Going to the Masters Tournament has been on my bucket list for a while. However, getting tickets to the exclusive, decades-old golf event in Augusta, Georgia, is famously difficult.
Tickets are accessed through an application and lottery system, which my husband and I have entered for the past decade without any luck. (Sports betting site Bookies.com roughly estimates the odds of winning a single-day ticket are less than 1%, but we've still held out hope each year.)
Meanwhile, one-day tickets go for thousands of dollars on resale sites. Although we still didn't win the lottery this year, we were lucky to be offered badges for Friday's round through a local Augusta tourism organization.
I'd heard that attending the Masters is an unforgettable experience, and after my first time, I agree: The tournament is one of the few things in life that live up to the hype.
I don't think I've ever been around so many happy people.
Everyone I met, from staff to other patrons (they're not called fans at the Masters), seemed genuinely happy to be there. I'm sure the sunny Georgia weather helped, too.
Despite being at a sports event, I never saw any squabbles or arguments — just lots of smiles. It was so refreshing to be in this kind, friendly atmosphere.
No cellphones are allowed during tournament days.
There's a strict no-cellphone rule at the Masters. If you're caught with one — like one golfer was on Tuesday — you'll get escorted out.
I surprisingly loved not having my phone on me. It felt freeing to know I couldn't be reached and that I could fully enjoy the day.
And because no one else had their phone, people actually talked to each other. I met so many other patrons because none of us were looking down at our devices.
Still, the property has courtesy landlines available, where patrons can call anywhere in the world (if they remember the number) for free.
It's hard to fully know what's going on during the tournament.
Throughout the day, my husband and I would pick a hole to watch for a long period of time. So while we knew what was happening there, we didn't really know what was happening anywhere else.
At times, we'd hear a huge roar and wonder who had gotten a birdie. Since there are no cellphones, we couldn't check.
There are old-fashioned leaderboards spread around the course, but they only show the top 10 golfers from the previous day's round and how they're performing at the current round.
I had to catch up on what happened during the day after we left.
The women dress up, but everyone wears sneakers.
Most of the men I saw were in golf polos, shorts, and sneakers. I spotted a lot of people wearing straw hats with ribbons tied around them, too.
The women tended to wear dresses, often in green and white — signature colors of the Masters. These dresses were almost always paired with sneakers, the event's most popular shoe by a landslide.
I felt weird wearing a nice dress with sneakers, but I'm glad that I did.
My feet wouldn't have been able to handle the day otherwise. Augusta National Golf Club is a very hilly golf course. I don't know how many steps I took on Friday, but I estimate over 20,000.
Plus, I fit right in: I only saw one or two women all day who weren't wearing sneakers.
Buying merchandise felt like shopping a Black Friday sale.
Buying branded merch at the Masters is no joke: It's available only at the tournament and not online.
To prepare and make a wish list, I watched lots of Masters merch hauls before I left. The store is well-organized, but there are a lot of people frantically shopping around it — it's wise to go in with a game plan.
This year's hottest item, the Masters gnome ($50), was already sold out when I got to shop at 8:15 a.m. on Friday, and so was the viral white pullover ($88) I'd seen across social media.
Still, I found lots of great things, like socks, scarves, cups, and hats with the Masters logo.
My husband and I had merch requests from 14 different people, so our bill was close to $2,500. Based on the huge hauls I witnessed, I imagine most patrons were buying for friends and family as well.
The Masters is the most efficiently run event I've ever attended.
With roughly 40,000 people in attendance each day, I was expecting long wait times for concessions and at the merch store. Instead, I was blown away by how efficient everything was.
The concession stand was set up like a cafeteria: Patrons wait in one of six or so lines and grab sandwiches, ready-poured drinks, and snacks as they walk through.
There's nothing to order, and the options are limited, which helps the lines move fast. Each line had three or four registers, too, which made transactions move even quicker.
The merch store also ran efficiently. I saw about 20 checkout lines, each staffed by several cashiers. Although shopping felt a little chaotic, I didn't have to wait long to swipe my card.
Food is very inexpensive at the Masters — and it's tasty, too.
Even though the cost of Masters tickets has gone up, the prices on the menu haven't changed much. (Augusta National apparently keeps food prices low to keep tradition alive and enhance patron experience.)
I knew food would be inexpensive at the Masters, but the prices and quality truly exceeded my expectations.
I had a chicken biscuit for breakfast for $3 and a chicken-salad sandwich for lunch for $3. I also tried the famous pimento-cheese sandwich for $1.50. Soft drinks were only $2.
My favorite bite was the peach ice-cream sandwich for just $3. At such a low price, I was happy to buy another.
The most expensive item on the menu was a glass of wine or beer at $6.
Patrons stack their cups throughout the day.
Every drink is served in a thick plastic cup branded with the Masters logo. When you finish drinks, you stack your cups together.
This way, you can take them home as a fun souvenir. I saw a lot of patrons carrying tall stacks of cups throughout the day.
There's not really much branding or advertising at the Masters.
The Masters feels very carefully curated.
I didn't see any big advertisements around the course, and the concessions and signs weren't branded beyond the Masters logo and signature colors (green, white, and yellow — sometimes azaela pink, too).
Chips and candy bars were simply labeled and wrapped in the Masters palette. Beverages were listed as "diet cola" and "sports drink."
The same is true for alcohol: domestic beer, import beer, and white wine are served in Masters cups. It's not immediately clear which brands were actually poured.
You can leave your chair unattended, and no one will touch it.
Patrons are allowed to bring armless folding chairs to the tournament and use them to reserve spots. There's no need to lug them around, either: There's a long-standing tradition of leaving your chair without worrying that it will be taken.
The "rule" is that anyone can sit in your chair while you're gone, but must give it back when you return. I don't know many other places (if any) where this sort of honor system would work.
Companies go all-out on hospitality events for the week.
It's common for companies to host lavish parties and events during the week of the Masters Tournament for their clients and guests.
These often include star-studded musical performances and top-notch cuisine. I was invited to the private-jet company Wheels Up's "Clubhouse" while I was there and got to see Grammy-winning artist Ryan Tedder perform live.
José Andrés also hosted a "Jamón and Caviar" tasting experience with elevated bites that I caught the tail end of. It was incredible.
Ultimately, this experience was unlike any other.
Even if you're not a golf fan, you should try to experience the Masters at least once in your life.
In some ways, it was like Disney World. Everything felt immaculate — we never saw a single piece of trash on the ground — and efficient. It truly seemed like all of the staff members wanted to guarantee patrons had a good time.
The Masters truly is "a tradition unlike any other," a phrase made popular by announcer Jim Nantz. We'll definitely keep playing the lottery in the hopes of going back one day.
