Cool? Hip? Augusta National wants to become Masters of a younger crowd
AUGUSTA — The 11-minute video starts with six dudes standing at Amen Corner, a tennis racket, hockey stick and baseball bat sticking out of their pastel-colored golf bags.
One of them is a major champion. The other five have ear-to-ear grins that suggest they can’t believe that someone actually opened the gates for them at Augusta National.
This is because, well, they can’t.
“We’re Dude Perfect!” Tyler Toney, one of the dudes, tells the audience.
“I’m Bryson DeChambeau,” the aforementioned major champion adds.
“And, believe it or not, welcome to the All Sports Golf Battle at Augusta National.”
“HERE WE GO, BABY!”
What happens next is just about the most un-Masterslike event to ever take place on these grounds. They hurl howling Nerf vortexes off the tee boxes. They kick soccer balls and whip frisbees on the fairways. They bang croquet balls on the greens. They hoot and holler. If Clifford Roberts, the club’s dour co-founder, were alive to see this, he’d have an aneurysm.
“I think it’s a great thing for (fans) that have never seen the game of golf and to bring to the Masters into a different, positive light,” DeChambeau said after making it clear that he was as surprised as anyone that Augusta National allowed this to take place.
The club had its reasons. Listening to the (mostly) old (mostly) white (mostly) men who run Augusta National say that they want to appeal to a hip, younger crowd sort of feels like your grandfather declaring that he has tickets to a BTS concert.
It’s a bit awkward. Fred Ridley, the club’s chairman, described it as “our continuing effort to be relevant to different age groups” — but even that felt like the famous meme with Steve Buscemi, skateboard slung over his shoulder, greeting his “fellow kids.”
(Note to Ridley: A meme is an internet thing. All the young people are using them these days. Have your kids google it for you.)
But the idea is understandable. Golf’s demographics are old and getting older. Ridley was honest, at least, that he had no idea what or who Dude Perfect was before they approached the club about this project, but he was recognize that the group — known for its viral trick-shot videos and other hilarious content — must be doing something right if it has 57 million YouTube followers.