Eventually, I secured a set of Nikes from a local friend of a friend. The next hurdle is timing your arrival at the club. My invitation instructed me to arrive an hour in advance of my I slightly jumped the gun, however, and pulled up to the security gate at 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. 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.
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.
I was forced into the latter option after a mediocre drive. I then pulled my yard approach into the back left bunker. I read the putt as a couple of inches from the left, as did my three playing partners. Lesson No. 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. 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.
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 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 favourite 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.
College teams are sometimes invited to play by members, like when Notre Dame played a handful bucket-list courses to prepare for the season. Easier said than done. So, good luck. Photo: Kevin C. After taking a break in due to the COVID pandemic, the event returned in and featured a playoff for the title. You do not have to necessarily be a professional golfer though as the British Ametur Champion gets an automatic invite to the special event.
Someone could play a round at Augusta National by winning the media ballot at the Masters, which is when media members covering the Masters Tournament are selected to play a round for free. You could also become a member of Augusta country club, where Augusta National members call if they are short a man for a foursome. Other ways to play at Augusta National also include becoming a volunteer for the Masters, which is said to be just as hard as securing a membership at Augusta National, or work as a caddie at the golf course.
Previous Next. Augusta National is one of the hardest golf courses to play a round at. But when we say a few, we mean it. A number of Golf Monthly staff have managed to play via this route. Work there as a caddie. This is a part-time job - the course is closed between May and October. Caddies are allowed one round a year. Related: 10 things you can't do at Augusta National. Work as a volunteer at the Masters. However apparently it is almost as hard to become a volunteer at the Masters as it is to become a member at Augusta, as vacancies rarely occur and there is a long waiting list for these jobs.
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