The thing that surprised me the most when I first visited the Masters was the difference in the elevation around the course. When you watch the tournament on the TV the course looks fairly flat, but as Greg Norman said on his first visit to the Masters in 1981 “ I was shocked that you never really had a flat lie unless you were on the tee.”

The drop from the highest point on the course- the back right of the green on the first hole- to the lowest- Rae’s Creek guarding the 12^th hole- is 175 feet. To think that Niagara falls, where the Horseshoe Falls there drops 173 feet!

The principle elevation changes can be found on the par-4 10^th, where the drop is more than 100 feet from tee to green, including a plunge of 80 feet from the tee box to the flattest part of the fairway. The par-5 2^nd plummets 90 feet from tee to green. The par 4 11^th the drop is 65 feet  from tee to green and the par-4 18^th the hole climbs 40 feet from the middle of the fairway to the green.

The atmosphere at The Masters is unlike any other golf tournament. The roars heard around the course are synonymous of a Cup Final and not usually heard on a golf course. Eagles have been scored on every hole at Augusta during the history of the tournament.

That means aces on all four par-3s and hole-outs from the fairway on all 10 par-4s. Eagles on the par-5s are not unusual but there have been 3 albatrosses over the years. One on the 8th hole (Bruce Devlin in 1967), one on the 13th (Jeff Maggert in 1994) and one on the 15th hole (Gene Sarazen in 1935). Sarazens albatross “the shot heard round the world”, helped launch the tournament on its way to greatness.

Unlike many other Golf Holiday companies, Masters Travel specialise in taking customers on a Golf Holiday to one location and at only one time of the year.

Travel Masters have a pedigree in running a golf holiday company but to see only one  competition we all know ‘The Augusta US Masters’.

Our Golf Holiday has historically been based on a golf professional taking away a group of either 7 ot 15 golfers for an 8 day event. The atmosphere is always relaxed, the hotel very good and comfortable and the packages always competitively priced. From the Pro’s point of view it’s all organised.

I know the tournament is great, I know the thing to see is the 4 day event, but for me one of best days is the Wednesday!

As a spectator it gives you everything you need,

• Walk the course and take photo’s of this amazing golf course
• Watch some players practice around the course
• Enjoy the specticle of watching the pro’s skim the ball across the water on the 16th
• Tiger always seems to practice between 12-2pm it’s amazing to watch
• Then in the afternoon relax as you watch the old Masters go around the par 3 competition, 5 holes in one the year I watched

It’s just a great fun day to attend

Gary