Dispatches from Augusta National: How Did You Watch The Masters?
There have been numerous iterations to accommodate the media covering The Masters at Augusta National. Bobby Jones considered the media an integral part of The Masters tournament, once saying that the competition owes much of its notoriety to the writing of his confidant and chronicler O.B. Keeler.
When the Augusta Invitational first started in 1934, Jones and club Chairman Clifford Roberts scheduled the tournament in the first few weeks of April, encouraging sportswriters making the train trip back from baseball spring training in Florida to stop and report on the golf.
As a young reporter in my second or third Masters, somewhere around 1980 or ’81 I saw legendary sportswriter and author Herbert Warren Wind standing with my friend Pat Summerall under the oak tree by the clubhouse. Pat lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, and we had gotten to know each other playing golf and through mutual friends. Emboldened by our friendship, I walked up and said hi, and as he was wont to do, Pat politely introduced me to Wind, who’s work, legend and personality were well known. I mean he was famous in those circles. He had coined the phrase, “Amen Corner” writing about the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth holes, taking the phrase from a 1930’s famous jazz tune, “Shoutin’ in the Amen Corner.”
Being young and new, I didn’t know much, and as I shook his hand, I introduced myself and blurted out, “Mr. Wind, I work at Channel 2 in Charleston, and I was wondering if you might have a minute for an interview to talk about the story behind Amen Corner.” Again, I was feeling my way through the whole reporting gig, and as a kid from the streets of Baltimore, I had a lot to learn about golf and the niceties and etiquette of the game.
Wind was a proper New Englander and wrote for The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated. Incredulous is the only word I can think of to describe his reaction. “Of course not!” he replied, a bit stunned by my request. Part of the “new media” of local television, I’m sure he was also confused that I would even ask him that. Properly chastised for my impertinence, Summerall chuckled under his breath.
But it’s that kind of reverence for the game, the golf course and the competition that helped make The Masters what it is today. There is a bit of mythology that’s entwined in the history of the Masters, created by Keeler, Wind, Dave Anderson, Ron Green, Sr., Dan Jenkins, Edwin Pope, Furman Bisher and others.
Sportswriters created the narrative, with reports going back to major media centers in the Northeast, Chicago and the far west, The Masters wasn’t just a golf tournament, it was a sporting event that defined a part of the calendar. The official start of spring for those digging out of snow, a signal to the country to expect better weather ahead.
As the press corps grew, the club needed a place to house them on the property as they worked. Down the hill from the clubhouse and to the right of the first fairway they built a Quonset hut in 1953, defined as “a lightweight, prefabricated structure with a distinct half-cylindrical shape, featuring curved steel ribs and a corrugated metal shell. Developed during World War II for rapid assembly by unskilled labor, it is durable, with a “clear span” (no interior support beams).”
Writers from around the country, and eventually around the world occupied the floor space facing a large scoreboard which followed the lines of the front of the curved structure. Radio and television reports occupied a makeshift second floor constructed around the outside walls. It was loud as portable Smith-Corona typewriters banged out the day’s stores and updates. Associated Press, United Press International and Reuters all had teletype machines in the back, hammering out the day’s news.
With a nod to new technology and the need for more space, in 1990, the club built a permanent press building on the same space and behind in the style of an amphitheater for the writers and radio and television from around the world upstairs.
With a complete reimagination of that part of the property, twenty-seven years late,r the press building was moved to make way for a larger, permanent merchandise building built by the club’s main patron entrance. A new practice facility opened, and the new (and current) press building was built at the far end. A bit of an amphitheater for workspace faces the practice area with floor to ceiling windows creating a view of every practice swing taken. It’s state of the art in every way, accommodating traditional print media, radio, television and the latest digital and social media information delivery systems.
Where did you get your Masters information? Their web site is the best I’ve ever seen. Live video of every shot, commentary, leaderboards and personalized options not seen anywhere else. The televised times have been increased including Prime, ESPN, Paramount+ and the traditional CBS broadcast. Golf Channel is there all week as are numerous other sports networks from all over the world.
I did an interview with former Augusta National and Masters Tournament Chairman Billy Payne in 2019, the year he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The National’s Communications Director Glenn Greenspan was a nearly four decade friend and colleague and had told me that every time he presented a situation to “The Chairman” he always gave him three options: Good, Better and Best. “Billy always chose best,” Glenn said. “Never wavered.” I asked Billy about that, and he was resolute in his answer. “It needs to be the best at The Masters, always. We have the capability to do something the best way we can, so we should.”
If you spend any time around Augusta National and The Masters as a player, a member of the media, a volunteer or a patron, you know that’s exactly what they do.
