‘It exceeded our greatest expectations’ was the unanimous opinion of a group of golfers who arranged a golf trip of a lifetime through Masters Travel to watch the Augusta Masters.Months of anticipation came to fruition with a nine day trip including 5 games of golf, a day at the Masters Practice Day, and one day at the tournament proper.

The day at Augusta for the practice day was sunny with a biting cold wind, with the temperature being in the mid-Forties. Our first glimpse of the course after passing through the inevitable security searches was breathtaking- thousands of azaleas and dogwoods in full bloom and the dark green of the fairways set amongst towering pines contrasting with the white bunker sand. After having our picture taken in front of the Clubhouse, wearing our special edition shirts, walking the course was the principal aim of the day and our first impression was how undulating the course was, something hard to envisage from the TV coverage.Whilst the inclines are both steep and inviting fror spectators (or patrons as they are known at Augusta) and Amen corner (11th, 12th, 13th and the Par 3 16th are perhaps the two most’ must visit’ viewing places.

A practice day party piece for the players is on the 16th, where after having hit their tee shots over the lake onto the green, they walk forward to the edge of the water, drop another ball and try to thin the ball so that it will skim about 130 yards across the water onto the green again. This is tremendous entertainment with about half of the players achieving it. Two of our group witnessed Vijay Singh actually hole his attempt, to be greeted by a distinctive roar from the crowd.

The weather was glorious for all four tournament days with temperatures in the seventies, little wind, and with 10 hours plus of play each day there was much to savour.The Augusta tournament is renowned for its ettiquette- no running from patrons, none of the ‘ your the man’ hullaballo (except for the usual berk!) All this contributed to enhancing the viewing and overall enjoyment of the day.

The refreshment and merchandising areas are first class in terms of organisation, availability and being reasonably priced. Believe me, you’ll never see 8 guys enjoy shopping so much!When not at Augusta, we played golf at Cobblestone Park, Crickentree, The country Club of Lexington, OakHills, Timberlakes and Woodlands Golf & Country Club, all within easy driving distance of our Hotel.

All of these courses were picturesque with a lot of water hazards, (We did attempt a Vijay across the water, unsuccessfully!) They were in great condition and all had lightning fast greens, Timberlakes having the most spectacular setting, being situated on a peninsula jutting out into lake Murray, allowing many glimpses of the lake itself, 5 star houses on the perimeter of the course, ospreys and fishermen catching striped bass.The Green masters chairs we bought and shared to use at Augusta became overall prizes. Overall a brilliant trip and already the beginnings of sneaky thoughts about 2010!