Just found out I'm going to the masters

[glenbrookchamp10]

Heading to the masters after waiting 7 long years on the waiting list. Any recommendations and insights from wrxers who have been? Hotels, food, game plans ? Thanks everyone.

[Spumoni]

Congratulations. Just got my rejection email. I've been waiting for about 7 years and still have not been picked. I wonder requesting all 3 days of practice round tickets are hurting my chances??? I'd like to take a large group of guys and share the experience with them but I may cut back and just request 1 day to better my chances. I'm not sure if that will help or not.

[glenbrookchamp10]

I have put in for the maximum amount of tickets every day since I started (practice and actual tournament rounds).

[J13]

best of luck down there and enjoy. i"m still waiting for my lucky year.

[sTmGolfer]

[quote name='glenbrookchamp10' timestamp='1345676905' post='5518290']
Heading to the masters after waiting 7 long years on the waiting list. Any recommendations and insights from wrxers who have been? Hotels, food, game plans ? Thanks everyone.
[/quote]

I have been fortunate enough to have attended twice; a practice round for this year, and last year's magical Sunday round with Schwartzel winning. As I'm sure you know, practice rounds allow you to bring in cameras and take pictures. That is a BIG PLUS. On the downside, there are FAR more patrons than on actual tournament days. It's a lot harder to get around and far more commotion. However, the experience is still incredible.

My suggestion is to first and foremost ENJOY THE COURSE! When I went this year for Monday's practice round, I almost completely forgot about watching any golf and wanted to see and take in as much of the course as possible. I made it over to the par 3 course, butler's cabin, etc. It's absolutely amazing how much different the course and the entire grounds are than you see even on HD TV. It's always fun to see where players have played memorable shots in the past. I went out early during Sunday's round and made it to certain spots before players came through and allowed some marshal's to show me where shots were played from; Tiger's shot on 16, Phil's shot on 13, Larry Mize's shot on 11, Bubba's shot on 10 (didn't have someone show me that as it hadn't happened yet, but distinctly remember the area.)

As far as travel, I personally flew into and stayed in Atlanta both times. I had people to visit in Atlanta, so that was a primary reason for that. Many people I talked to at the tournament said that staying in Columbus, SC is the ideal place to stay. It's about an hour from Augusta and more convenient than Atlanta.

If you do stay in Atlanta, I stayed in Stone Mountain park. It's beautiful, has a couple attractive golf courses, and some nice restaurants around. There is a German restaurant called "The Village Corner German Restaurant and Bakery". Great beer selections and a cool atmosphere.

Enjoy your trip. It will be well worth the 7 year wait ... and probably more.

[glenbrookchamp10]

STM.
Thanks so much. Def think that Columbus is where we will stay. Planning on making a trip out of it and hitting charleston too on the way down.

[avgjoe]

stayed in ColumbIA, SC this yr, plenty of people do it. there are several old threads with many many good tips