Ways to make the Masters better which we'd like to contribute to the club’s suggestion book.
Ways To Make The Masters Better
The Masters is one of the premier golf events in the world, with a wonderful course, fantastic traditions and a long history.
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However, we have a couple of suggestions to help the tournament become even better than it already is…
Have a better ending for television viewers
Patrick Reed helps Tiger Woods on with his Green Jacket.. again. Pic credit: Getty Images
One of the ways to improve the Masters would be to end on a more upbeat note. The Masters, to the worldwide television audience at least, ends on a rather anti-climatic one.
The ‘prize giving’ on television is low key, no applauding crowds, no trophy even. It is held in the Butler Cabin for the benefit of CBS television whose newscaster asks some anodyne questions.
Then the previous year’s winner helps the new winner into a Green Jacket.
It has made a star of the Green Jacket, with the symbolism of one winner welcoming the next one into the club. But this symbolism only works with first-time Masters winners.
Patrick Reed helping Tiger Woods on with his Green Jacket? Tiger Woods was already a member of this exclusive club, has been for 22 years. (Well over a third of Masters have been won by a previous winner.)
There is in fact a prize-giving ceremony at the Masters. It is held in the open air, with dignitaries sitting in line, patrons watching, trophies on display and presented, brief speeches. At this other prize winners also get their moment in the sun. (Well sort of – the light can be fading by then as our picture shows.)
But the television viewers do not get to see that. Just a scene in a gents outfitters.
Tweak the rules of the Par-3 contest
Is the Par 3 contest on the eve of the Masters a genuine 9-hole competition, a glorified exhibition, a chance to see some semi-retired legends of the game tee it up again, or a family fun day out for many players?
Or is it a slightly unsatisfactory mishmash of all these aspects?
Related: Why there is no Masters Par 3 Contest this year
Many players let their caddies putt on one of the greens, often the final one. These caddies are often family members. (Some players seem to have more caddies than they have clubs in their bag.)
This caddie-play has become something of a tradition at a club that reveres tradition. But it is also against the rules of golf. So the player gets disqualified.
It makes a wee mockery of a competition if you know many players are knowingly going to get themselves disqualified during it. (Many players are happy to do so because of the superstition that no-one who wins the Par 3 competition will win that year’s Masters.)
Ben Crane celebrates a putt holed by his daughter and caddie Cassidy. Pic credit: Getty Images
Caddie-play has become an unofficial tradition, much enjoyed by patrons and television. So, on the principle if your can’t beat ’em, join ’em why not amend the rules of the Par 3 competition? Allow a player’s caddie to play on one of the holes.
Why not? This is Augusta National, they do it their way and don’t much care what anyone else thinks. It would merely add yet another unique feature to Masters week.
Another of the ways to make the Masters better would be if someone actually won the Par 3 competition and went on to win that year’s Masters. That would end the silly superstition, one which, like so many, has now become self-fulfilling.
The absence of the par 3 competition this year could give Augusta National a chance to relaunch it next year with this slight tweak to how it is run.
RELATED: 3 ways to improve the Masters
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This article Ways To Make The Masters Better appeared first on Golf Monthly.