[kaiayout]

I’m finding it very difficult to focus my thoughts about my trip to Augusta. So much to look back on now that I’m sitting comfortably on my sofa watching “Live from the Masters” on the golf channel.
It all started three months ago, when my company announced an incentive trip to those that exceeded the quarterly sales goals by more than 10%. A phone call from my VP, on my birthday, confirmed I was in and had the option to choose when I wanted to go. I don’t care for the kind of crowds that are sure to be there during the tournament so I picked the first wave to visit Augusta.
We were instructed to arrive around 4 pm on Sunday. The packing was easy.



Getting to Augusta is also easy…..






We would be staying in a rented house for the week. Now, I’ve rented places at the beach and time shares before…but someone’s home?!?! This is going to be different for sure. Now this is a surprise for sure….so, not what I had expected. As it turns out, the local schools close for Masters week so a lot of folks leave town and rent out the homes. This also frees up the local teachers to work this week as shuttle drivers for groups of tournament attendees. We had three great drivers that were able to help out with our needs.



We were more than comfortable here. Our group rented three houses in the same neighborhood, all within walking distance. The main house had the cook and wait staff for breakfast and dinner.

Golf was scheduled for the first two days of our visit. Monday morning’s round was played at West Lake Country Club and the folks there treated us incredibly well!



Really nice facility and some of our group on the range



Bounced my shot off the flag stick for a two foot birdie here on 17.



After a great lunch we were off to the parking house. Yes, I said parking house. We were shuttled to a rented house that was several blocks away from gate #9. This house filled the need of an open bar, place to get a little work done, hold on to your cell phone, really what ever we needed near Aug. Nat.

[kaiayout]

Once you are past the metal detectors and they have scanned your masters badge you get to walk some more!



Luckily for us though, gate #9 was close to Amen corner and this is where I entered Augusta National for the first time! No amount of TV coverage can prepare you for walking into this place for the first time!!!

12 is way back there:







The gallery around 16 is crazy!! The players come into a very tight area around the 16th tee. Once they hit their shots at the green from the tee, everyone starts encouraging them to hit the traditional skip shots across the pond. Again, watching this on TV doesn’t come close to the in person experience. The atmosphere in that corner of the golf course is unbelievable.

Monday came to an end too soon for me. We were only able to get around to 6 holes, man this place is huge!

[Txaizdxx]

wow, that had to be a truely awesome experience!

[kaiayout]

Monday night, or should I say early Tuesday morning is a story in itself. The weather forecast had warned us of severe thunderstorms…but the guys staying with me were from CA. They had never experienced a line of storms that involved Tornado’s!!! I was awakened by one of my house mates at 2:45 am. Asking me if I knew what all the fire works were about. The lightning from the approaching storms had awakened him. Apparently they don’t have thunder storms in San Diego. I simply explained that we were going to get a line of storms soon and he should just go back to sleep. He then asked why all of the TV stations had a red bar running along the bottom of the screen with warnings about tornados. Emoticon here I round up the guys and we head to the basement/game room to wait out the storm. By 3:10 we are sitting in the dark and the wind is howling like a hurricane outside and my three house mates are in shock at the weather that is taking place! Keep in mind we have 9 AM tee times at Augusta Country Club, and I’m thinking there is no way we will play golf this morning.

Day light finally came. Still no electricity, but we had hot water and had to get ready to head to Augusta CC. Our driver arrives and tells us all of Columbia county is without power, but they should have power at the golf course since it next to Augusta National. Luckily he was correct and we had a nice light breakfast before our tee time. The down side to the weather coming through was that it had cooled things off significantly and the winds were whistling around 15 – 20 mph with some heavy occasional gusts. Only a few shots from this round, since I left my camera table side back at the rental house thanks to the dark! Aug. CC is physically connected to Augusta Nat. and we could hear the galleries cheering for shots from the practice round the entire time! Sorry about the crappy iphone pics!

#6 170 yard par 3…a good 50 ft. elevation change to the green.



Tough to see, but I can now say I’ve hit a shot over Rae’s creek.



History every where



#17 with it’s bowl shaped green



This was my first time playing with a caddie. A Fore Caddie actually. They were on loan from Augusta National, since they were not needed during Masters week. Doug made sure our group had a wonderful time at Augusta CC and his knowledge of the game and some of the stories he shared with us about Aug. Nat. only added to the thrill!

[kaiayout]

Again we had a quick lunch and headed off to the parking house for our walk to the 9th gate. I didn’t get a chance to see the practice facilities on Monday and that was my goal for today. Unfortunately there were only a few folks around the practice area. Some guy named Tiger Woods…any one ever hear of him? I really couldn’t get too close, but he was working with his coach on what appeared to be shaping his mid iron shots. After seeing the practice area and putting green, we headed out to walk back across 1, 9, 8, 2, 3, 7, 17, 15, and finally 14 to get back to our gate to leave. I only describe it this way to impress upon everyone how spread out this course is.

We had a group dinner at the main house Tuesday evening and found out the power wasn’t restored until after 4pm. Our group was sitting around the fire pit talking about our experiences from Aug. CC and Aug. Nat. Even though the weather had been cool and the course a little damper than we would have liked, we all agreed that it was one of the best golfing experiences our company had put together!

Wednesday morning I headed back to the parking house with my car loaded for the ride home later that afternoon. Planned this day pretty well, or so I thought at the time. Pimento cheese sandwiches and several cold beers for lunch at the concession area at amen corner and then off to the par three course. Forgot my camera again, since I had packed up everything…man was I mad at myself for that!!! Did I mention how long of a walk it is around Aug. Nat.???? Well the par three course is about as far away as the practice range. And the crowds were thick!!! I don’t do big crowds very well so I hung back and really couldn’t see a whole lot during the few hours I was at the par three tourny. It is a really light and loose atmosphere around this tourny. Players and their families or friends caddying for them. Occasionally the caddie would hit a shot or roll a put too. And about three I decided it was time to hit the road so I headed back to the parking house on my own leaving several of my co-workers behind to enjoy the rest of the day.
Our official photographer in the group will be hosting his photos soon so I may have a few more to add later.

I had six hours to drive and to review my short visit to Augusta. All I could think of was what an incredible experience this had been. Two rounds of golf, three evenings of great food and drinks, walking around the most well maintained and manicured golf course I have ever been experienced. Now, I can sit back and watch this tournament unfold and say I was there and know that I can really appreciate the shots the professionals make. I don’t consider this the trip of my lifetime, but it’s close!!!

[Edifsdubs]

Sounds like you had a great experience and I'm sure the memories will last forever. Thanks for sharing!

[Enjoymms]

Sounds like a great experience. And yes, Augusta National is a hard walk, I have walked it from one to eighteen several times and it is tough. For everyone else, am I the only one not seeing pictures and only getting the dreaded red x in a box?

[DoctorDeryOne]

Sounds like a completely amazing trip. Hopefully I will be able to make that trip one day too.

[Zvmwissq]

Great write up, thanks for sharing man! I am also unable to see the pics DD

[kaiayout]

let me know about the pics, I'm trying a different photo host. I see them just fine....does anyone have a suggestion which hosting service works best for thp?

[Enjoymms]

I use Photobucket Jb

[Seilehogshell]

No pics can be seen by me........bummer!

[kaiayout]

uploading the photos to photobucket...I'll swap them out shortly.

[Edifsdubs]

uploading the photos to photobucket...I'll swap them out shortly.

Good news!

[AriaDesser]

what a phenomenal experience! Thank you for sharing this with us. It almost felt like I was there with you. I liked the story of the thunderstorms coming in. Me being from MI am no stranger to crazy weather and t-storms. It is always interesting to watch people react to weather they have never witnessed before. Thanks again for the great read!

[kaiayout]

let me know if the new photo links work

[Seilehogshell]

Working for me now...........awesome!!

[Creva4k]

Yep - they are working now! Awesome trip; thanks for sharing the experience with us.

[Enjoymms]

Looking good, nice!!!

[prowsnobswend]

Awesome pics... thanks a bunch!