I’ve had nine previous posts here on LoB on this subject and pretty much everyone of them starts out with me saying that we don’t play golf1 and really only watch one golf tournament a year and the Masters is that one.
This is because we have actually trod the hallowed grounds of Augusta National. We moved to Aiken, SC in May of 1989 and when we found out that you could pay a measly $5 and get in to see a practice round2 in the first full week in April of 1990 we took that Monday off and went over. We got there early, walked the whole course, ate a $1.00 palmetto cheese sandwich and drove home. That weekend we watched, just to see where we had been and it has become a tradition like no other ever since.
We did go back over a few times over few years until they instituted a lottery and we stopped getting picked. One year my brother (who does golf) came down to visit and he was fun to walk around with. He could tell us the names of the pros (and some of their history at the course) we would see as we wondered about. Another year my sister came down with her husband (who also golfs) and wanted to camp at at certain locations to watch as the players golfed through. That was in 1995 and I know that because that is when the photo above was taken.
And the only reason I still have that photo is because it is in one of five directories that are remnants of the Seattle FilmWorks era when you would get prints back and for a small fee, a copy in that new fangled digit format, in a staggering 640 x 480 pixel size. As you can see, the images leave a lot to be desired, but it was whiz-bang back in the day.
Here is another one to gaze at in wonder,
me in front of the famous scoreboard: