recognized as one of the best golf courses in the world. The Masters Tournament was first held at Augusta National in 1934. The tournament has been held there every year since then, except for 1943 and 1944, when it was canceled due to World War II.

Augusta National Golf Club is a private club. Only members are allowed to play on the course. However, the club does offer a limited number of public tours each year.

Who Can Tour Augusta National Golf Club?

The club is private and only members are allowed to play on the course. However, the club does offer a limited number of public tours each year. The tours are held on weekdays and are limited to 40 people per day.

Tickets for the tours are sold by lottery. The lottery is open to anyone who is interested in taking a tour of Augusta National Golf Club. Tickets are typically gone within minutes of being released.

If you are lucky enough to win a ticket for a tour of Augusta National Golf Club, you will be treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You will get to see one of the most famous and exclusive golf courses in the world up close. You will also learn about the history of the club and the Masters Tournament.

How to Get Tickets for a Tour of Augusta National Golf Club

The lottery for tickets to Augusta National Golf Club tours is open to anyone who is interested in taking a tour of the course. Tickets are typically gone within minutes of being released, so it is important to sign up for the lottery as soon as possible.

To sign up for the lottery, visit the Augusta National Golf Club website. You will need to provide your name, email address, and phone number. You will also need to select the date and time of the tour that you would like to attend.

If you are selected for the lottery, you will receive an email notification. You will then have 24 hours to purchase your tickets.

What to Expect on a Tour of Augusta National Golf Club

A typical tour of Augusta National Golf Club lasts about two hours. The tour begins with a video presentation about the history of the club and the Masters Tournament. You will then be taken on a guided walk around the course. Your guide will point out the different features of the course and tell you about the history of each hole.

The tour ends with a visit to the clubhouse, where you can purchase souvenirs and refreshments.

Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most exclusive golf courses in the world, and it is only open to members and their guests. However, there are a few ways that you can get a glimpse of the course without being a member.

What is Included in the Tour?

The tour of Augusta National Golf Club includes a guided walk around the course. Visitors will see the famous Amen Corner, the 18th green, and the clubhouse. The tour also includes a visit to the museum, which houses exhibits on the history of the club and the Masters Tournament.

How Much Does it Cost to Tour Augusta National Golf Club?

The cost of the tour is $35 per person. Tickets for the tour can be purchased online or at the club’s pro shop. Tours are typically 90 minutes long.

How to Book a Tour of Augusta National Golf Club

To book a tour of Augusta National Golf Club, you must first become a member of the club. Membership is by invitation only, and there is a waiting list of several years. Once you are a member, you can book a tour through the club’s pro shop.

Is Augusta National Golf Club Open to the Public?

Augusta National Golf Club is only open to members and their guests. However, the club does host the Masters Tournament each year, which is open to the public. The tournament is held in April, and tickets are sold through a lottery system.

Augusta National Golf Club is a truly special place, and it is an experience that every golfer should have at least once in their lifetime. If you are not a member, there are still a few ways that you can get a glimpse of the course without having to join the club.

No, Augusta National Golf Club is private and does not offer public tours. However, the club does host an annual Masters Tournament, which is open to the public.

What are the requirements for attending the Masters Tournament?

To attend the Masters Tournament, you must have a ticket. Tickets are only available through a lottery system, and the odds of getting a ticket are very low.

Are there any other ways to see Augusta National Golf Club?

Yes, there are a few ways to see Augusta National Golf Club without attending the Masters Tournament. You can take a helicopter tour of the course, or you can watch the tournament on TV. You can also visit the Augusta National Golf Club website, which has a virtual tour of the course.

What is the history of Augusta National Golf Club?

Augusta National Golf Club was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. The course is located in Augusta, Georgia, and is considered one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world. The Masters Tournament has been held at Augusta National Golf Club every year since 1934.

What are some of the notable features of Augusta National Golf Club?

Augusta National Golf Club is known for its beautiful scenery, challenging layout, and rich history. The course is home to some of the most iconic golf holes in the world, including Amen Corner, the 12th hole, and the 18th hole.

What is the best time to visit Augusta National Golf Club?

The best time to visit Augusta National Golf Club is during the Masters Tournament, which is held in April. However, the course is open to the public for a few days before and after the tournament.

Augusta National Golf Club is a prestigious golf course that is only open to members and invited guests. However, there are a few ways to experience the course without being a member. You can take a tour of the grounds, watch the Masters Tournament, or play a round of golf on one of the many public courses in the area. No matter how you choose to experience Augusta National, it is sure to be a memorable experience.

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Located along the Savannah River, Augusta is known worldwide for golf as the home of the Augusta National Golf Club, host to the prestigious Masters® Golf Tournament, held each year in April. Augusta’s River Region has both public and semi-private golf courses to enjoy many from famed designers Robert Trent Jones, Donald Ross, Jim Fazio and Tom Jackson.

Visit the River Golf Club

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With dozens of shops, restaurants, cultural attractions and entertainment offerings dotted throughout Augusta, there’s plenty to do after your round of golf. Riverwalk Augusta gives you access to the Savannah River with a full schedule of activities throughout the year. And don’t forget that Augusta is home to arguably the most recognized golf tournament in the world.

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Nine things to know: Augusta National Golf Club

18 Min Read

Need to Know

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The annual rite of spring that is golf’s visit to Augusta National is upon us. The Masters is defined by timeless traditions that tie today’s best players with the legends that preceded them. While golf fans may feel intimately familiar with the only venue that hosts a major on an annual basis, here are some stories from its past that may enhance your enjoyment. This is Nine Things to Know about Augusta National Golf Club:

1. FLOWER POWER

The world’s best convene at Augusta National each year to play for one of golf’s most prestigious prizes, but a local legend says men may have been searching for treasure on the site centuries earlier. It’s been said Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto may have visited the land where Augusta National now lies in the 16th century while on a futile search for riches. He may not have found what he was looking for, but a small spring in the trees between the 13th and 14th fairways allegedly yields trace amounts of gold after heavy rains, according to David Owen’s “The Making of the Masters.”

The land became an indigo plantation – the owner’s home is now Augusta National’s clubhouse – before the Berckmans family of Belgium purchased it in the 1850s to form Fruitland Nurseries, importing trees and flowering plants from around the world. The first attempt to bring a golf course to the site was made in 1925 by a Miami businessman who wanted to build a course and $2 million hotel. He went bankrupt shortly after pouring the concrete footings, which were buried during the construction of Augusta National.

Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones, the greatest golfer of his time, was pointed to the site during his search for the land where he could build his dream course. He was seeking a rolling piece of property that could use natural terrain instead of excessive hazards to befuddle players.

“I shall never forget my first visit to the property which is now Augusta National,” Jones wrote in “Golf Is My Game.” “The long lane of magnolias through which we approached was beautiful. The old manor house with its cupola and walls of masonry two feet thick was charming. The rare trees and shrubs of the old nursery were enchanting. But when I walked out on the grass terrace under the big trees behind the house and looked down over the property, the experience was unforgettable. It seemed that this land had been lying here for years just waiting for someone to lay a golf course upon it.”

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 30: A view of the locked gates at the entrance of Magnolia Lane off Washington Road that leads to the clubhouse of Augusta National on March 30, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. The Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals has been postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Jones enlisted Scottish architect Alister MacKenzie to create the course, saying in a 1931 interview that “we are in perfect agreement that a good golf course can be designed and constructed which will be an exacting test for the best competition, and at the same time afford a pleasant and reasonably simple problem for the average player and the duffer.

“Dr. MacKenzie and I believe that no good golf hole exists that does not afford a proper and convenient solution to the average golfer and the short player, as well as to the more powerful and accurate expert.”

2. FORTUITOUS MEETING

Pebble Beach has been called “the most felicitous meeting of land and sea in the world.” It also was the site of one of the most fortuitous meetings in golf history, after a shocking loss to a teenager allowed Bobby Jones to strengthen his relationship with the man whom he’d tab to design Augusta National.

Marion Hollins, a U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and the developer behind two MacKenzie designs on California’s central coast, Cypress Point and Pasatiempo, is credited with creating the circumstances that led to Jones and Alister MacKenzie connecting in 1929. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this year for her play and role in so many prestigious clubs.

Jones, the 1929 U.S. Open champion, shared medalist honors in that year’s U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach before losing to a 19-year-old, Johnny Goodman, in the opening round (Goodman would win the U.S. Open four years later, becoming the last amateur to do so). Exiting the tournament early gave Jones more time to discuss course architecture with MacKenzie, whom he’d first met while competing in Great Britain, and play his nearby designs.

"If Jones had been impressed with Pebble Beach, he fell head over heels in love with the newer Cypress Point," Charles Price wrote in “A Golf Story: Bobby Jones, Augusta National and the Masters Tournament.” "He found the design 'almost perfect.’ … The more they talked, the more impressed Jones became with Dr. MacKenzie's theories. While neither was aware of it, the Augusta National Golf Club – and, hence, the Masters Tournament – was being born."

MacKenzie and Jones bonded over their reverence for St. Andrews. MacKenzie once wrote, “I do not know a single example of a successful golf architect who is not enamored of the Old Course and the strategic principals embodied in it.”

MacKenzie also wrote that an architect should “be able to put himself in the position of the best player that ever lived, and at the same time be extremely sympathetic towards the beginner and long handicap player” and that “there should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls.”

The original design of Augusta National had fewer than 30 bunkers, and thick rough is not part of Augusta National’s course setup. The course’s rolling terrain and dramatic slopes are used to challenge the skilled player, while its wide fairways and large greens make it playable for the average golfer.

That is the genius of Augusta National, which opened in December 1932.

3. TOUGH START

Augusta National was created during the Great Depression and it was not exempt from the financial difficulties of the day.

The club struggled to pay course architect Alister MacKenzie for his design services. He reduced his fee from $10,000 to $5,000 just to keep the construction moving along, according to David Owen’s “The Making of the Masters.” After the course had been open several months, MacKenzie had received just $2,000. That didn’t even cover his estimated expenses. At one point he wired the club, asking “Can you possibly let me have … $500 to keep us out of the poor house?” MacKenzie died in January 1934, never seeing Augusta National in its finished form.

While becoming a member at Augusta National is now all but a dream except for only the well-connected, Bobby Jones sent thousands of invitations for the club’s opening membership drive. There were few takers, however. Despite an initiation fee of just $350 (plus tax) and annual dues of just $60, the club had only 76 members as the first Masters neared. That was well short of the 1,800 that the club’s business plan called for.

There were hopes that a tournament, with Jones as the headliner, would solve the club’s financial trouble.

Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts went to the City of Augusta asking for $10,000 to help stage the first Masters. The city council said yes, continuing its financial support through 1936, according to David Barrett’s “The Story of the Masters.”

Unfortunately, the club’s financial difficulties didn’t end with the inaugural Masters. The club ceased operations in 1943 and 1944 because of World War II and cattle grazed its fairways. Cows and turkeys were kept on the property – and sold at market – in hopes of earning the club much-needed income.

Owen wrote that Roberts once found $2 on the clubhouse floor and immediately added it to the club’s credit ledger.

“The only reason the clubhouse still exists – the most famous clubhouse in the world – is that they didn’t have the money to tear it down,” Owen told Golf Digest.

The club couldn’t afford to pay Horton Smith for winning the first Masters until 17 members chipped in for the purse. It was one of several times over its first 15 years that the club was on the precipice of financial ruin. Herman Kaiser, the 1946 Masters champ, said he would receive his winner’s plaque once the club could come up with the silver, according to Owen’s book.

4. HOME GAME

Living on Augusta National sounds like a dream come true. It almost was a reality. One of the club’s best hopes for raising money was to sell building lots for members to build winter homes. Roughly a third of the property was reserved for that purpose, according to David Owen’s “The Making of the Masters,” and the lots were numbered and delineated on several early maps. The lots were expected to occupy areas west of the second fairway and east of the 10th and 11th holes (another subdivision was planned for the land where the par-3 course now sits).

There was only one buyer, however. W. Montgomery Harrison bought three adjoining lots and built a large mansion that was visible behind the first green. The house stood until 1977, when another member bought the Harrison property and sold it back to the club. Owen writes that one of Roberts’ last acts before taking his life was walking to the first tee, with the help of a waiter, so that he could look up the fairway and assure himself that the home was gone.

The fact that the club could only sell one lot after two decades of trying “underscores the immensity of the challenge that (Clifford) Roberts, Jones and other early members faced in nearly every area of the club’s operation,” Owen wrote.

5. BY ANY OTHER NAME

Both Augusta National Golf Club and its tournament almost went by different names. American-International Golf Club, Georgia-National Golf Club, International Golf Club of Augusta and Southern National Golf Clubs were among the names considered for the club, according to “The Making of the Masters.”

Jones had his eyes on hosting a different tournament on his course, as well. He first thought about hosting a U.S. Open, but the tournament’s traditional June date wasn’t conducive to Augusta’s hot Southern summers. An April date was ideal. And as an added benefit, the date would attract sportswriters who were headed north from Spring Training.

Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts recommended the new tournament, an invitation-only affair, be called The Masters to reflect the quality of the field. Jones found that name presumptuous, so he called it the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. But over Jones' objections, the tournament was called the Masters from the start. Famed sportswriter Grantland Rice, an Augusta National member, called it the Masters in his syndicated columns leading up to the inaugural event, and the Augusta Chronicle referred to it as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament just once, according to author David Barrett.

“The newspapers didn’t want the Augusta National Invitation Tournament because that wouldn’t fit in any headline in the world,” said golf writer Dudley Green, who covered the tournament for The Nashville Banner for 30 straight years starting in 1947. “So they just started calling it The Masters.”

It wasn’t until 1939 that the tournament officially took that name.

6. FLIP THE NINES

Augusta National’s second nine includes some of the game’s most recognizable holes, including the trio known as Amen Corner (Nos. 11-13). Those holes were not the backdrop for the conclusion of the inaugural Masters, however. The first Masters was played with the first hole as No. 10 and vice versa. The routing was reversed before the second Masters and has been used ever since.

"The change was made because we learned through experience that play could begin earlier after a frost on what is now the first nine, due to its being on higher ground," Roberts wrote in “The Story of Augusta National.” "The switch was made in time for the fall season club opening (in 1934)."

The holes down in Amen Corner are among the last to receive sunlight. The routing we have come to know also gave players “the opportunity to warm up before reaching the intricate problems of the difficult holes,” the Augusta Chronicle wrote in 1934. Nos. 11-13, 15 and 16 are the only ones on the course with water, and the two par-5s, Nos. 13 and 15, offer eagle opportunities to those willing to take a risk over water.

<h3>White Dogwood</h3> Stewart Cink: “First of all, you deal with the fear. That’s how you start. The fairway is so narrow that you’re just aiming for the center; even if you miss the fairway in the rough, you’re just hoping you stay between the trees. If you hit the fairway, you have a middle- or long-iron to a real demanding green. The shot is about 8-10 yards downhill. When you’re hitting your approach you just have to decide how bold you want to be. If you miss to the right, you’re about 3-4 feet below the green there, so you have a scary shot uphill to a green that slopes toward the lake. You know you can’t miss right, so then the pond becomes more in play. You rarely ever go for a flag unless it’s on the right side and then you still have to be really disciplined. The green is basically large and has one general slope, back right to front left.”

Flipping the nines paid immediate dividends. The 1935 Masters was won by Gene Sarazen and his famous “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” an albatross on the par-5 15th. That put him in a playoff with Craig Wood, who had been the presumed champion when he finished several holes ahead of Sarazen. Wood would go on to become the first man to lose playoffs at all four major championships before winning both the Masters and U.S. Open in 1941.

Sarazen, who had missed the inaugural Masters while on a worldwide exhibition tour, was on the 14th hole when he found out that Wood had finished the second Masters with a score of 6-under 282. “Well Gene, that looks like it’s all over,” said his playing partner, Walter Hagen.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sarazen replied, according to a report from the journalist O.B. Keeler. “They might go in from anywhere.”

That premonition proved true on the next hole, when Sarazen holed out from 230 yards.

7. TRADITION UNLIKE ANY OTHER

Augusta National may be one of the most exclusive clubs in the world, but as the only venue to host a major on an annual basis, much of it feels familiar to golf fans. It starts with the entrance to the club, Magnolia Lane. Many of the trees that line the club’s famous entry were planted as seed by the Berckmans family in the 1850s. The 330-yard road wasn’t paved until 1947, more than a decade after the first Masters (imagine Tiger Woods driving down a dirt road to get to the Masters). The trademark Green Jackets began in 1937 as a way for patrons to recognize Augusta National members in case they needed assistance. Sam Snead was the first champion to receive the Green Jacket, after his 1949 win.

The first Masters Club, now known as the Champion’s Dinner, was held by Ben Hogan in 1952 after his victory the previous year. Hogan proposed membership in the Masters Club be limited to Masters champions, with Augusta National co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and club chairmen added as honorary members.

The traditional Par-3 Contest, held each year on the tournament’s eve, was first held in 1960, giving players and their families a chance for some fun before a stressful week begins. A fountain located adjacent to the par-3 course’s first tee lists every winner of the Par-3 Contest (no one has won the Par-3 and the Masters in the same year). The nine-hole course is 1,060 yards. Jimmy Walker holds the course record with an 8-under 19.

The tournament begins each Thursday with the ceremonial opening tee shots from the honorary starters. Only 11 men have served in that role: Jock Hutchison (1963-1973), Fred McLeod (1963-1976), Byron Nelson (1981-2001, non-consecutively), Gene Sarazen (1981-1999), Ken Venturi (1983), Sam Snead (1984-2002), Arnold Palmer (2007-2016), Jack Nicklaus (2010-present), Gary Player (2012-present), Lee Elder (2021) and Tom Watson, who joined Nicklaus and Player in the role in 2022.

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 08: Honorary Starter Lee Elder of the United States (L), waves to the patrons as he is introduced and honorary starter and Masters champion Gary Player of South Africa and honorary starter and Masters champion Jack Nicklaus look on from the first tee during the opening ceremony prior to the start of the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 08, 2021 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

In addition to the Green Jacket, the winner also receives a trophy that is a Sterling replica of the Augusta National clubhouse and a gold medal. The runner-up receives a silver medal and silver salver and the low amateur who completes 72 holes receives a silver cup. Awards are also given for various feats throughout the week. A crystal vase is awarded for shooting the day’s low score, a hole-in-one gets a large crystal bowl and an eagle earns a pair of crystal glasses. Players who make an albatross are awarded a large crystal bowl.

There are also three bridges on the second nine that commemorate incredible achievements in Masters history. The Hogan Bridge, which players cross en route to the 12th green, was dedicated in 1958, five years after Hogan set the 72-hole scoring record of 14-under 274. The Nelson Bridge is located off the 13th tee to mark when Nelson went birdie-eagle on Nos. 12 and 13 to pick up six shots on Ralph Guldahl en route to victory in the 1937 Masters. Two years later, Guldahl eagled the 13th hole during his Masters victory.

The Sarazen Bridge is located on the 15th hole to commemorate the most famous shot in Masters history, Sarazen’s albatross on No. 15 in 1935.

8. BERMUDA TO BENT

One of the biggest changes in Augusta National’s history took place four decades ago, when the course’s famous putting surfaces were converted from Bermuda to bentgrass, which isn’t common in the South because it is harder to maintain in warm temperatures. Augusta National is closed during the summer, however, and the course’s Bermudagrass greens had slowed in the years preceding the change. Bentgrass plays faster than Bermuda, allowing the tournament to achieve the green speeds that it is known for.

The experiment was first conducted on the club’s par-3 course. Those surfaces were switched to bentgrass in 1978, and after that experiment was a success, the greens on the big course were switched after the 1980 Masters.

“We could make them so slick we’d have to furnish ice skates on the first tee,” said former Augusta National chairman Hord Hardin. The bentgrass greens debuted in the 1981 Masters and immediately struck fear into players.

“The faster bentgrass surfaces have made the course play to an entirely different tune,” said Arnold Palmer. “Augusta National’s greens already are among the most undulating in the world – that’s part of the Masters tradition. Bentgrass greens are lightning fast; when the speed combines with the severe sloping of Augusta’s greens, they can get out of hand.”

Many of those extreme undulations are credited to another famed architect, Perry Maxwell, who was a partner of MacKenzie’s in the latter stages of his life and did further work on Augusta National in the late 1930s.

“Such undulations were his trademark and were known as ‘Maxwell rolls,’” Owen wrote. “MacKenzie was no longer alive at the time, but he undoubtedly would have approved. He loved dramatic contours.”

9. THE BIG THREE

Three of golf’s greatest stars convened for a practice round before the 1996 Masters, a collision of golf’s past and its future. And when the round was over, the two legends, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, declared that the progeny in their midst, Tiger Woods, could one day claim 10 Masters titles, as many as Palmer and Nicklaus combined. Woods is halfway there, sandwiched between Nicklaus (6) and Palmer (4) on the list of most victories in Masters history.

“He is absolutely the finest, fundamentally sound golfer I have ever seen, almost at any age,” Nicklaus said after playing with Woods for the first time. “(He) hits it 9 million miles without a swing that looks like he’s trying to kill it. … Whether he’s ready to win here this week, I don’t know, but he’s going to be your favorite here for the next 20 years.”

Nicklaus was right. Woods won the next year by 12 shots – breaking the 72-hole scoring record that Nicklaus shared with Raymond Floyd – for the first of his five Green Jackets.

Palmer ushered Augusta National into the television era, as troops from nearby Fort Gordon formed Arnie’s Army and cheered him to four straight wins in even-numbered years. The first, in 1958, came just two years after the Masters first appeared on television (and in the same year that famed golf writer Herbert Warren Wind first used the phrase ‘Amen Corner’ in a story). Palmer followed with wins in 1960, ’62 and ’64. The final win was an emphatic six-shot victory that made him the first four-time winner in Masters history.

But he was soon to be supplanted as the greatest player in Masters history. Nicklaus won his first Masters in 1963 and was victorious again in 1965. A year after Palmer won by a half-dozen, Nicklaus beat Palmer and Gary Player by nine strokes to set tournament records for largest winning margin and low 72-hole score (271). Bobby Jones famously called it “the greatest tournament performance in all of golfing history” and said Nicklaus “plays a game with which I am not familiar.”

Nicklaus won again the next year to become the first player to go back-to-back at Augusta National. His fourth Masters win, in 1975, came in a duel against Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller that is considered one of the greatest duels in the tournament’s long history. And, Nicklaus’ sentimental win in 1986 at the age of 46 is among the game’s most famous triumphs.

Like Nicklaus, Woods authored a record-smashing win (1997), went back-to-back (2001-02, joining Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only men to do that) and then added one more emotional win (2019). Woods also won in 2005 with a chip-in at 16 that is among the most famous shots in tournament history.

Woods’ 12-shot winning margin in 1997 remains the largest in tournament history and his 18-under winning score, since matched by Jordan Spieth in 2015, remains the lowest score in an April Masters. Dustin Johnson won the Masters in November 2020 with a winning score of 20-under 268, the lowest score in relation to par in major championship history.

Sean Martin manages PGATOUR.COM’s staff of writers as the Lead, Editorial. He covered all levels of competitive golf at Golfweek Magazine for seven years, including tournaments on four continents, before coming to the PGA TOUR in 2013. Follow Sean Martin on Twitter .

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Is it possible to 'walk the course' or visit at any time if you are not a member?

Is there a souvenir store?

Visiting early March.

No not really. You might be able to get a quick peak at the course as you drive down the road.

It's a private club that stays private until the week of the Masters. There's not much to see from outside the grounds, but I'm with PeachBelle - drive down the road and see what you can see if you're going to be in the area anyway. Don't make a special trip for it, though.

That's a pity.

After walking the greatest course in the World, The Old Course at St Andrews, it would have been nice to add Augusta National to the list.

Thanks for the replies

Is it possible to visit and walk the course at Augusta National.

Will be visiting and watching the US open at Chambers Bay mid June.

You have to have a practice round badge for Masters week. The practice badges are pretty easy to get if you inquire around. (it's illegal to sell them but not illegal to buy them from people) This gets you on the grounds and they do have a souvenir store and $1 sandwiches and the like.

You could try and get tournament tickets, but they are going for around $2000 right now.

Last year sandwiches cost 1.50 to 3 dollars. Sodas were $1.50. Domestic beer $3.00. Amazing prices!

Having read your review, I hope you can help me? We are planning to visit the course to visit the pro shop and hopefully get a glimpse of the course.

Hope you can help

Hi Phil, did you see replies 1 and 2 above?

You might want to call Augusta National directly to verify before you waste time on the road.

706-667-6000

Phil, to be honest, not a chance, this is private as prvate can be!!

There is no way you can just show up and be let on to the property. As other posters have said, it is necessary to get a practice day or tournament ticket (aka "badge"). You can go to the Masters website and apply to be in the lottery to get some of the tickets. It took me 21 years of applying to get Masters tickets. Another option is to sign up as a volunteer for the tournament. That, too, is a very long process. You can go on to the secondary market like Stub Hub, etc., to get tournament tickets, but they are incredibly expensive. A word of warning - many fake Masters tickets are sold during and before the Masters each year. It's much more of a problem than is reported. If you are a member of a private club somewhere, you might be able to get reciprocal privileges with the Augusta Country Club which is right next door to Augusta National. You can see a lot of the course from there. Of course, during Masters week, the ACC is closed, I think.

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Can you play Augusta? Yes! Here’s how to get golf’s most exclusive tee time

Published: 25 March 2022 Last updated: 27 March 2024

If you're very lucky or determined, you can play Augusta National

Augusta National Golf Club is one of the most exclusive venues in world golf and getting a tee time on the hallowed Masters turf is the stuff of dreams for most amateur golfers. But it’s not impossible. I’ll show you how to get a round at Augusta – and what you can expect if you do tee it up there.

Most golfers have a bucket list of courses they would love to play, but Augusta National tends to be conspicuous by its absence. The reason? Most golfers know that getting a tee time at Augusta National is nigh on impossible.

But… “nigh on”. That means it’s not actually impossible. As Lloyd Christmas would say: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

I am. Because there are a few ways you can get to play Augusta National. They might be tricky or unconventional, but experiences of a lifetime don’t always land on your doorstep in a green envelope.

How to get a round of golf at Augusta National

There are a number of other ways of sealing a tee time at Augusta National Golf Club. Unfortunately, none of them are easy, but if you’re really keen you could…

Become an Augusta National Golf Club member

Don’t get excited, it’s easier said than done. Augusta only has 300 members and it’s by invitation only. Unsurprisingly, memberships only tend to come up when someone passes away.

If you do happen to get an invite, make sure your bank balance is pretty healthy. The initial joining fee is believed to be up to £30,000. Monthly subs are said to only cost around £230, though, which seems pretty reasonable.

Don’t assume you need to be an exceptional golfer. According to Augusta insiders, the average handicap of club members is only around 15.

Be invited by an Augusta National member

This seems far more realistic than becoming a member in your own right. If you can find a member willing to sign you in then you’re golden. They don’t even have to play with you, just be on-site. And, added bonus, your expenses all get billed to them!

Unsurprisingly, Augusta National doesn’t publish a list of members. Billionaire Bill Gates is believed to be a member, which is handy if you’ve got his number!

Pull on the famous white overalls as a caddie

There are two big perks to this.

Firstly, you get paid to wear the famous white overalls and caddie for members at Augusta National. Did we mention Bill Gates is a member? Imagine the tips…

Secondly, and most importantly, you get to play the course once a year as a work bonus.

Work as a volunteer

This could be an urban myth, but it’s my understanding that people who volunteer to work at the Masters are then invited back the following month to play the course.

Volunteer for the week? We’d happily sell the famous Masters Pimento Cheese sandwiches for a whole year if it meant we got a round at Augusta!

Play college golf at Augusta University

We’re guessing if you were good enough to do that then you already would be, but one of the benefits of attending the university is that your golf team gets invited to play Augusta National once every year.

Become a golf author

Tell Augusta National that you’re writing a book about the club or the Masters and they may allow you to play the course for your vital research (just pretend you’ve never heard of Google). David Owen, the man behind The Making of The Masters , has played the course on many occasions.

Become a golf journalist and then get very lucky

A media ballot takes place on the Saturday of Masters weekend. Everyone in attendance covering the event has their name in the hat, and the lucky few drawn get to tee it up on the Monday.

Apply for a job at Augusta National

Augusta National may be private but it still advertises vacant roles online. Get your CV up to date, practise your lawnmowing skills, and keep an eye out. All employees get to play the course once per annum.

What’s it like playing Augusta National as a club golfer?

Former Golf World editor and single-figure handicap golfer Nick Wright was fortunate enough to have his name drawn out in the media lottery in 2019. He got to play the course in its final round set-up the day after Tiger Woods’ famous victory.

Here, Nick talks you through the round of his dreams and reveals whether Augusta is really as hard as it looks.

At face value, the stub is just like any other lottery or raffle ticket – the generic type you’ll find on the floor in bingo halls and at school tombolas the world over every day. It’s pastel blue, a little over an inch square and on one side, as you’d expect, there’s a number printed in solid black type. But for the entire week at every Masters, hundreds of writers, photographers, journalists and reporters guard this flimsy slip of paper as though their lives depend on it.

There’s a simple explanation. You see, the ticket is confirmation of entry into golf’s most coveted game of chance – the annual draw to determine which fortunate 20 journalists will play Augusta National the day after the tournament ends. It’s a cliché to call the Masters’ media lottery golf’s equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket, but that’s exactly what it is – a Charlie Bucket-style opportunity for mere mortals to walk in the footsteps of legends and to get a behind-the-ropes glimpse into a fiercely-guarded, uber-private world.

A round at Augusta is a once-in-a-lifetime experience at any time, but Media Monday comes with some gilt-edged touches. The course is prepped to the exact same final round condition, the pins remain untouched overnight from their traditional Sunday positions, and the lucky winners are given what the club calls a “member for a day” experience – the opportunity to drive down Magnolia Lane, change shoes in the Champions Locker Room, eat breakfast in the Augusta clubhouse and use the lavish practice facilities to warm up. The club even provides the services of one of its caddies free of charge, tip included.

Today’s warm and welcoming media outing is a far cry from what it used to be, though. Like everything at the Masters, it has evolved over the years. While it has been a tradition for as long as anybody can remember, it was originally offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Only when the line of journalists that would stretch outside the gates in the early hours of the morning became unsightly did the club switch to its current lottery system.

In the early days, the rule was that you could only play once per lifetime (nowadays, you cannot re-enter the draw for seven years once you play), and reporters were kept very much at arm’s length while on the property – reluctantly tolerated rather than welcomed. They were not granted access to Magnolia Lane, for example, and instead had to enter through the car park.

The practice ground was off limits and there was often a split-tee system, which meant those who started their round on 10 missed out on the sense of anticipation that builds around the turn as Amen Corner looms. And as soon as the round finished, the media were very promptly ushered away.

The member-for-a-day concept was implemented by the club’s media-friendly chairman Billy Payne. Some of the more cynical members of the working press claim the upgraded Monday experience, along with the construction of a new palatial media centre in 2018, are merely PR stunts to distract journalists from a gradual reduction in their reporting privileges and player access.

Others view it as a reflection of Augusta National’s more open and accessible persona – the modern-day embodiment of Bobby Jones’ philosophy of welcoming and showing gratitude to those who put his tournament on the map in the early days and who continue to add to its mystique through generous and cooperative reporting. Either way, it’s an experience one doesn’t want to miss.

The draw takes place in private on the Saturday morning around noon, after which the names of the lucky 20 are displayed on large screens in the media center reception and the main auditorium. It doesn’t take long for word to get around. They say it’s bad news that travels fast, but notification of a tee time at Augusta National reaches you at warp speed. I didn’t need to go anywhere near a TV screen to learn that my name had been pulled from the hat.

As soon as I walked in off the course at the end of the third round, two German editors greeted me with a slap on the back. Sky Sports Golf’s Keith Jackson, who played a couple of years ago, tagged me in a good luck Facebook message. Friends, family, and friends of friends of friends back in the UK knew I was playing long before I did. By the time I arrived back at my workspace and checked my phone, I had at least a dozen text messages waiting for me.

The following morning at 10am, the lucky 20 assembled in the large interview room in the media center with Augusta National’s Director of Communications, Steve Ethan, who outlined the schedule for Monday. I learned that my tee time was 11.10 and that I would be granted access to the club at 10.10. There was a question and answer session covering a broad range of dos and don’ts, which concluded with the subject that was on everyone’s mind – the weather.

The forecast for Monday was idyllic for golf – warm, blue skies and a light breeze – but that wasn’t the issue. The pressing concern was how the final round on Sunday would play out. Meteorologists were predicting that gale-force winds and a possible tropical storm would hit middle Georgia at around 6pm, just as the tournament would be reaching its crescendo. The club had reacted by moving the final round tee times forward by several hours – with play now scheduled to conclude around 4pm.

While the majority of the journalists on site were contemplating the impact the earlier final round tee times would have on Tiger Woods’ pre-round warm-up, we had more personal concerns. Finally, a Japanese broadcaster broke the ice and asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “What happens if the storm arrives early and play cannot be completed on Sunday?” The answer nobody wanted to hear was that the final round would continue on Monday and that the media day would be cancelled. “But there is some good news,” Ethan said with a smile. “You’ll still be eligible to enter the lottery again next year!” Never have so many golf writers so diligently studied weather charts.

Ever since my first Masters in 1994, my own clubs have accompanied me back and forth across the Atlantic in anticipation of a Monday tee time, only to return with me untouched during the week. By my calculation, I was at least £1,500 down on excess baggage charges in that time. And so I felt I was due.

Typically, however, this was the one year I had decided to leave the sticks at home. It meant I had a little over 24 hours to rustle up a set. TaylorMade’s Brand Director Ryan Lauder generously put a call into his Tour team, only to discover the company’s truck had left town just a few hours earlier. Eventually, I secured a set of Nikes from a local friend of a friend. Not my ideal equipment choice to take on one of the world’s most iconic golf courses but, hey, if they were good enough to win Tiger a handful of Green Jackets …

The next hurdle is timing your arrival at the club. My invitation instructed me to arrive an hour in advance of my 11.10 tee time. I slightly jumped the gun, however, and pulled up to the security gate at 10.06. A gruff-looking sheriff in mirrored sunglasses approached the car. When I handed him my invitation, he advised that I was four minutes early and instructed me to exit the grounds. “Take a spin round the block,” was his suggestion. “By that time, it’ll be 10.10,” I protested. “Exactly,” was his response. He stood watching, hands on hips, as I turned the car around and pulled back out onto Washington Drive with my tail between my legs.

An hour later, having changed shoes in Zach Johnson and Tommy Aaron’s shared locker, acquainted myself with my caddie on the range, and stroked about 30 excessively tentative practice putts, I was ready to go.

Somebody once wrote that walking off the first tee with friends, free from the burden of carrying your own bag, is one of the most liberating and grandest experiences in golf. They were right. Striding up the first fairway, chatting amiably with my three playing partners, was a feeling of such carefree abandon it made up for pulling my opening tee shot into the pine straw just a few moments earlier. In all honesty, with what seemed like half of the club’s officialdom milling around me on the first tee, I was delighted to have sent the ball forward vaguely in the right direction.

The strangest thing about playing Augusta for the first time is that, despite being a rookie inside the ropes, you know exactly what’s coming. After a steady bogey at the 1st and a safe par at the par-5 2nd, I got my first taste of the course’s temperament at the par-4 3rd. For the world’s best, this 350-yard hole presents a conundrum: do you crunch a driver and attempt to make birdie with an awkward chip from a heavily contoured lie, or do you lay up and take your chances with a precise wedge shot?

I was forced into the latter option after a mediocre drive. I then pulled my 120-yard approach into the back left bunker. Unable to fire at the flag given the very real possibility of sending the ball off the front of the green if I caught it at all thin, I took my caddie’s advice and played sidewards, leaving a 10-footer for par.

I read the putt as a couple of inches from the left, as did my three playing partners. My caddie calmly said, “It’s an inch from the right.” Unable to commit to that line, I stuck with my original plan and saw the ball miss several inches on the low side as it seemingly moved up the hill. Lesson No.1: nothing is as it seems at Augusta National. Lesson No.2: listen to your caddie!

The front-nine is not as well-known as Augusta’s home stretch, but it boasts some all-worldly holes. The par-3 4th is one of the most difficult par 3s you’ll ever encounter. It’s followed by a long, dog-legging par 4. It’s not until you reach the elevated tee at the 165-yard 6th that you face a shot that actually looks enticing. Of course, it’s laced with danger. The back right pin is isolated on a slither of green behind a steep false front. From the sunken fairway at the par-4 7th, a trio of bright white bunkers completely obstruct the view of the putting surface.

With wide open fairways and generous recovery options from the manicured pine straw, Augusta National isn’t at all penal from the tee. Its main defence is its green complexes. Severe undulations and false fronts around the greens combined with heaving swales on them mean there are no-go zones on much every hole – and they can change daily depending on the pins. Bunkers are used, not so much to punish errant shot-making, but to tempt you into taking on a risky shot.

Overall, Augusta National off the members’ tees was manageable and playable. As a high single-figure player, I had a fighting chance of a par at every hole. With no double-bogeys on the card, I felt I coped well – the highlights being playing the four-hole stretch from 10 to 14 in just two-over par, and making a birdie at 16. I enjoyed being able to unleash drives into wide fairways and the opportunity to figure out puzzles around the greens. With epic chips, I saved pars from the left of the 5th green and the back of the 15th, while I scrambled a bogey at 13 with a smart pitch, having found the creek with my approach shot.

While Augusta National is not my favorite golf course, in many ways it is the pinnacle of golf in that it has everything – beauty, variety, tranquillity, risk-reward, towering pines, elevated open vistas, and just the right amount of water. Arguably, its greatest attribute is its ability to present the right type of challenge to each type of golfer. And that’s where its design genius truly lies.

I certainly don’t agree with Ben Crenshaw, who says “There’s not much strategy left at Augusta” .

How this amateur golfer took on Amen Corner… and lived to tell the tale

The 11th, 12th, and 13th holes at Augusta National comprise one of the world’s toughest stretches of holes. How would my eight-handicap game stand up to the challenge?

Hole 11 – White Dogwood

From the quiet of one of Augusta’s most secluded tee boxes, there’s no sense of the drama to come as you peer towards a fairway that tumbles up and down like a rollercoaster. The cambers and the left-to-right dog-leg camouflage your landing area, which is mildly unsettling.

As you walk over the final crest, the hole transforms from tree-lined to open-planned. And there it is, Amen Corner spread out in front of you in all its glory – the 12th tee and green to the right, and the par-5 13th stretching into the distance.

After a solid drive, I had 132 yards to the pin. My caddie handed me my 9-iron and told me to aim at the right edge of the green. “Everything will feed down to the hole.”

I did as instructed, the ball caught the right fringe and cruised down towards the flag. My 15-foot birdie putt grazed the hole and I tapped in for an easy par.

Hole 12 – Golden Bell

It’s difficult to articulate how surreal it feels to stand on the 12th tee. On the one hand, you’re acutely aware that it is one of the truly great holes – the scene of incredible historical heartache and glory.

On the other, it just seems, well, so innocuous. After all, how difficult can a slightly downhill 145-yard hole really be?

In true amateur style, I opted for a 7-iron in anticipation of a slight mishit. Instead I striped it to the back fringe, from where I three-putted down the slope. Still, what would Francesco Molinari and Brooks Koepka have given for a bogey the day before?

Hole 13 – Azalea

It was at this hole where I appreciated for the first time the vast disparity in length now between tour pros and amateurs.

Playing off the member tees, which were some 40 yards forward of the tips, I hit a best-of-the-day drive that barely made it to the corner of the dog-leg. A solid 4-hybrid up the right side of the fairway left me a 90-yard wedge into the green.

A slightly heavy approach saw my ball catch one of the slopes in front of the green and trundle down into Rae’s Creek. A 40-yard pitch to six feet enabled me to scramble a bogey.

I had taken on and survived Amen Corner with a very respectable score of two-over par.

My five scariest shots at Augusta National Golf Club 

The tee shot on the opening hole, Tea Olive

With what seems like half of the golf industry milling around behind the tee, just making contact is your goal.

Tee shot on the 4th hole, Flowering Crab Apple

A 200-yard par 3 where the penalty for coming up short is extreme. The front bunker is almost head height.

The approach to the 7th hole, Pampas

Five bunkers surrounding an elevated green make it tough to find and hold the target. Go long and you’re dead.

The approach shot to the 11th hole, White Dogwood

Even though you know you have half of Georgia to the right, you’re aware that a slight pull puts you in the water.

The tee shot on the 12th hole, Golden Bell

Sand front left and a diagonally angled creek. The slope is deadly and the green is just eight paces deep!

My key takeaways from a round at Augusta National Golf Club

It’s actually easier than you would think

In the past year, many people have asked me what I scored at Augusta, and when I tell them I shot 81 their jaws drop. But from the members’ tees, the course is fairly benign. It’s easy to keep the ball in play and you never get a bad lie – even in the ‘second cut’ or the pine straw, which is as well-manicured as the rest of the course. It’s all about the chipping and putting. My perspective is that it is relatively straightforward for mid-handicappers who have a few shots to play with but a very stern test for scratch players.

The bunkers are terrifying

You might be playing from pristine white sand, but the traps are deep and, very often, you’re struggling to see over the top of a lip. Not only that, you’re either playing into a sharp upslope or you have to be wary of a steep runoff the other side of the hole. It’s often best to play sideways!

It’s very, very hilly

You’ve probably heard it mentioned countless times on TV over the years, but you just don’t get an appreciation of Augusta National’s severe topography until you see it in person. For example, the descent from the 10th tee to the green is 116 feet, more than the Statue of Liberty! During the winter, if they ever have snow at Augusta, it would make a great ski run. The real genius of the design is how those contours are disguised from a playing standpoint. Other than the steep climb up 18, which runs adjacent to the 10th, you never really feel the gradients are too taxing.

The breaks on the greens are epic

The day after Tiger Woods stroked in a three-footer for birdie on the par-3 16th, I found myself 20 feet below the hole after a nice 6-iron into the green. I was just about to settle over the ball when my caddie interjected. “How much break are you playing?” I told him I was looking at about four feet. “Try 10,” he said. It felt like I was aiming at 90 degrees to the hole, but the ball traced a nice arc up the slope and then dived down into the hole!

It feels intimate but open

Augusta simultaneously feels expansive and intimate. The 1st tee and the 9th and 18th greens are a stone’s throw away from each other, while several hole pairs (1/18, 2/8 and 3/7) run parallel to each other, separated only by a slither of dogwoods. At the same time, it takes an age to walk from the clubhouse to the 12th green at Amen Corner. Elevated views across from vantage points such as the crest of the 8th fairway make it feel wide open.

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About the author

Rob McGarr – Contributing Editor

Rob has been a writer and editor for over 15 years, covering all manner of subjects for leading magazines and websites.

He has previously been Features Editor of Today’s Golfer magazine and Digital Editor of todays-golfer.com, and held roles at FHM, Men’s Running, Golf World, and MAN Magazine.

You can follow him on  YouTube  where – depending on what day of the week it is – he’ll either be trying his best to get his handicap down to scratch or shoving his clubs in a cupboard, never to be seen again.

Rob is a member at  Royal North Devon , England’s oldest golf course, where he plays off a three-handicap.

Is Augusta National Open All Year?

Augusta National looks heavenly each April, but is the world-famous course open all year round?

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It may be a purely theoretical question for most of us who will never get the chance to play at the home of The Masters . But the answer, quite simply, is no.

While a handful of UK and Irish courses close over winter – among them Old Head in Ireland and Kingbarns and Dumbarnie Links in Scotland – it is the summer months when things close down at Augusta National .

November, when the 2020 Masters took place, would normally be the course’s first full month after its annual summer closure. This extends from late May until some time in October.

Why does Augusta National close in the summer?

When Augusta National Golf Club opened in the 1930s, Bobby Jones wanted Augusta to be a “national” club in the sense of attracting wealthy executives from all over the States.

To this day, the Augusta National members include some of the most successful individuals in the country. They're all members of various different clubs and visit Augusta periodically during the club's season. Winter was not only the best time for them but also the best time for Augusta’s climate.

In this part of Georgia, the summer temperatures remain in 90s throughout June, July and August. In 2019, the temperature gauge hit 100˚F (37.8˚C) or more on five days in July and August.

The delayed 2020 Masters took place in November, Augusta National's usual first full month of the season

May and September temperatures are also in the high 80s. Add in extremely high humidity, which can hit 100% in July, and summer golf in Augusta wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun.

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Another big reason or closing down in the summer is the work that goes on at the club in terms of improvements and remodelling. This often-extensive work is undertaken during those summer months when no golf is being played.

Extreme care and attention are given to the course's famed greens. Because they are bentgrass, a cool-season grass, particular care is taken during the hottest months.

Many of us will be looking to get as much golf as possible in during the summer months. But it’s the complete opposite for members at Augusta, where golf is a late autumn, winter and early spring pastime.

A golfer for most of his life, Sam is Golf Monthly's E-commerce Editor.

Working with golf gear and equipment over the last six years, Sam has quickly built outstanding knowledge and expertise on golf products ranging from drivers, to balls, to shoes. 

He combines this knowledge with a passion for helping golfers get the best gear for them, and as such Sam manages a team of writers that look to deliver the most accurate and informative reviews and buying advice. This takes the form of buying guides, reviews, supporting gear content as well as creating deal content.

This is so the reader can find exactly what they are looking for, at a good price.

Sam now spends most of his time testing and looking after golf gear content for the website, whilst he is also responsible for all content related to golf apparel. 

Additionally Sam oversees Golf Monthly voucher/coupon content which seeks to find you the best offers and promotions from well-known brands like Callaway, TaylorMade and many more.

Unfortunately, Sam is not a member of any club at the moment but regularly gets out on the golf course to keep up the facade of having a single-figure handicap. 

Sam's What's In The Bag: 

Driver: Cobra LTDxLS (9 degrees) 

Fairway Wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees), Nike Covert Tour 2.0 (19 degrees) 

Irons (4-PW): Titleist AP2 

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 54˚, 58˚ 

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5  

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond

Shoes: G/FORE Gallivanter / Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 / Cuater The Ringer (For off the course he goes for Nike Jordan 1 Low G shoes as well)

Despite the Scot making a par from the concession stand on his 16th hole of the day, MacIntyre was forced to endure a 25-minute wait on a ruling as his PGA Championship hopes hung by a thread

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Although it's unclear as to how Adam Hadwin's club ended up in the drink, the Canadian did manage to get it back thanks to a very eager fan

Woods finished last at an event in which he made the cut for just the third time in his near-30-year pro career at The 2024 Masters - but looking at the result here is too short-sighted...

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By Joel Kulasingham Published 13 April 24

Despite being an older model, the 15-time Major winner has kept the TaylorMade M3 fairway wood in his bag for over six years and continues to use it at Augusta National

The multiple-time PGA Tour winner was seen wearing a pair of eye-catching Nike Air Jordan shoes whilst paired with Rory McIlroy during the third round at Augusta National

Jack Nicklaus has won the most Green Jackets in history and Tiger Woods is the most successful champion in the modern era - but the answer is neither of those two...

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Traditionally, the previous winner of The Masters hands the new champion the Green Jacket - here's what happens when there's a back-to-back winner

By Mike Hall Published 12 April 24

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Power Broker Behind Saudi Golf Deal Resigns From PGA Tour Board

W hen Jimmy Dunne joined the PGA Tour’s board in 2023, at the peak of its battle with LIV Golf, the Tour was adding a heavy hitter in both the golf and financial worlds. Dunne is a member at prestigious institutions such as Augusta National, the president of Seminole Golf Club and the senior managing principal at the investment bank Piper Sandler.

Now, the power broker behind the polarizing agreement that the Tour struck with LIV’s Saudi backers to unify golf last June is resigning from his post, saying he has been shut out from stalled talks.

In a pointed letter to his fellow policy board members, Dunne defended the framework deal with the Saudis, writing that “unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game.” He also cited how he hasn’t been asked to take a role in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund over the past 11 months and that “no meaningful progress has been made toward a transaction with the PIF.”

“I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous,” Dunne wrote.

Dunne’s resignation is just the latest sign of disarray within the PGA Tour’s leadership at a critical moment for the sport. Just last week, a trio of players—Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods—blocked superstar Rory McIlroy from rejoining the board after another golfer, Webb Simpson, offered to give up his spot to the Northern Irishman. McIlroy described the situation as “pretty messy.”

Dunne’s assertion that there hasn’t been meaningful progress also diverges from public pronouncements by PGA Tour officials. Commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this year that “negotiations are accelerating” and the Tour recently established a transaction subcommittee that the Tour said has been “engaging directly in negotiations” with PIF.

In an email to players Monday, Monahan wrote that the Tour continues to make “meaningful progress behind the scenes” in their talks with PIF. A person familiar with the board’s thinking noted a meeting earlier this year between the player directors and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in the Bahamas.

When Dunne was brought on to the board last year, it looked like a logical move. His golfing buddies already included many of the world’s best players, in addition to business titans and celebrities like Tom Brady. He’s also an experienced dealmaker, and the Tour needed to get back on course.

At the time, LIV had been using its deep pockets to poach some of the Tour’s biggest names, from Phil Mickelson to Brooks Koepka. While LIV generated backlash over the perception that Saudi Arabia was using pro golf’s popularity to whitewash its human-rights record, it was also weakening the Tour’s product.

Then, when Dunne struck a deal, it stunned onlookers and pro golfers alike.

The private negotiations led by Dunne produced an out-of-nowhere agreement in which the sides agreed to end their bitter fighting and work together. When the Tour was called to Capitol Hill to explain why it decided to work with its enemy, Dunne was one of two officials raked over the coals by senators.

In his letter, Dunne noted that his willingness to make an agreement with the Saudis came from a desire to end the costly litigation and give the Tour a path to remain in control of the sport.

“It was clear that the fracture would greatly damage our game and the Tour,” Dunne wrote. “I believe that history will look favorably on this outcome and the very real opportunities now afforded the Tour.”

Dunne also pointed out that the terms of the agreement with PIF weren’t exclusive, meaning the Tour could still solicit other potential investors. While no deal with the Saudis has been finalized, the Tour did receive an outside investment worth up to $3 billion from a collective of A-list American investors known as the Strategic Sports Group.

Still, tensions over how the framework deal with the Saudis was negotiated behind the scenes have been a flashpoint on Tour over the last year. Players, many of whom defended the Tour and rejected enormous paydays from LIV, were upset at not being involved in the process and that they found out about it at the same time as the public. Since then, players have gained an additional seat on the board and placed additional emphasis on their control over the Tour.

In the meantime, the sides haven’t reached an actual deal, even after an initial deadline for the start of 2024.

“It is crucial for the Board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the Tour,” Dunne’s letter said.

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]

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Ex-Augusta National worker admits to stealing more than $5 million in Masters merchandise, including Arnold Palmer's green jacket

By Todd Feurer

Updated on: May 15, 2024 / 4:19 PM CDT / CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former employee at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Chicago to charges accusing him of stealing millions of dollars in memorabilia, including green jackets awarded to golf legends Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen.

Richard Brendan Globensky, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of transporting goods across state lines, and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Under his plea deal, he faces a sentencing range of 2 to 2 ½ years. Prosecutors said he is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

Globensky, who worked as a warehouse assistant at Augusta National Golf Club, was first charged on April 16, two days after Scottie Scheffler won the 88th annual Masters Tournament at Augusta. He was charged in federal court in Chicago, because some of the stolen goods were recovered in the Chicago area.

Golf legends' green jackets stolen

Globensky admitted stealing more than $5 million worth of Masters merchandise and memorabilia between 2009 and 2022. According to the plea deal, he would load the stolen goods onto a truck and take it to a storage facility. He would then work with a broker in Florida to sell the items in online auctions.

The stolen goods included green jackets awarded to golfers Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. Palmer won four Masters tournaments in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964. Hogan won two Masters titles in 1951 and 1953. Sarazan won the Masters in 1935, before Augusta began awarding winners green jackets in 1937, but got his green jacket in 1949 when Augusta began awarding them to all past winners.

Hogan has the fourth most PGA Tour wins with 64, Palmer ranks fifth with 62, and Sarazen ranks 12th with 38.

Green jackets remain the property of Augusta National, and Masters winners are allowed to remove their jackets from the grounds of Augusta National for only one year after they win the tournament as a "victory lap," but must return it to the club afterward. From then on, they can only wear it on club grounds during future tournaments. Otherwise, green jackets are stored in the club's Champions Locker Room.

Other memorabilia and merchandise Globensky stole included Masters programs from 1934 and 1935; an Augusta National clubhouse trophy; Masters tickets from 1934 through 1939; documents and letters signed by golf legend and Augusta National founder Bobby Jones; and Masters shirts, hats, flags, watches, and other goods.

Under his plea deal, Globensky will hand over a check for $1.57 million to the federal government within seven days to cover part of the restitution due to Augusta National. His total restitution owed to Augusta National is nearly $3.5 million. He also must forfeit the $5.3 million in proceeds he made from the sale of the stolen memorabilia.

His sentencing has been set for Oct. 29.

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Todd Feurer is a web producer at CBS News Chicago. He has previously written for WBBM Newsradio, WUIS-FM, and the New City News Service.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When is the 2022 Masters being held?

The  2022 Masters Tournament starts April 4 and ends April 10. 

Future Masters dates:

2022 : April 4 - 10 2023 : April 3 - 9 2024 : April 8 - 14

How can I get Masters tickets?

Follow this link to apply for 2022: Online Masters practice rounds and daily tournament ticket applications

Note : The Masters Tournament is the only authorized source for Masters tickets.

Tickets may not be bought, sold or handed off within a 2,700 foot boundary around the Augusta National Golf Club.

Read more : Masters ticket seekers must be careful

Can I play a round of golf at Augusta National or can I go visit the course?

No. Augusta National Golf Club is a private club and is only accessible to club members and their guests. The public may visit the course only during the Masters Tournament and only with the proper ticket or badge.

How can I become a member of Augusta National Golf Club?

  Membership at Augusta National Golf Club is by invitation only. There is no application process.

Can I bring children to the Masters Tournament?

While there is no specific age restriction for children attending the tournament, guardians are responsible for the behavior of their children. In cases of repeated misbehavior, parents and guardians are subject to removal from the course if young patrons cannot behave in an appropriate manner.

Every person must possess their own ticket to the practice rounds or tournament, regardless of age.

The Masters offers a Junior Pass program for Series Badge patrons, and those who qualify are contacted directly by the Masters Tournament with the details of the program. No other ticket holders qualify.

Number of gate entries limited per ticket

A Masters policy that limits the number of gate entries per ticket or badge went into effect in 2017.

Patrons are allowed a maximum of one gate entries per day. 

The policy applies to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship final round, the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals, all practice rounds and all tournament days.

When will my tickets arrive?

Practice round tickets, daily tournament tickets and tournament series badges are mailed out about five weeks prior to the start of the tournament.

Where can I buy Masters merchandise?

Masters merchandise can be purchased only from one of the merchandise stands/shops at Augusta National Golf Club and it can be purchased only during the Masters Tournament.

Is the Masters always held in Augusta?

Yes. The Masters Tournament is the only men's major golf championship played at the same course every year.

What is the name of the music that CBS uses during Masters Tournament coverage?

Dave Loggins wrote the original score for CBS's coverage of the Masters in 1981. It was re-released by Leeds Music/Patchwork Music ASCAP in 1996 by Don Cherry. The name of the work is "Augusta." Loggins changed a line in the lyrics in 2001 in honor of Tiger Woods.

Well, it's springtime in the valley on Magnolia Lane

It's the Augusta National and the master of the game

Who'll wear that green coat on Sunday afternoon

Who'll walk that eighteenth fairway singing this tune

Augusta... your dogwoods and pines

They play on my mind like a song

Augusta... it's you that I love

And it's you that I'll miss when I'm gone.

It's Watson, Byron Nelson, Demaret, Player and Snead

It's Amen Corner and it's Hogan's perfect swing

It's Sarazen's double eagle at the fifteenth in Thirty-Five

And the spirit of a Tiger that keeps it alive

It's the legions of Arnie's army and the Golden Bear's throngs

And the wooden-shafted legend of Bobby Jones

Can I have the recipe for the Masters Tournament pimento cheese spread or egg salad?

Augusta National keeps the recipes for the pimento cheese spread and egg salad a secret.

Where can I park at the Masters?

Parking spaces are available in the parking lots located off Berckmans Road. The parking spaces will be available on a first-come basis. Several handicap parking sections are available.

From AugustaChronicle.com »

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Jimmy Dunne resigns from PGA Tour board. He feels his input is no longer needed

FILE - PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne departs the witness table after testifying before a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on the proposed PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership, July 11, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dunne, one of the architects of the deal with the Saudi backers of LIV, resigned from the PGA Tour board on Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Tiger Woods se despide tras su última ronda en el Masters de Augusta, el domingo 14 de abril de 2024 (AP Foto/David J. Phillip)

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, celebrates after an eagle on the 15th hole from the bunker during the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects behind the PGA Tour’s stunning reversal to strike a deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf, abruptly resigned Monday from the PGA Tour board with a letter that expressed frustration at the lack of progress that no longer included his input.

Dunne, a power broker on Wall Street and in golf circles, was not included on the PGA Tour Enterprise’s new “transaction subcommittee” that will be handling the direct negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Dunne and Ed Herlihy, an attorney specializing in mergers and acquisition and chairman of PGA Tour Inc., were whom PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan leaned on when he first met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, that led to the June 6 agreement .

The immediate result of the deal was an end to antitrust lawsuits neither side wanted and had already cost the PGA Tour in the neighborhood of $50 million. The tour has since brought on Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor in a deal initially worth $1.5 billion.

“As you are aware, I have not been asked to take part in negotiations with the PIF since June 2023,” Dunne said in his letter to the board first obtained by Sports Illustrated .

“Since the players now outnumber the independent directors on the board, and no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with the PIF, I feel like my vote and my role is utterly superfluous,” he wrote.

The tour, feeling pushback and resentment for the secrecy behind the June 6 deal, appointed Tiger Woods to the board with no term limit. The board now has six player directors — Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati — and five independent directors.

Dunne is the second independent director to resign following the June 6 announcement. Randall Stephenson, former AT&T chairman, resigned in July over objections to the agreement with the Saudis.

Rory McIlroy resigned from the board in November, and player directors appointed Spieth to finish his term.

The move signals the tour in a state of disarray as it tries to work out a deal with PIF and start the process of unifying a sport that has been divided since LIV launched in June 2022.

The June 6 agreement included a deadline to complete a deal by the end of 2023. By then, the tour had private equity suitors and LIV Golf signed reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and eventually Tyrrell Hatton.

Dunne said along with the lawsuits being dismissed — often overlooked as a key point in the agreement with PIF — the agreement did not contain an exclusivity clause that allowed players “a full range of options to seek outside investors.”

“That resulted in a multi-billion-dollar commitment from the Strategic Sports Group,” Dunne wrote. “I believe that history will look favorably on this outcome and the very real opportunities now afforded the tour.”

Monahan and the player directors eventually met with Al-Rumayyan for the first time in March, though there has been no clear progress on any deal — PIF as a minority investor or how to bring back the best players together more than four times a year at the majors.

Simpson, meanwhile, offered to resign from the board contingent on McIlroy replacing him. That never happened, with McIlroy saying last week “there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”

Instead, McIlroy was added to the transaction subcommittee along with Woods; Scott; Monahan; liaison director Joe Ogilvie; Joe Gorder, the CEO of Valero Energy Corp. and chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises; and John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, a principal in SSG.

“It is crucial for the board to avoid letting yesterday’s differences interfere with today’s decisions, especially when they influence future opportunities for the tour,” Dunne wrote. “Unifying professional golf is paramount to restoring fan interest and repairing wounds left from a fractured game. I have tried my best to move all minds in that direction.”

According to the tour’s bylaws, the four independent directors choose Dunne’s replace after consulting the player directors and John Lindert, the PGA of America president who is a nonvoting board member.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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Local Guys Bought the Valhalla Club, and Now They’re Hosting a Major

A group of Kentucky businessmen are trying to give the P.G.A. Championship a Louisville feel, complete with nods to Churchill Downs.

By Paul Sullivan

The quality of a major championship venue is defined by its champions, and Valhalla Golf Club, the site of this week’s P.G.A. Championship in Louisville, Ky., has a list of past winners that stands out at every level.

Tiger Woods won the 2000 P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Rory McIlory won it there in 2014 . Hale Irwin won the 2004 Senior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Tom Watson won it there in 2011. At the 2008 Ryder Cup , the United States squad, led by Paul Azinger, beat the European Team.

Even on the junior side, the course has hosted elite players. Akshay Bhatia , who at 22 has two PGA Tour victories, won the 2018 Boys Junior P.G.A. Championship there. Anna Davis, now 18, won the 2021 Girls Junior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla and went on the next year to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

What its new owners, a group of Kentucky businessmen who bought Valhalla in 2022, said it didn’t have was a club presence to go with its illustrious championship history. So when the P.G.A. of America, which runs the championship, decided to sell Valhalla, the new owners moved in to change that.

“We couldn’t let it go to an out-of-town golf management firm,” said David Novak, the co-founder and former chief executive of Yum Brands, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. “We felt they’d be more interested in making money than building Valhalla’s reputation.”

The “we” in this instance is an ownership group that consisted of community leaders: Jimmy Kirchdorfer, the chief executive of ISCO, a piping company; Junior Bridgeman, a former basketball player at the University of Louisville and the N.B.A. who owns hundreds of franchise restaurants and a Coca-Cola bottling plant; and Chester Musselman, a hotel owner based in Louisville.

Novak had the golfing bona fides to unite the golf world behind him. He had been a member of Valhalla since 1990, when he moved to Louisville to become president of Kentucky Fried Chicken, now KFC. And he also had won the Seminole Pro-Member tournament and was the oldest winner of the club championship at Shinnecock Hills in New York, a frequent site of major championships.

“In Louisville, we don’t have many iconic properties,” Novak said. “There’s Churchill Downs, the [KFC] Yum Center where Louisville plays and Valhalla. We wanted to make it better. We said, ‘Dwight Gahn built it and started the club, then the P.G.A. bought it, and then we bought it.’”

So, what will fans see this year that’s different? It is now a venue that aims to create a Kentucky-inspired golf club that also borrows from the business success of its ownership group. Novak has brought in chicken sandwiches inspired by KFC’s Colonel Sanders, and Bridgeman helped create a dessert that plays off Wendy’s Frosty treat.

Bridgeman, who also owns Ebony and Jet magazines, likened his participation in the ownership group to those storied magazines.

“Valhalla was somewhat like Ebony magazine,” he told the Golf Channel last week. “When we heard that it might be for sale, it wasn’t so much looking at it as an investment. It was more something that we felt was important to the city of Louisville, important to the community and important to the state. We thought that we could do some things with Valhalla to get it where it probably should be and by that I mean as far as rankings in the top courses in this country.”

There was an economic factor, too. The new owners saw a vibrant Valhalla as a path for tourism dollars to the city.

“We felt we had an opportunity to not only preserve our championship history but to get it again,” Novak said. “The P.G.A. Championship brings in close to $150 million to the city. We know the community supports the golf, and we could make it better.”

The changes started with the image of the club. The partners wanted it to exemplify Kentucky, known for horse racing, bourbon and bluegrass.

The clubhouse was the start. It now looks like Churchill Downs. Inside there’s a room to commemorate all the champions, like Woods and Davis, who have won significant tournaments at Valhalla, but with the name of the horse that won the Derby the same year of their tournament victory. The gate into the club — along Bluegrass Way — looks like a horse farm gate. And, yes, there are horses on the property, too.

And the holes on the championship course follow the horse theme. No. 1 is called the Post; No. 18 is Photo Finish.

“I’ve always believed the most important thing you can do is know what you stand for,” Novak said. “We wanted to build the Valhalla brand. The first thing we did as an ownership group was we got together with our team and thought, what will we stand for?”

Not everyone has embraced the group’s definition of reality. After the group bought the club at the end of 2022, it altered the rules on initiation fees, causing some members to quit the club.

Disagreements at private clubs are nothing new. Still, the ownership team, which said it funded the renovations without assessing members, is ready for its close-up this week.

“I had complained about what Valhalla could be,” Novak said. “My daughter convinced me to buy the club. She said you have all these ideas about the course, and you love these guys. I’ve had more fun doing this. We’ve done this together.”

Paul Sullivan , the  Wealth Matters  columnist from 2008 to 2021, is the founder of  The Company of Dads , a work and parenting site aimed at fathers. He is also the author of  The Thin Green Line : The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy and  Clutch : Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t.  @sullivanpaul More about Paul Sullivan

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

Testing the W.N.B.A.’s TV Limits:  The docuseries “Full Court Press” closely tracked college stars like Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso. Fans who want to follow elite W.N.B.A. rookies could have a tougher time .

Competing for Olympic Spots:  Two friends had run side by side for more than 10,000 miles. Both vied for a place in the marathon at the Paris Games .

Captivating New York:  It has been 50 years since the Knicks last won the N.B.A. championship. Now, a freshly promising team has enthralled the city .

Americanizing English Soccer:  U.S. investors are gobbling up the storied teams of the English Premier League — and changing the stadium experience  in ways that soccer fans resent.

Wild World of Sports:  Surprisingly often, animals show up uninvited at sporting events. Sometimes, it gets a little weird .

PGA Championship storylines: Scheffler, McIlroy or Koepka? Can Tiger's body hold up?

Tony Finau, Keegan Bradley and other PGA golfers discuss Scottie Scheffler's dominance and if he can reach Tiger Woods' level of greatness. (3:43)

• Senior college football writer
• Author of seven books on college football
• Graduate of the University of Georgia
• Paolo Uggetti

The second major championship of the year is upon us, and with it comes a tough test at Valhalla, where the long, narrow and wet golf course will test the world's best this week for the first time since 2014.

Between the three players who arrive in Louisville with the best odds to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy, the continuing storyline of Tiger Woods ' endurance and a couple of other major winners trying to make history (both with LIV and the PGA Tour), Valhalla is again primed to provide a fitting setting for what could be another dramatic PGA Championship.

Here are six storylines we're watching.

The three very different favorites

There is little to no doubt as to who the favorites are this week -- not only by way of the betting markets but simply from what has gone on in the world of golf the past two months.

Scottie Scheffler has won decisively four times, including his second Masters. Rory McIlroy is coming off back-to-back PGA Tour wins, and Brooks Koepka 's form is once again peaking at the right time after he won a LIV event in Singapore, the lead-up to his defense of the PGA Championship.

Koepka's claim to his position as a favorite comes from a combination of his propensity for winning PGA Championships (three and counting) as well as his ability to always rise to the occasion when the courses and competition get tougher. Valhalla will play extremely long (7,609 yards, par 71) and narrow this week, making it prime for Koepka's skills to shine. Come Sunday, it would not be a surprise to see him atop the leaderboard again.

"When you look at a course like last year and you see who won, Brooks wins and you're like, yeah, that makes tons of sense," Max Homa said, likening the type of course Valhalla is to last year's Oak Hill. "He hits the ball really far; he hits it very straight, and he's a really, really great iron player."

No one is a better iron player right now than Scheffler, however. There's not much you can say about Scheffler and his seeming dominance that hasn't already been said.

He's striking the ball better than any player has since prime Tiger Woods -- his short game might be the best in the game as well, and his putting continues to improve. Golf's fickle nature and the sport's depth of talent are perhaps the only reasons not to pick Scheffler to win every single week he tees it up. Even though he's a new father and life has already changed plenty, a Scheffler victory on Sunday would be considered the least surprising outcome.

"If he putts awful, then he finishes in top 10," Woods said of Scheffler. "If he putts decent, he wins. He putts great, he runs away. So, he's just that good a ball striker and that good an all-around player."

Even Woods couldn't contain himself from comparing and contrasting Scheffler with McIlroy. He described them as "two totally different players."

"I think obviously Scottie's not as long as Rory and can't probably separate himself on a golf course like that with pure length, but his ball striking, the amount of greens he hits, he just wears you out that way," Woods said. "Rory, just the way he's able to take over a golf course and just overpower it, I kind of remember that back when I was younger, but it's been a while."

McIlroy arrives in Louisville with two PGA Tour wins in his two most recent appearances, albeit one of them being in a team format with Shane Lowry . But beyond the successful results, it is the way in which McIlroy has won -- with a game that is clearly exuding confidence -- that bodes well for his week at the PGA.

McIlroy leads the tour in total driving and is consistently hitting it more than 320 yards these days. More importantly, his approach game looks to be sharper than ever -- at Wells Fargo, McIlroy gained more than 6 shots on the field with his approach shots.

As it stands now, even with a field this size and this deep, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn't picking one of these three to add to their major tally come this week. -- Paolo Uggetti

Can Tiger's body hold up?

In what will be his first competitive appearance since making the cut at the Masters and finishing 16-over, Woods will be faced with a tough task on a familiar course. Valhalla Country Club is the site of the dramatic playoff victory Woods secured in 2000 over Bob May ; it's also not the easiest of walks, especially given the added length over the years.

Woods, who arrived Sunday, described the walk Tuesday as being more long than difficult and instead focused on what will be arguably the most important skill on display -- not just for him, but for the eventual winner -- this week: keeping the ball in the fairway.

"More than anything, just stay out of the rough," Woods said. "This is a big golf course, and if you get in the rough here, yeah, things could get a little bit sore, but if I drive it well and do the things I need to do and what I did 24 years ago, hopefully it works."

Despite his poor performance at Augusta, Woods' walk looked improved and he was able to finish all four rounds, unlike the year prior when he withdrew on Sunday. Homa, who played with Woods during the first two rounds at the Masters, raved about the state of Woods' game and said he wasn't "limping too bad."

"His golf game was incredible. Two days I played with him, he hit it great," Homa said Tuesday. "I very much thought he could win another golf tournament. So I don't know tank-wise, but he works his ass off and he's really, really good at golf, so I would put nothing past him at this point."

Much like he's said in the past, Woods' feel for the shots he needs to hit is still there, especially around the greens and with a putter in hand. However, whether his body will not only hold up but execute remains to be seen.

"My body's OK; it is what it is. I wish my game was a little bit sharper," Woods said. "Again, I don't have a lot of competitive reps, so I am having to rely on my practice sessions and getting stuff done either at home or here on-site. But at the end of the day, I need to be ready mentally and physically come Thursday." -- Uggetti

Spieth going for career Grand Slam

McIlroy isn't the only golfer trying to end a long drought in majors. Jordan Spieth last won one at The Open at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, in July 2017. This will be his eighth attempt at becoming the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam in the Masters era by winning a Wanamaker Trophy.

It will be Spieth's first attempt since turning 30 in July. Both Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan completed the career Grand Slam after turning 30 ( Gary Player , Jack Nicklaus and Woods were the others to accomplish the feat).

"I mean, I'm aware," Spieth said. "It's very cool, but I would take any and all and as many majors as possible regardless of where they come. It's just kind of a cool thing if you're able to hold all four. There's just not many people in the game that have done that, and you have an opportunity to do things that are very unique in the game of golf. That's what kind of stands out, stands the test of time afterwards." -- Mark Schlabach

Weather forecast doesn't look great

There was a short weather delay during Tuesday's practice, and golfers were pulled off the course for less than an hour. It might not be the last one this week.

The forecast calls for a 67% chance of thunderstorms again Wednesday, followed by partly cloudy skies for Thursday's opening round with temperature highs in the low 80s. There's a good chance for thunderstorms again Friday, with highs in the low 70s.

The weekend looks pretty good. There's a 35% chance of rain Saturday with highs in the low 80s. It will warm up for Sunday's final round, with highs around 86 degrees and a 20% chance of rain. Winds are expected to blow 7-9 mph throughout the week.

If Valhalla is wet this week and its greens are receptive, longer hitters from the tee figure to have an advantage.

"Well, listen, hitting it further is always an advantage, right?" LIV Golf League captain Jon Rahm said. "There's a reason why almost generationally the longest or one of the longest players has been the best. Jack [Nicklaus] was the longest, Tiger was the longest, Greg Norman was the longest. Rory, Dustin [Johnson], they have been the longest, right? So, it's no surprise there.

"It's as simple as that," Rahm continued. "It requires maybe a little bit less precision in certain moments and just the ability to have a shorter club in [from] anywhere. I mean, it's always going to make it a little easier. I don't think there's any sport in which more power is detrimental." -- Schlabach

Valhalla is longer

The golf course is about 150 yards longer than it was in 2014, when McIlroy won his fourth major championship victory in near darkness at the PGA Championship.

The most significant changes came on the par-4 opening hole, which was lengthened by 50 yards to 484, and the par-5 18th hole, which went from 542 yards to 570. On No. 18, golfers will have to navigate their way around water on the right and a bunker on the left off the tee, as well as bunkers on the front and back of its massive green. The hole is aptly named "Photo Finish" near the home of the Kentucky Derby.

The par-71 course will play 7,609 yards this week, which is a 2% increase from a decade ago.

"It's gotten bigger," Woods said. "Gotten a little bit longer. I think they extended six tees since we played in 2014. Opened up some of the areas so there's more flow, less trees. Definitely different than when we played in 2000. I'm looking forward to one day they say we shortened this hole up, because it seems like every time we come back and play, it's always getting longer." -- Schlabach

Checking in on LIV golfers

In the middle of continuing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, 16 LIV golfers will be teeing it up this week. That list features past PGA champions like Koepka, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson as well as Rahm, Dustin Johnson , Patrick Reed , Cameron Smith and none other than Talor Gooch .

Gooch, who is ranked 668th in the world, did not qualify to play in the Masters this year and famously said that a McIlroy win at Augusta would require an asterisk given that Gooch, the LIV individual champion in 2023, wasn't in the field.

Aside from the ridicule that his remarks received, Gooch has missed the cut at three of his past seven major appearances. Although he's seen his fellow LIV golfers go through local qualifying for both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, Gooch has refused to do the same in order to play in these events.

This week, Gooch is one of seven LIV players who received a special invitation from the PGA to play in the tournament, and plenty of eyes will be on him -- and the rest of the LIV cohort -- to see how they'll fare when the world's best players come together.

Rahm, for example, has remained adamant that his game has not suffered since his departure for LIV and the different schedule that he's had. Despite a disappointing T-45 finish at Augusta National this year, Rahm has routinely placed in the top 10 at LIV events and said Tuesday he feels good about his game.

"I know it's smaller fields, but I've been playing good golf. It's just the one major that I played clearly wasn't great," Rahm said. "Have I played my best golf? No ... when I say I'm not playing my best, just hadn't had my A-game for a week yet, but I still, I've been close to my A-game and B-plus multiple times, so yeah, I'm comfortable [with] how I played this year."

Even though he is still one of the five best players in the world, it feels like there will be less pressure on Rahm this week than a player such as Gooch, who has chosen to position himself as a contrarian with some of his quotes on the matter. There will be no asterisks, but if Gooch once again misses the cut at a major, his comments will continue to look ill-advised. -- Uggetti

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From NFL to Augusta National: Patrick Peterson Details His Dream Trip to 2024 Masters

Jeff ritter | may 1, 2024.

Just 615 miles from Canton, Ohio, lies a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame golf tournament on a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame golf course. 

Yes, that’s an NFL analogy, but can you blame me? I'm about to start my 14th season in the league. But the Masters Golf Tournament, held annually at Augusta National, is a celebrated, world-renowned springtime event. I love it. I’ve been lucky enough in past years to both attend a Masters and play Augusta National, and this year, thanks to an invitation from Mercedes-Benz, I got to experience the 2024 Masters in a completely new way: as a Sports Illustrated correspondent. 

During the NFL offseason, I live in Alpharetta, Ga., and my drive east to Augusta was as sweet as the famous Moonpies and White Chocolate Georgia Pecan cookies awaiting me at the Masters. I rolled in the new Mercedes-Benz Maybach EQS 680 SUV. Not going to lie: that loaner Maybach may soon be in my garage as a full-time member of the Peterson family. 

My accommodations were situated in a neighborhood exclusively rented for Mercedes-Benz guests. It was a wonderful neighborhood, which, set the tone for a weekend of elite golf and unmatched hospitality. My roommates were fellow golf enthusiasts and Masters of their own crafts: YouTube stars Rick Shiels and Seb Marc Michel-Brown. We had a blast sharing stories about our golf journeys — and they were lucky we didn’t get on the golf course for a match, or they would have been a few “pounds” lighter on their way back to London!

Nightly entertainment was star-studded. One evening featured a fireside chat with college football legend Nick Saban. Another night was a tasting event with actor Aaron Paul, who introduced his new tequila brand. I also had some fun chats with ESPN’s Michael Collins, who is hilarious and has a bunch of cool experiences and insight from his time as a media member. I was also surprised to bump into my former head coach from the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O'Connell, which only added to the memorable experience. It was great to hear from him about the impact I had on the locker room during my time there, which meant a lot, and we also talked golf and cars. Speaking of cars, I also enjoyed a cocktail and cigar with Dimitris Psillakis, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz North America. We talked more about that EQS 680 SUV loaner, and he also got me fired up for the EQS 680 Night Series, which he drives personally. That was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend. 

In the past I’ve been lucky enough to drive down Magnolia Lane when I was invited by a member— that was never during a Masters week, of course. But this year the hospitality house was near the gates so in the mornings I strolled over to a shuttle alongside other Mercedes-Benz guests, and we were then zipped right up Magnolia Lane to start our day. 

That ride was unreal, and it also brought me closer to golf legend and long-time Mercedes-Benz ambassador Bernhard Langer.

At 66, Langer’s passion for golf and thrill of competition remains strong. Despite his age and recent injury, he maintains a firm belief in continuous improvement—a philosophy that resonates with my own 13-year NFL career, where I believe that constantly evolving and finding areas to improve is key to my success. I try to carry that same philosophy as a husband and father … and as an aspiring pro-celebrity golfer.

Langer and I talked about his special connection with Augusta National. He fell in love with the course on his first visit and was immediately blown away by the course’s demanding greens. He always felt that if he could master (excuse the pun) his putting stroke there, he could succeed anywhere in the world. He also said golfers are often seen as “mad scientists” who never stop tinkering with their gear, and their games, all in search of even the slightest competitive edge. 

Langer also revealed that the 2025 Masters would mark his 40th and final appearance at the tournament. He said that Augusta’s chairman, Fred Ridley, offered him the chance to play as long as he desired, but Langer wants to compete and contend. With the course now stretching to lengthier yards every year, he feels the physical demands might surpass his competitive capabilities. Langer plans to have his son caddie for him to make his last Masters a special family moment.

This resonated with me because like Langer I am motivated not just to play football, but to compete and contribute to a championship. Once I can no longer meet that standard, I feel comfortable with my body of work. 

I really connected with Langer through our shared philosophies on competition and longevity in sports. That conversation was on Masters Saturday, and was a perfect lead-in for a Sunday afternoon following the GOAT of the sport, Tiger Woods. I could not help but wonder how long Woods will put himself through the grueling physical challenge of the Masters. He’s a competitor, but Augusta National is a tough walk. 

The 2024 Masters undoubtedly goes down as one of my favorite sporting experiences, and my gratitude to Mercedes-Benz is as profound as the legacy of the Masters itself. Until next time.

JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the Managing Director of SI Golf. He spent more than a decade at Sports Illustrated and Golf Magazine, and in 2020 joined Morning Read to help spark its growth and eventual acquisition by Arena Group, the publisher of Sports Illustrated. He has covered more than 25 major championships, and previously helped launch SI Golf Plus Digital, Golf Magazine’s first original, weekly e-magazine, and served as its top editor. He also launched Golf's “Films” division, the magazine’s first long-form video storytelling franchise, and his debut documentary received an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. His writing has earned first-place awards from the Society of American Travel Writers, the MIN Magazine Awards, and the Golf Writers Association of America, among others. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. A native Michigander, he remains a diehard Wolverine fan and will defend Jim Harbaugh until the bitter end.

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