Attending the Masters

I’ve been entering the lottery for Masters tickets since 2010 and each year get an email with a subject similar to “2025 Ticket Application Update” with a message along the lines of “Unfortunately, your entry was not selected this year.” It’s expected. Tickets are extremely hard to get.

On July 21st last year, I saw an email with the subject “Your Ticket Application Was Selected.” I figured it was some kind of joke until I opened it and saw the image below.

I was able to purchase four tickets for Wednesday of the 2026 Masters Tournament, which gave us access to the practice round and the Par 3 Contest. They were $150 per ticket, which is very reasonable for an elite event. I asked my wife, dad, and brother to go and of course they accepted. The tickets arrived about two weeks before tournament week.

We decided to make it a two day drive down from Michigan and got hotel rooms in Columbia, South Carolina, about an hour away from Augusta, Georgia. We hauled our golf clubs with us and played a couple of 9 hole rounds on the way, which I wouldn’t do if making a future trip. It’s just too hard to plan out tee times when you don’t know where you’re going to be depending on traffic and stops along the route. I think I’d also try to stay closer to Augusta.

On the morning of, we left our hotel just after 4:30 a.m. It took about 70 minutes to get to the course and traffic was a non-issue. We pulled off Washington Road, followed the signs around a Publix and came to the parking lot. It was still dark out, so we could see headlights coming in from five or six directions and every line of vehicles kept moving. It was the most organized parking situation I’ve ever seen. The Masters experience had begun. By the way, parking is free!

We grabbed our tickets, tossed our phones in the glove box, and got in line. The gates weren’t opening for over an hour. About ten minutes before the line moved towards the ticket gates I realized I didn’t have my wallet, since it attaches to my phone. I ran to the car, got my wallet, and within minutes of jumping back in line, we started moving. Lucky timing because my family would have had to get out of line to wait for me, or there would have been no way I’d find them again.

I have to mention it was awesome not having a cell phone all day. We were present with each other and the experience. The Masters does allow you to bring in other types of cameras for the practice rounds, so we bought a couple of cheap ones to get some photos. To be honest, after the day, I wish they didn’t even allow that. I was still too focused on getting some photos, most of which turned out poor because we’re so spoiled by the awesome iPhone camera, which makes it extremely hard to take bad photos.

While waiting in line, we got moved up in sections and then right before a small group of patrons was released to the ticket gate one of the workers gave a quick announcement. Getting through the gate was a breeze and we rushed to the North Gate’s merch shop. We got in line but were never stationary for more than a minute; it kept moving and we were inside in about 20 minutes. Since we were early enough, all four of us were able to get the 2026 Masters Gnome.

The merch shop is a bit overwhelming, but as expected it’s extremely well organized and run. There are different counters for sweatshirts, hats, and golf shirts with a bunch of volunteers working at each. Behind the workers are columns of cubbies with the different sizes of items and the choices are all up high on the wall with numbers on each design. You walk up and tell the volunteer the number and size of each item you want.

Throughout the shop are shelves with other items and accessories. Most of the smalls are near the checkout lines. In my two trips through the shop, I spent about $950. My wife picked up a lot of items for other people, so spent even more. After walking out, we immediately got in a line to check our items. This line also kept moving and took about 20 minutes. Here’s Brandi with her first haul as we stood in that line.

Here are my purchases.

With most of our shopping out of the way, we could see the first fairway, but it was time for a restroom. In the “gentlemen’s” line, they had volunteers splitting you up based on 1 or 2. Or as a volunteer later in the day put it, “back 9 or front 9” haha. Even the bathroom lines were organized! There were volunteers in each restroom with a little squeegee, periodically wiping water off the counters back in to the sinks.

One last stop for coffee and a snack, before heading to the course. Under the north merch shop, since it’s a real building and not a temporary tent as you’d see at most professional golf tournaments, is the first snack area we ran in to. There were a bunch of lines with everything being self-serve, even the drinks, which are constantly getting poured and set out for patrons to grab and go. If you don’t know, prices at the Masters are cheaper than any sporting event you’ve attended in decades. Here’s a picture I took later in the day at another snack shop.

I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular from the food, but it was pretty good. Over the course of the day I think I ate the breakfast, pimento cheese, Masters club, and pork bar-b-que sandwiches. I enjoyed the pimento cheese but the BBQ was probably my favorite. Unless of course you count the ice cream sandwich, which would be the winner. Their new candy bar was way too hard to chew, so not good. The chocolate chip cookie and the praline pecan were both excellent. The lemonade was great, coffee was good, the Crow’s Nest is a solid craft beer, and I had a so-so Arnold Palmer. I think we ended up with about twelve Masters cups.

Time to see the course. We got our picture taken right away by the big scoreboard along #1 fairway.

From there, we walked up the hill to #1 tee and walked the first nine in order, from tee to green. If you’re at all familiar with the golf course, you’ve heard “it’s a lot hillier than you can see on TV” and I can confirm it. Every hole is up and down or both. There aren’t many flat spots to even stop and stand. Looking down at the grass, it looked like artificial turf it was so perfect. When you walk around the greens it’s easy to see why the course is so tough. Even the greens have very few flat spots to land an approach shot.

We detoured to watch a couple groups skip balls on 16, but other than that, walked straight through the first nine. None of my course pictures can compete with professional photographers, but here they are. They’re not in order and a few of my brother’s pictures are mixed in.

We headed over to the par 3 course and spent over three hours there. It was relaxing and we even found a spot to sit on the ground for about an hour.

We left the par 3 course before the event was over and walked the second nine. It sucked that no players were out practicing and the grounds crew had started their maintenance. It was odd seeing the place so empty.