The Best And Worst Masters Traditions

No golf tournament has more traditions than The Masters. For many, it is what our sport has been built on.

But the thing with traditions is that they become tired and outdated. Here are a few of my best and worst from Augusta.

THE WORST MASTERS TRADITIONS

THAT Presentation

At the end of every Masters, the new champion is forced to sit down with Jim Nantz for an excruciating "interview" in the Butler Cabin. For reasons known only to themselves, the chairman of Augusta National also gets to sit in on this cringeworthy piece of theatre. And then the past year’s champion is asked to help the new winner into the prized Green Jacket - only to have to repeat the entire process in front of the world’s media afterwards. I love many things about The Masters - but I simply hate this one.

The Crow's Nest

The amateurs in the field can stay in a cupboard at the top of the clubhouse known as the Crow’s Nest. It is cramped, to say the very least.

The Par 3 Contest

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What’s the point? Seriously! Do we really want to see the sons and daughters of today’s stars hitting golf balls into water? Do we want to see Scottie Scheffler’s wife attempt to hit a golf ball? Do we really want to see an ageing Gary Player playing? Bear in mind that nobody has ever won the Par Three contest and gone on to win The Masters so you can be absolutely certain that the field’s elite players are not trying their best anyway.

Size of The Field

Every other major boasts a field of 156, with players having the chance to enter qualifying tournaments to gain entry. Not The Masters. Oh no. You have to receive an invitation and for reasons best known only to themselves the size of the field is heavily restricted. When you take into account the number of ageing past champions and amateurs in the field, it actually means that, numerically speaking, The Masters is the easiest of all four of our sport’s four majors to win. 

Green Jacket

I have no problem with the winner receiving the Green Jacket, but did you know that they have to return it? Why? First-time winners get to keep it for 12 months but have to bring it back and leave it in the changing room.

THE BEST MASTERS TRADITIONS

Concessions

Go to any golf tournament in the world and you will find yourself being ripped off when it comes to food and drink. Not at Augusta. Prices are strictly controlled - and the quality of the food is of the very highest order.

TV Coverage

The powers-that-be at Augusta keep tight control of the TV coverage of their tournament - and that means keeping advertising breaks to a minimum. That means we get to see more golf. Yippee!

Honorary Starters

There will be many who hate the idea of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hitting meaningless tee shots to signal the start of the season’s first major. Personally, I love it. The starters love it and the galleries love it.

The Galleries

The galleries at Augusta National are in a class of their own. Labelled as "the patrons", they know that they can leave their chairs, head off for something to eat and come back, certain that nobody will have stolen their place. They are well behaved because they know that if they are not then they will be asked to leave the property. So we don’t get "You’re the man!", "In the hole", "Mashed potato" or any other inane uttering.

The Course

The course is, of course, the star of the show. There are some who question a major being staged at the same venue every year but when that venue is Augusta National, how could you ever want to stage The Masters anywhere else? It is a work of art, an absolute gem. Yes, there are times when it verges on being unfair but this is a major and winning one of those was never meant to be easy.

Champions Dinner

Wouldn’t you just love to be sitting in a room alongside the likes of Nicklaus, Watson, Player, Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, Fred Couples, Nick Faldo et al? Forget the menu. Just imagine the stories that are told.

What Have You Missed?

Unbelievably, there was a Masters beauty pageant from 1957 until 1967. An editorial in the Augusta Chronicle once observed: "Both the pageant and its winner add lustre to the week and fully sustain their right to be regarded as the principal side attraction to the Masters Tournament itself." Oh dear!

There was also a long-drive contest held on the Wednesday of tournament week. Winners included Sam Snead (290 yards, 1948), Billy Joe Patton (338 yards, 1954), and Mike Fetchick (351 yards, 1957). The final contest was staged in 1959. Now this is something I would like to see being revived!

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