The Best Field Trip Ever: The Masters 2024
An inside trip to the most exclusive destination and top of the #SturmStack bucket list
I figured if I am going to take a brief vacation during this busy sports season, I should at least tell you about it.
If you want Cowboys-Stars-Rangers-Mavericks, this will not be that.
Instead, on Tuesday, I finally was able to go to the top item on My Sports Bucket List and one that has been there for a long time. I am not sure what will move to that new top-spot as a spectator, because I have been lucky enough to visit just about everywhere you can think of in the United States sports scene.
But, never this one. I have never been to Augusta National and honestly, never even close.
It is the toughest ticket in sports and has been since I started caring about it, which was probably the 1996 Masters. That was the first time I remember locking in for an entire Sunday and at the age of 23 decided golf isn’t nearly as lame as I thought it was.
Then Tiger Woods happened, I fell in love with the game, and now I think about that sport at a very absurd level. I am now the typical 51-year old who loves the game, even when it doesn’t love me back.
My golf travels are extremely limited, but I am starting to branch out. My wife made sure I played Pebble Beach for my birthday last year, with my son as chief photographer. It was as surreal as it gets and I might write about it this summer before I forget all the details. Beyond that, I guess the most exotic thing I have done in this sport was attend the 2021 Ryder Cup in my homeland of Wisconsin at Whistling Straits. Those two items surely helped lead me here.
To Augusta.
It is tough to explain how this all happened for me, but my buddy, Tom Davis, who is known by many as “Cowboy Tom” made it happen. He told me months ago that he was stringing together a pilgrimage to “Golf Mecca” and I was welcome to join him. He said we can pick any day we want and were advised the Tuesday practice round day was a nice way to do it the first time.
I have no real clue if that is true or not, but enough people seemed to agree that “it is the right way to do it,” so we laid claim to two passes for Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
I won’t lie. When they arrive in the mail, I stared at them for quite a while. I have been to Super Bowls, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and World Series games. Yet, I stared at the passes to a practice round at the Masters for more than a few minutes.
Some things make us young again.