AUGUSTA – Terry Bennett recently called his long-time friend Vic Feit with an important question.
“What course is on your bucket list?” Bennett asked.
There was only one answer. Book a flight. Pack your bags. All for one day.
Bennett had tickets to the Masters’ Tuesday practice round at Augusta National Golf Club. And he was bringing his friend of 30 years.
Bennett’s son-in-law won the lottery for practice-round tickets just before COVID-19 postponed the opportunity to make it to the world’s most famous golf course. When finally able to make it to the Masters last year, the visit was cut short when inclement weather closed the course after a few hours. Bennett, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, had seen only six holes before the day ended. He was given a third chance when rain check tickets this year. Feit came from Poughkeepsie, New York, for his first visit. The two were welcomed with a warm, sunny day.
“You are in nirvana here,” Bennett said. “For a golfer, this is heaven.”
The two dentists met, on a Bermuda golf course of all places, three decades ago. Together, they have played Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes, Torrey Pines and Southern Hills. Just a visit to Augusta National was at the top of the golfers’ bucket list.
Sure, the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Phil Mickelson were playing practice rounds. But this visit of a lifetime was more about the course than the players.
“I’m going back tomorrow, and I’m going to tell everyone I walked the course,” Feit said. “The course is amazing.”
“I want to walk the course,” Bennett said. “I want to feel it. I want to see shots. Because TV doesn’t do it justice.”
Credit: Photo by Chris Vivlamore
Credit: Photo by Chris Vivlamore
Jeff and Annemarie Patz drove from their home in Indiana. They stopped in Nashville, Tennessee, and made it to Augusta for a first-time, one-day visit thanks to his brother, who won the lottery for practice-round tickets two years in a row.
A rookie mistake cost them a chance to see Woods. As they waited for him on the 11th hole, Woods stopped his practice round after nine holes. Give them a mulligan.
However, they were here to see the course. They spent a lot of time at Amen Corner. They saw the 16th green. They enjoyed an egg-salad sandwich. They got as close to the Par-3 course as possible. The gift shop was the next stop.
“I never thought I’d get a chance,” Jeff said. “I was just telling my brother as we were walking through some of the fairways, the traps and some of the fairways don’t seem that big on TV. But when you are here, oh my gosh, they are big.”
Credit: Photo by Chris Vivlamore
Credit: Photo by Chris Vivlamore
How is this for checking something off your bucket list? A girls trip with a stop at Augusta National. A foursome, made up of friends from Fort Myers, Florida, and Toronto, made it here last year before they too were forced to leave because of the weather. Karen Sullivan, Barbara Callaghan, Lynn Hurley and Diane Fowler made it as far as the gift shop before their day ended in disappointment.
This year, they saw it all.
“Amen Corner was No. 1,” Fowler said. “We made it all the around. We saw everything and we saw everybody, just about. We saw Tiger. We saw Scottie. We saw just about everybody. … I play with a Bubba Watson driver and he’s right over there.”
The foursome left Augusta National, as many who entered a golfers’ paradise for the first time, with the experience of a lifetime.
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