NO TEE PARTY FOR FANS
Masters’ rigid rules
If you’re lucky enough to attend the Masters at Augusta National Golf Course, be sure not to let out your inner “Happy Gilmore” and yell “Get in the hole!” after a particularly good putt.
That — and dozens of other phrases — will get you kicked out faster than shooting 5 over par.
The notoriously uptight security marshals are on guard for any hecklers and in particular those who yell catchphrases — ranging from the mundane (“You da man”) to the ridiculous (“Mashed potatoes” and the Budweiser catchphrase “Dilly Dilly”) to the heartbreaking (“RIP Harambe!”).
Cellphones? Uh, no!
It’s all part of the round-theclock effort to maintain the mystique of the Masters, where even top players such as Rickie Fowler have been dinged for wearing their baseball cap backward.
“Augusta is unlike any other club in the world,” said one insider, who wishes to remain anonymous as he would like to return to the place. “There’s such a long list of things you can’t do . . . They simply don’t stand for any nonsense.”
Among the rules: No asking for autographs, no cellphones, no cameras. No beepers either, should you be visiting from the year 1992.
It all begins when the gates open to “patrons” — never “fans” — at the impeccably maintained Georgia course. Running is not allowed, so there’s a power-walking race to the best vantage points. You’re not permitted to sit on the grass; you’ll have to bring your own chair, but it can’t have any armrests.
Want to bring your young child? No problem, so long as they don’t need a stroller, which is forbidden. There are no signs, no coolers, no backpacks tolerated.
Augusta will kick out anyone — anyone — who doesn’t follow the rules.
In 1994, CBS analyst Gary McCord said on air that the 17th green was so quick that it looked like it had been “bikini-waxed,” before joking that the “body bags” of golfers who had fallen victim to the hole were just behind the putting surface. He was banned by organizers from working the Masters and has never been asked back.
Last year, as three-time winner Gary Player took part in the traditional Honorary Starters ceremony, his son and caddy, Wayne, took the opportunity to hold a branded sleeve of OnCore golf balls in full view of the TV cameras. The Masters took a dim view — there is no advertising on the course — and permanently banned him from the club.
“It’s a wonderful place and a fantastic tournament, but they are utterly obsessed with maintaining this so-called mystique,” said another source familiar with the club. “I get it, but it’s 2022.”