Masters’ Bogey? : Untraditional Ways, Customs Belie Tournament’s Very Special Image

The dominant color of the Augusta National golf course is green. Lush green fairways. Green pine trees. Green buildings with green carpet. And every year, one green jacket.

But the green that really symbolizes what Augusta National is all about is on the money.

Augusta National is the nation’s shrine to golf, a Valhalla that is actually a monument to perfection, rather than longevity. Most sports shrines--Boston Garden, Fenway Park, Chicago Stadium, the Coliseum--are far from being in perfect shape, but not Augusta National. It’s nearly flawless.

It wasn’t built for the people, only by the people.

To become a member, you have to be asked. And most of those who have been asked are from out of town and very rich. And, with one exception, very white. And never a woman.

If you’re asked, it only costs a $25,000 entrance fee and $1,200 a year in dues. There are about 300 members, with only about 100 from the area. Two years ago, Golf Digest estimated the net worth of the members to be $10 billion.

Dan Jenkins, a sportswriter turned author, once asked then club chairman Hord Hardin, how the process worked.

“Let’s say I want to join the club,” Jenkins asked. “I can afford it. I’m a swell guy. I know where Bobby Jones won all of his majors. I would get along with the other members. I wouldn’t abuse the privileges. So, who decides whether I get in?”

Hardin said, “I do,” and quickly changed the subject.

The course is closed from June through September and only about 20 people play the course each day. There are 90 caddies, all black.

Members are encouraged not to talk about the course and doing so can be grounds for dismissal. Members also are discouraged from heavy wagering and having too many cocktails.

Former Masters champions are honorary members but still need a member to sponsor them should they want to play a round.

One more tip for past and future Masters winners--don’t wear your green jacket outside the grounds of Augusta National. In 1990, Nick Faldo took his jacket back to England and, during a television interview, let a sportscaster try it on. Faldo was reprimanded.

One of the great ironies of sport is how a place and a tournament that are untraditional in so many ways can be known as the backbone of golf tradition. And are some of Augusta National’s traditions the kind that are worthy of emulation in perpetuity?

Tournament week is also very untraditional.

For example, the early week practice rounds easily outdraw the four days of the tournament. An estimated 40,000 show up each day. The reason is that only tickets to the practice rounds can be bought by the public. Tickets for tournament days haven’t been available since 1967. The four-day badges are among the toughest tickets in sports. In 1978, they stopped taking names for a waiting list. The number of four-day badges is believed to be about 30,000, but that’s a secret the club won’t disclose.

Considering the heavy demand for tickets, the cost of a four-day badge is also untraditional--just $100.

And if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, the cost of food and drink is another surprise. Soft drinks are 75 cents, sandwiches (which come in green plastic wrap) are $1 and beer is $1.50. They don’t sell hot dogs.

Drinks come in green cups without advertising. No advertising is allowed on the course, a shocking contrast with other tournaments such as the L.A. Open, which is dropping Los Angeles from its name next year to appease its sponsor.

Commercialism is allowed to exist outside the imposing gates of Augusta National. What remains is a contrast between the city itself and its most famous piece of real estate.

Every year, about 200,000 visitors descend on this town of 40,000 for Masters week. The city has rural Georgia written all over it. There are 13 Waffle House restaurants (about one for every 3,000 residents), barbecue joints aplenty and hotel rooms without room service. But Augusta acts like any other price-gouging small town come Masters week. Hotel rooms that normally go for $40 a night are $150 and higher. An estimated $100 million is brought into the economy this week. There are street-corner vendors selling their unlicensed products. The restaurants--especially male-dominated yuppie places such as Hooters--are packed beyond fire code regulations.

Augusta National is an anomaly of sport. And things are still pretty much the way Bobby Jones wanted them to be when the course opened in 1932. Along with Clifford Roberts, Jones guided the course and tournament to its present status. Jones died in 1971 and Roberts committed suicide in 1977.

Roberts’ ashes were buried somewhere on the course. One week later, the person who is said to have done the digging, died before he could tell anyone where they were.

For Augusta National, it may be the only secret it didn’t plan.