What to know about attending the Masters
Because we send clients every year
I am lucky enough to have two amazing business partners. Kylee Glaser is one of them. We worked together at a large luxury destination club for several years, and I originally hired her because I wanted to know how to run groups to the Masters, and Kylee was known as the industry queen for this.
This week, we (Alpenglow Travel), have several client groups heading to the Masters so we thought we’d share some of the tips we give them.
1) Try to tackle your merchandise plan early in your trip, but timing matters. The first day morning will be insanely crowded, so go in the afternoon. You want to get in and get out. You might have to get aggressive, it can feel like Black Friday in the 1990’s at Walmart. Have notes ready with sizes and preferred colors for what you are buying for other people. You can ship directly out, so don’t worry about packing all the gear home.
For some reason, the creepy little gnomes are the most coveted item from Augusta National and can go for $1,000 on the black market. My business partner had one, but her dog bit the head in half and we both cried a little.
According to NBC, “This is the 10th and perhaps final year Augusta National will sell the limited edition gnome, which features the traditional old man with a white beard in colorful golf attire. Each year's gnome is different, with the 2026 edition featuring the character dressed in khaki pants with a white-and-green striped polo shirt and blue vest holding an umbrella in one hand and a Masters-themed cup in the other.”
2) Try everything on the concession stand menu list. Obv the pimento cheese sandwiches are famous, but go outside of your comfort zone and try the Georgia peach ice cream Sammies as well because they are bomb. My mother was from Ohio and used to make pimento cheese sandwiches when we were growing up. I still find them disgusting, but when in Rome…
3) You can’t bring your phone into Augusta National, so write down a list of numbers you want to call while you are there. My husband called me today from one of their payphones and it was a pretty cool moment. And no, even if you are head honcho of your company, you still don’t get to skirt the rules. We had to help a particular client come up with a game plan to leave the course, go get his phone, take his call, and come back in that honestly required as much planning as a Mission Impossible er, mission.
4) If you plan on going next year, secure your rental house early. There are zero decent hotel options, so rental houses book up early and most of the inventory can kind of suck.
Fun terminology if you want to look like you’re in the know watching the tournament this week:
People attending are never called “spectators” or “fans”, they are “patrons.”
The portapotties are called “comfort stations.”
It’s not “the rough” it’s “the second cut.”
As a caveat, I don’t play golf and I really don’t get the hype, but my husband is on cloud 9 attending this for his first time ever, so I’m trying to be supportive. Don’t mind me single parenting two crazy children, running a company, while my husband spends thousands of dollars to eat pimento cheese sandwiches and try to bag a garden gnome. I’m not salty or anything, really.
Why did the golfer bring an extra pair of pants to Augusta?
In case he got a hole in one.
FORE
Anne Marie
Luxury Travel Advisor, Founding Partner, Golf Widow
AnneMarie@AlpenglowTravel.com
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