Augusta National, Tuesday practice day

[jvincent]

Well, the pictures finished uploading, so here it is.

Thanks to mjf winning the ticket lottery, we had tickets to the Tuesday practice round. As people are already aware, the Monday round was rained out so we were very lucky.

The weather on Tuesday was perfect. It started out a little cool but by the end of the day was warm and sunny. I ended up with a sunburn.

I tried to do a similar thing to what I do when I play the big courses, i.e. take a picture from the tee box and then a picture from the fairway where the approaches are hit. Since getting onto the fairway isn't possible, I took shots from the behind the ropes or the crosswalks. I also too a lot of pictures around the greens and some random interesting shots as well as some looking back up the fairway from the green.

It was a long day and there are lot of pictures so here's a summary of the day.

- Got to the parking lot just after 7:30 AM.
- Walked by the practice area and concessions and headed right out to the course to take pictures.
- Bumped into the Mickelson, Dufner, Fowler, Dustin Johnson group and followed them for a few holes taking the hole by hole pictures.
- Ran into Olazabal and Jimenez and Amen Corner
- Took a picture of where Phil hit the shot from the trees. The white flag is apparently where his ball was. Crazy, the opening was tiny.
- Finished up the course tour when we bumped into Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Ken Duke.
- Went for lunch ($20 for four people!) and hit up the merchandise tent. The amount of money that gets spent there in a day must be staggering.
- Dropped the stuff at the car and then came back to watch a bunch of groups play 16 and try the skip off the water. We say Mike Weir hole his second tee shot.
- After that we went to the practice tee and watched a bunch of guys finish up their day.

Enjoy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1016654...86/Masters2014

[gbower]

Great shots as always John. You lucked out in having great weather.

[Swerve]

I didnt take as many photos as you but I was there in 2012 and your schedule mirrored ours almost to a T. Great job on the pics, just reminds me how badly I want to get back there!

On a side note, we all know Phil like a few side bets during his practice rounds; according to Golf Channel, Rickie Fowler made 9 birdies and an eagle that day. I'd say Rickie prolly made some $$ that day - would be fun to see him contend on the weekend.

[jvincent]

Great shots as always John. You lucked out in having great weather.

Thanks Gerry.

I forgot to mention, the grounds are immaculate. Walking around in the "rough" or areas between holes you'd think you were on fairways. It would be fun to get on the greens and putt a few.

[Txxxxxxx]

I noticed from some pictures posted on the Masters site, that the food is VERY reasonably priced. $4 for import beer and $3 for domestic. $1 for most snacks! Pretty good!!!!

I'm jealous!!! How were the prices for souvenirs?

[jvincent]

Souvenir prices were not too bad for small stuff (ball markers, towels, etc).

Where they really clean up is on clothing. The shirts and stuff are all basically full retail like pricing for high end gear.

[Txxxxxxx]

Souvenir prices were not too bad for small stuff (ball markers, towels, etc).

Where they really clean up is on clothing. The shirts and stuff are all basically full retail like pricing for high end gear.

Looks like a good time from your pictures. It's true what they say about the undulations. You don't really notice them that much on TV. Your pictures show them well.

[spackler]

Great pics John. Did you have any holes that became real favourites once you saw them in person?

[jvincent]

No real favourite holes. As far as entertainment value goes, I'd say 13 and 16 are tops though.

[big mac]

Great job John--the place looks immaculate but it looks like all the flowering shrubs are late---just like here

[Marcos]

Wow !!! Great job Mr. V. Thank you for those wonderfull pics.

[nokids]

Pic #16 Fashion faux pas galore

[Txxxxxxx]

Pic #16 Fashion faux pas galore

HAHAH!! I just laughed out loud!

[Mr. Chi]

Nice gallery, thanks for sharing

[rando7777]

Great pics - was there in 2007 and still get chills thinking about it

[Break68]

Great Job on the pictures JV! Those pictures show a course that was completely different than 24 hours previous.

[jvincent]

It's a testament to the amount of money they spend that the course looked as good as it did.

The only evidence we had that there had been any kind of weather the day before was on one hole there were some of the volunteers/marshals directing us away from a "muddy" area in the pine straw. I looked and didn't see any mud at all.

Oh wait, I think I remember seeing a slightly muddy patch of ground later in the day as well.