Being 5 foot 9 sucks. You get used to seeing the back of people’s heads. You’ve got gallery lines that go back for acres and hogging the ropes are the types who look like they used to play in the NBA.
If I’m lucky, I might catch a snippet of a shaft swinging through a gap in their knees. This is my life watching big professional golf tournaments.
There are courses that suit spectators and those that don’t. For all it may be the Home of Golf, if you watch an Open at St Andrews take binoculars with you. Because 100 yards is as close as you’re going to get in some places.
What to do? You can stand on your tiptoes. You could take a periscope and come up for air. Or you could take a trip to the Masters. Because if get the chance to take it in, I’m not sure you’ll do much better at a major championship.
I don’t know if it’s a combination of the course routing, or that the Masters never overdoes the patron numbers (one of the reasons you’d suspect why it’s golf’s most wanted ticket) but the viewing experience at Augusta National is marvellous.
In the centre of the layout, where the holes are criss-crossing and lying next to each other, it doesn’t matter which way you swivel your neck. There is golf going on in front of you and there is a great view.
Just so you don’t think I’m understating this point, when I say ‘view’. I mean up close. I followed Rory McIlroy for a few first-round holes and I don’t think I’ve ever had such an easy experience. I could practically see the man’s breath.
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Some of that, of course, will be because there are so many great spots at Augusta National you’ve got to go and see. Coming to the Masters is as much about taking in Amen Corner, or the 16th, as it is about religiously following a single group.
But add in the undulations, the vantage points, and the proximity of the players to the patrons and this is easily the best place to get a good view of the golf I’ve ever been.
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Watching golf at the Masters
Yes, there are pinch points. If you leave the 1st tee alone, though, and deposit yourself in the landing area, you’ll be up close and personal for the approach.
The seats that ring the greens also help the experience. Because instead of a line of heads, it creates a stadium effect which makes it much easier for everyone else behind given a lot of the holes slope up from the greens,
And it’s also assisted by what seems to be the tournament’s zero tolerance approach to ‘hangers on’. I once went to a Ryder Cup where it felt there were many people inside the ropes as out.
Wives, girlfriends, agents, accountants, people once met at a party, and, yes, journalists. I’ve always eschewed the armband. For a start, I feel like you miss out on a lot when you can’t hear what people are saying about the action.
I’ve also always felt it was a bit cheeky to be able to attend a tournament as a job and then block the view of someone who’s paid. Look how charitable I am.
At the Masters, though, it doesn’t seem to matter who you might be. Except for a couple of TV cameras, the players themselves and their caddies, and a state trooper, no one else gets inside that line.
Not partners. Not the members. Not photographers. Not even Sky Sports’ radar! Having watched from the sidelines and cursed those who filled the fairway, the contrast is striking.
I’m not going to pretend to you that coming here isn’t expensive. Flights, hotel, tickets (hospitality experiences if you lose in the ballot), it all adds up.
But if you’re teetering on making a decision, if you’re worried you’ll travel all that way just to get a view of someone’s back, then let me calm your fears. You’ll probably not attend a tournament of this size where you’ll ever find a better panorama.
Now have your say
What has been your best viewing experience at a golf tournament? Have you been lucky enough to be watching golf at the Masters? What is the best thing about watching golf at the Masters? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
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