Masters: Wandering Augusta National in Search of Wonder

Getty Tiger Woods, Tom Kim and Rory McIlroy cross the Ben Hogan Bridge at Amen Corner during an April 3, 2023 Masters practice round.

It is a little after 9 a.m. at Augusta National, and I am polishing off a made-to-perfection peach ice cream sandwich after already crushing a breakfast sandwich along with a few bites of a chicken biscuit. Masters week is a bit like eating dessert for breakfast.

The decision was born out of necessity as the ice cream sandwiches and garden gnomes are the two most coveted items at the Masters. We are told these packages of handheld peach goodness sell out about 45 minutes after arriving in the cooler. In other words, your options could melt away as the day goes on.

The world’s best golfers pass through the Thomas Kinkade painting known as Amen Corner with the crowd oohing as iron shots land near the pin and ahing if the ball lands short rolling into the water with a splash. This week, you will see commercials featuring Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, but the true star of the Masters is Augusta National.

Through its partnership with the Masters, IBM has the tall task of bringing the Augusta experience to fans all over the country via the app and website. For as magical as the Masters is to attend, the vast majority of people will only experience Augusta virtually, never being able to set foot on the hallowed ground.

The Masters App is Utilizing AI to Generate Commentary for the My Group Feature

The IBM office at Augusta National looks like one of the white cabins patrons can see throughout the golf course. The kind of place where you are offered sweet tea from a glass pitcher on a hot day.

We are greeted with pictures of Augusta’s past along with audio from the first ever Masters tournament in 1934. Eventually, we walk into a room with a floor-to-ceiling screen outlining how the tournament experience is instantaneously transported to your phone or computer.

The Masters may be known for their no-phone policy on the course, but IBM has managed to create one of the best apps in sports. This year, the experience has been enhanced with AI-created commentary to provide viewers with context for each shot while using the My Group feature.

IBM is able to lean on decades of Masters data to not only create accurate audio overlaying each shot, but intersperse significant tournament moments from other golfers not selected in your My Group. This feature allows you to create your own broadcast with your favorite golfers, but the app also inserts clips from other individuals who have hit significant shots during the round.

While attempting to write this article, I was able to watch the featured group of the morning in one window next to another box displaying the golfers coming through Amen Corner just as if I was back in the grandstand. Fans can have the traditional viewing experience of watching those in contention, or feel as if you are sitting in one of the signature Masters green chairs at your favorite hole.

Attending the Masters Is an Invitation to Wander & Wonder

GettyA look at Augusta National’s Amen Corner during the 2023 Masters.

An hour into walking through Augusta National and my pocket has buzzed on several occasions. Each time I reach for my phone, but it is not there. My brain has been trained to anticipate alerts and messages even when they are a figment of my imagination.

There is a touch of irony in that one of my biggest takeaways from two days of attending Masters practice rounds was my experience without a cell phone, and now I am telling you about the tournament’s app. The Masters has invested heavily into their web presence showing the organization knows technology is not the enemy, but there is a time and a place for everything.

Just as you would not wear a swimsuit to a cathedral wedding or eat a steak dinner prior to running 10 miles, taking your phone to the Masters feels similarly out of place. Attending events has its own set of challenges as we are often left watching through our cell phone or via the lens of the 10 devices recording in front of us.

Life is about creating lasting memories with the people that matter most in places that are meant to be experienced together. There is often a temptation to capture these memories rather than experience what is unfolding in front of you.

Ditching your phone for the day is not just about being present (though it most certainly helps), but it is also a commitment to the people you are with at the Masters. For a few sacred hours, they become the most important people on the planet receiving your undivided attention (aside from watching Jon Rahm hit a clutch shot).

Walking Augusta National is a collective decision to commit to making a new memory together while pressing pause on the world you left behind. With no signs of a cell phone, not only can you get lost in the moment but quite literally lost.

The majority of us typically possess multiple apps that not only pinpoint our exact location, but can give us directions to any place in the world within a matter of seconds. While attending the Masters, you will assuredly get lost at some point, but the kind folks wearing green shirts are never too far away to help guide you along the path. As the Georgia pines high-five the blue sky, you can wander in search of wonder with the only destination to be where your feet are.

Augusta National Is a Time Capsule Holding the Ghosts of Masters Past

One of my favorite authors once wrote that life is like holding a book where ultimately more pages will be in your left hand than your right. Leaving Augusta, I wonder how many days I have wasted being someplace else in my mind. Sometimes the best present we can give ourselves and those around us is our presence.

There are few places remaining in the world that serve as time capsules allowing us to share the same experience with family and friends as the years pass. Markers of how much our lives have changed but a reminder of how this place remains the same. The tournament’s menu prices have rarely been altered, still offering $1.50 pimento cheese sandwiches having no time for inflation. Ten years from now we will all be a little older, but something tells me $5 will still be plenty to fill your stomach at the Masters.

I hope some day you get the chance to attend the Masters but until then stop and smell the azaleas. It is the Augusta way.