The Masters

Charlottesville

April 3, 2023

Masters Week.

Funny how we take for granted things we have until they are gone. As a kid, I would tag along with my mom or dad to walk the course (dad) or sit behind the first and eighth greens (mom on a duck stool). Purchasing a Masters golf towel or getting a Masters hat was always a big deal -- and by no means an annual event. The merchandise shop was a small open air space where all merchandise was behind the counter (my memory). My mom would trade tickets with friends -- I remember the Kisers -- so that each family could have more than two tickets for a day. Back then the "series badge" got you into the course for the practice rounds plus the four tournament rounds. Double pinning the badges was essential (in my family) because you were wearing something more precious than gold.

Now getting a ticket for the practice round is considered winning the lottery -- you can turn a $100 ticket into $2,000 on Stubhub. Just ten years ago, lucian and I sold two Monday practice round tickets for $800. Inflation!

Lots of memories. Inexpensive concessions (I would never call them "cheap!"), the vast greenness, the undulations, the roars, the bright colors of the patrons' clothes, the scoreboards with their red numbers changed by hand.

I was lucky to have the Masters be an annual event for me for many years.