Joe's Masters Experience

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This morning was a totally different story. I cried like
a baby this morning. I was so stressed out. Um,
I didn't know what to do. I was sitting there,
I was telling Meredith. I was like, I don't think
I'm ready for this. You know, I'm not ready. I
don't feel like I'm ready for this kind of stuff.
It is the twenty five year old winner of the

(00:21):
Masters Golf tournament at Scott Scheffler, who's the number one
golfer in the world right now. Um talking about trying
to get his head together. His head seemed to be
together when he won the tournament yesterday. I watched that
on TV, having watched the first three days live at
Augusta Nashell, a mountaintop moment for me, a golf freak,

(00:43):
and my my dad, my sister, and my brother too,
and my wife for that matter. UM So, anyway, it
was an incredible trip and and a million million thanks
to Bill who provided the passes. UM. More on that
to come. But to discuss the the experience, I thought
perhaps we would do it in interview style, and who
better than to do the interviewing than young Alex are

(01:06):
behind the scenes producer also known by his name Alex Tasker,
who's a fine sports broadcaster and his own right. So Alex, hey,
thank you for jumping in. Well, hey, thank you for
inviting me those kind words and a. Much like Scottie Scheffler,
I too cry every day before the show, appearing on
the Fine A and G program, I want any people
do I don't blame him, I wanted to ask you.

(01:26):
You know, walking in augusta National is known for its privacy.
It's known for how secluded it is and how secret
it is. What was the feeling walking through the front
gate for that first time? Well, it was thrilling. Obviously.
The grounds are enormous, surrounding the golf course. Uh. The
golf course is so insulated by parking lots and administration

(01:50):
buildings and and uh and the driving range and the
giant a lot of the uh, you know, big time
golf tournaments. They throw up these giant tents like to
be them merchandise area where people spend zillions of dollars
on swag. Oh, by the way, I got you some swag,
but I have an unpacked yet. So yes, thank you.
I know what a fan you are. Um. But everything

(02:12):
is permanent at the Masters. They have so much money
from the TV deals that everything is permanent and beautiful
and gleaming white and that sort of thing. No jokes,
no jokes, it's a nice come here, has nothing to
do with white people. Uh So that's it is private
from the outside world. Because the grounds are so enormous.
I was a little bit surprised how much urban noise

(02:33):
there is on the golf course. I mean it's something
like noisi or anything. But you hear car alarms going off,
and you hear a little traffic noise and that sort
of thing, and you know airplanes going overhead because it's
in the middle of a metropolitan area of Augusta, Georgia,
which is very lovely typical American medium size city. So
speaking of noise, you know record crowds. They show out
in droves all week for the practice rounds they have

(02:55):
the Part three contest, and then of course all four
rounds of the Masters. They're very good at keeping the
crowd from getting too unruly. What was the most unruly
thing you would have noticed? Uh, three days there there
was one guy who was noticeably drunk, kind of reel
and about. I have a feeling he was removed from
the grounds pretty quickly, um and and the well and

(03:17):
and actually the answer to the question is so weak.
It makes another point. Sometimes people would be chatting while
somebody was trying to put. They wouldn't be close, but
they'd be like close enough that you could kind of
hear their voices. And that stood out at the Masters
that the patrons, as they insist on calling them, the crowds,

(03:41):
are so polite and so into the golf it can
be there will be you know, uh, five thousand people
surrounding a green and as the guy steps up to
get ready to put, it will fall silent, silent, not
a whisper. It's really quite notable. Another thing of notice
that a lot of people talk about leading up to
Masters Week is the pricing that Augusta National puts on

(04:05):
their food. You mentioned, you mentioned the merchandise, and zillions do,
but they keep prices relatively tame for the refreshments. Did
you partake in any particularly a pimento cheese sandwich, which
is known for the fame of the Michelin Stars. No,
of course they don't, but well, yeah, I did actually
have the pimento cheese sandwich. I wouldn't write home about it,

(04:26):
but it was a yummy snack. Yes, the the prices
are hilariously low. They're not reasonable, they're hilarious, and major
League Baseball fans dig this. You know, a beer is
a few dollars. I didn't drink any so I didn't
really notice, but um, I I say my drink until
I got back to the rental house. But yeah, the

(04:47):
pimento cheese sandwiches are a buck and a half. If
you wanted to get a ham and cheese that was
like two bucks two and a half maybe, And the
Master's Club sandwich, which had both ham and turkey, that
was three dollars. And and so the prices were about
like that. I will tell you this. The sandwiches looked
like your mom made you in your brown bag lunch

(05:08):
in fifth grade. They were tasty and they were freshly made,
but they were nutrition. They were not you know, your
fancy ballpark food where you pay eighteen dollars for some
sort of fish taco. It was, hey, here's some nutrition.
Here's a nice sweet tea for a dollar or two
or whatever it was, and get back to the tournament. Terrific. Well,
to borrow the phrase from Jim Nance, it was a

(05:30):
tradition unlike any other, the smell of the azaleas, all
the you know, hyperbole they put around the masters. There
was a big cat on the course this week. His name,
he may have heard of him, Tiger Woods. Always the
feeling between the patrons knowing he was on the course.
Could you hear where he was? Could you see where
the big crowd was? What was it like? Oh? Yeah, yeah.
His galleries were huge as always, and and he would

(05:52):
come through and play a hole and the crowd would
go with him. Um, almost to an absurd because he
wasn't really contending um. But the overall feeld was respect
in admiration. I've never been a great Tiger fan, at
least I wasn't in the past. Um. His values in
mind did not align, and I thought he was an

(06:13):
asked honestly, he is so different than he used to be.
He is humble, he has a sense of humor, He's
self deprecating. He recognized the fans constantly uh their appreciation
of him, and dude had a shattered leg that they
almost need to amputate not even a year and a
half ago, and was hoofing it up and down that

(06:33):
it's nearly a ski resort. This golf course very very hilly.
I know Michael has a question, Michael, Yeah, a question
about TV coverage. Do they send a camera with every
golfer or is it just certain ones. I always wonder
this is going I'm watching it, and sometimes they'll have
some no name that just hit a great shot that
they show, and I just wonder if they follow everybody around.
They do have cameras camera cruise several. I couldn't tell

(06:56):
you how many, for close ups and that sort of thing.
But every hole has camera towers at the tea, at
the green, if it's appropriate, in the fairway, strategically placed. Um.
So yeah, they're there are camera towers everywhere. They are
green and camouflaged. Who is not to be obtrusive. But yeah,
and that's another one of those permanent fixtures because they
have the tournament there every year that they could have

(07:18):
had some questions from the newsroom. Who was the best dressed?
Was number one among golfers at the whole tournament? Oh man,
oh man, oh man. Uh. They it's a lot wilder
than it used to be. Um, Victor Hobland, who's a
player from Scandinavia or one of your northern countries up there.
He wore pink pants with like black pattern stripes on Thursday,

(07:42):
just just nutty and they're colorful, you know, colorful guys
and that sort of thing. But then Hovelin disappointed me.
The next couple of days it was like black, Well,
Justin in the pink pants, Yeah, he did. Justin Thomas
wore a pink sweater and dark green pants on Saturday day.
Then on Sunday he went with purple and yellow. The

(08:03):
problem being the yellow pants, which I love. I'm going
to get a pair as soon as I can find them.
The dark shirt showing through the yellow pants. Oh, the
faux pas of the century fashion. Yeah I didn't. I
don't have the nerve to do that. It looks dumb
to me, but so yeah, good, good point. He j
t may have been the best best dress. Did you
hear any weird fan chance while you're out there? I
I pointed to the newsroom. There was a couple of

(08:25):
times in different tournaments a driver, excuse me, golfer hit
their driver. And you hear somebody all mashed potatoes or
great bank cashold nothing like that, And I guess I
take it you will find yourself outside the gates, wishing
you hadn't said that. If you do that sort of
stuff at augusta occasional dopey yells, but very very rare.
It's it's well known, and it's anybody who has a

(08:47):
pass or a ticket is informed over and over again.
You're a guest here. You will behave according to our
rules and traditions. If you do not want to, that's fine,
don't come, or we will he view out. It's all
extremely uh polite and genteel. Now you mentioned a couple
of times. It's the super Bowl of Golf. It's the

(09:08):
four days Super Bowl of Golf, and the Super Bowl
is known for attracting all the types of celebrities. Did
you see anybody else, you know, celebrity wise famous, be
a dealist or whatever. Uh Dwyane Wade was there with
his dad, the NBA legend um, and he was being
bothered by people, which is uncool. Um. I saw Brad Underwood,

(09:28):
who's the coach of the University of Illinois basketball team.
I only know that because I'm in Illinois grad and
I recognized him. I didn't bother him. Um. Oh. Other
than that, not that I noticed, But I was pretty
focused on on the golf course in the action, you know. So,
speaking of focusing, I have a big old four K
TV at home and I love watching beautiful the colors

(09:49):
on my on the TV. I can only imagine them
being justice surreal in real life. Can you describe the
azaleas for me? The Well, it's it's the greenest green
golf course you've ever seen. The bunkers are complete white.
The sand traps, if you will, are completely white. The
as aliens are gorgeous and pinky and and stuff like that. Uh,
it's just it's an astoundingly pretty place. Uh. Yeah, I

(10:12):
guess that's that's That's all you need to know about that.
And all the buildings are white, white, white, white, which
stand in, you know, beautiful contrast all the green all
around y, all the pine trees and everything. Uh, walking in,
was there that sense, at least for me, when I've
walked into big sporting events, there's that aura of this
is a big deal, this is a big stadium, the

(10:32):
history of the place. Did you have that sort of
feel when you walked in? Yeah? Absolutely, Um, I was
just so giddy to finally be there. The grounds are enormous.
The grounds surrounding, whether it's parking lots and administration buildings
and like the driving range of the practice area. But
you walk for ten minutes from the parking lot to

(10:54):
get to the gates. Then from the gates it's another
solid ten minutes of brisk walking before you see the
golf course. That sounds exhausting. So it's there is an
element of when do we get there? It's which reminds
me there And this is where business people might be interested.
And I get that Augusta National has all sorts of

(11:16):
money because they get billions of dollars in TV revenue. Um.
They have decided what their customers experience should be and
they go to extraordinary lengths to make it so. And
in some cases a business person might have to be
a little more creative than somebody with unlimited money would be.
But it is everywhere the fact that you will be
treated courteously, people will smile and thank you for being

(11:39):
there unfailingly. Um. The lines at the swag shop, you know,
the shop where you buy shirts, and there are a
hundred different shirts, by the way, different sweatshirts, a hundred
different sorts of hats, Whiskey, glasses, wine, glasses, uh, ball marks, towels,

(11:59):
um a tower, um, beach towels, flags, banners. I mean
you could, and people do spend thousands of dollars on swag.
I'm not gonna tell you what I swent too much.
Do they sell equipment there, like golf equipent like golf equipment?
I was thinking of something that's Masters mark Masters that
you can take home, or some gloves just like golf

(12:21):
gloves and hats um. But I'm I'm told folks from
Japan who fly there will they will buy, like picture,
a box big enough to hold a big tour golf bag.
I mean a big box. They will fill that to
the brim with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of

(12:41):
Master swag and ship at back home because you can
do that so anyway, there are there are at times
long lines to the shop, but it is Disney. You
get in the line, it whirls back and forth, their
videos to entertain you, big historical placards. People again are
unfailingly cheerful and polite. You finally get into the shop
and you unload your hard earned money and walk away

(13:02):
with more crap than you'd meant to buy. But everything
everything is very Disney. You mentioned how notoriously difficult it
is to get tickets because you can't just go, oh,
I think I'm gonna go and buy a ticket. You
have to enter the raffle to get the tickets. And
then you have the opportunity to buy. And you said
you have unless you have a connection. Yet what you
said you did you had a friend that offered you

(13:23):
the passes this yere Yeah, essentially his family. Uh. And
I don't want to reveal too much because he hasn't
said it's cool, but his his dad was a member
there many many years ago, his late dad and um,
his mom continued through her life to have the right
to buy the families passes. Um and did and and

(13:44):
various friends and family would use them through the years
and um and back in Uh. This gentleman Bill reached
out and said, I know how you've always dreamed of
going to the Masters. Um, here's a couple of my
past is for like Saturday Sunday. And as it turns out,
this year he was able to give me all four

(14:05):
for all four days, which was amazing. So I brought
my family with me. Um. But his mom passed away
in the interim and so this will be the last
year that they have the right to those passes. Um.
So it was kind of poignant and everything. And I
held onto him as souvenirs and I could have sold
them for Sunday, but I didn't. I just it felt
weird and disrespectful. Um and uh, and it's not there.

(14:29):
They were not my passes to sell. So anyway, but
I'm incredibly grateful. We had a wonderful family reunion too,
of my dad and my sister and my brother and
I and my wife, so it was it was terrific.
I got one more question for you. You know, you
said this is the trip of a lifetime. You had
the family reunion, and that sounds amazing. Should you in
passes or retain pass in the future. Could you see
yourself going again or is it just one of those

(14:50):
once in a lifetime. I've done it. Let somebody else
enjoy it. I will go every year for the rest
of my life until I'm dead if I can possibly
pull it off. I mean, I just I loved it
so much. And oh, you know another thing that people
might find interesting. You buy or you can buy these

(15:12):
little folding chairs. They're like little camp chairs you've see
if you've ever watched The Masters, you see them lined
up next to greens and teas and stuff like that.
You buy them and you can set them up depending
on how early you get there. You set them up
where you really want to be, and you just leave them,
and they have your name in sharpie or a business
card or whatever their little slots on the back. Um,

(15:32):
and they have your name so you can prove it's yours.
And then in our case, and I got this question
from a listener, did you stay in one place or
walk around? The answer is both. Um, I walked thousands
and thousands of steps every day, as did my my
brother and my wife and blah blah blah. And I
could if you're a super fan, maybe I'll talk about
it on the podcast or something. I can tell you
where I sat and what I thought of it. But

(15:53):
then you go back when you want to sit in
that very very special place you've selected, and if something
and it's totally cool, it's one hundred percent cool to
sit in somebody else's seats, And so I spent. In fact,
I tweeted out a picture of my wife and I
freezing cold, bundled up on Saturday, it got freakishly cold,

(16:15):
like once in a century cold and windy. And we're
there on the right on the rope, uh you know,
fifteen feet away from the golfers on the ninth green.
I like the pink hat. That's my wife's hoodie. Anyway.
Uh So, but then if you go back to your chair,

(16:35):
your little folding chair, and somebody's in it, you say, hey,
so sorry, uh we're back to use our chairs, and
they say, oh, no, no, thanks for letting us use them.
Enjoy the tournament. Everybody's super cool. And so even though
you didn't get there at the crack of dawn, you'll
go to one of the key greens where a wonderful
action happens, or they've got to execute a brilliant shot
at the green or whatever. You can sit right there

(16:56):
in the front row, or or so close to the
front row you might as well be until somebody comes
back for the chair. And in the case of the
ninth Green, we sat there for a long time. Nobody
ever came back. Hey, did you guys only follow the
leaders or did you follow some of the golfers that
were way back. I honestly I didn't. I didn't follow
anybody except for maybe like a hole. I went to
my favorite spots on the golf course and watched the multiple,

(17:19):
multiple groups come through. Did you did you get close
to get hitting by Did a ball come close to
hitting you or my feet a couple of times? Yeah?
And watch the guys you know, chip or whatever from
you know, literally I could have reached out and touched
I gotta ask, are the players wives as hot as
I think they are? They're very hot, Michael, very very hot.
The girlfriends likewise, very attractive. Um. And if there are

(17:42):
any gay fellas, I'm sure they're they're gentleman companions are
very handsome too. I didn't notice any, but I'm sure
that's the case. Uh yeah, but thank you for asking.
But it's it's a wonderful thing. Just something I've observed
on TV. Ohh yeah, yeah, that's true. And I tell
you what, Ger who was limping visibly and tiring hyping

(18:03):
hiking up and down those ski slopes after having his
leg shattered, was greeted with incredible warmth by the crowd.
And you know, honestly, to use a simple term, he
used to be a prick, I mean, really a jerk. Um.
But he's really much more a human now and I
couldn't help but root for him. I mean, fourteen months
after having his legs shatter and he went and played
one of the toughest golf courses in the world, four

(18:25):
rounds plus the twenty seven or so practice holes he
played so he could play on the weekend, which is
really quite an achievement. We're totally out of time, have
to take a break. But um, if anybody wants to
know more, drop me an email. I'll try to get
back to you or you know, I'll see. I'll bet
I will