Commitment: A New Day at the Masters

“Augusta National 3” by @gomattolson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

It’s Masters weekend, and you can’t pull me away from the television. As I woke up on Thursday morning, I couldn’t help but feel like a child on Christmas morning. It’s a special gift we can all share once again: a Masters in April, with patrons on the grounds and flowers in full bloom. It’s the rite of spring for many of us golfers, and we wake up early to start watching the first groups navigate the front nine, blocking up our work calendars to avoid meetings, setting up the dual monitors to catch all of the action we can. We wear green. We bring out any memorabilia we may have. We remember legendary Masters tournaments, and the special people in our lives we watched them with. We live for every downhill putt, every wind shift at Amen Corner, every roar from around the course. Playing well at Augusta requires complete commitment to your shot. And watching it at home is a small commitment we make to ourselves and to every year. 

After a very difficult 12 months for all of us, this year’s Masters makes us feel like we’ve turned a corner. The weather is improving, and golf is possible in our own corners of the world. And with millions of us receiving vaccines each day, we might be able to shake hands again after a round.

As tough as the past year has been on many levels, some of us see the hardship as an opportunity to rethink: who we are, what matters most, and how we can be better. As much as I feel an acute sense of nostalgia with every Masters, I take more enjoyment out of seeing the club and tournament evolve. We all want the “Tradition unlike any other,” but at a place that has touted its innovative approaches to tournament logistics, media, and course alterations, I’m happy to see other changes to Augusta National as well. It’s a commitment to excellence, a commitment to traditions, and now a commitment to a better future.

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur has been an absolute joy to watch—it’s become another Saturday blocked off on my calendar every year, another few days of must-watch golf. Watching these remarkable players play the course from distances similar to us mere mortals has shown off Augusta in ways we’ve never seen in decades of watching the pro men. The competitive fire of the ANWA is intoxicating, and this year’s final 9 holes—with about 8 players within two shots and countless lead changes—was especially riveting. As usual, there were little to no commercials. But what was unusual was the pace of play: no one was changing clubs three times after endless conversations with their caddies, no one took 17 practice swings before addressing the ball, and no one studied every putt like a final exam. With the exception of the exceptional scores, it was much closer to the game that we play. I’m pretty sure we all want to see more rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur actually played at Augusta National. We can only hope the club will continue to make improvements to the ANWA in the years to come. 

It was also poignant and important to see Lee Elder honored as a starter, alongside Nicklaus and Player. At 86, he’s a few years older than his fellow starters, and he didn’t appear to be in great health. Very few of us can remember Elder’s first appearance at the Masters back in 1975, becoming the first Black player to be invited to play, after winning the previous year’s Monsanto Open. And almost none of us can fully understand all of the difficulties that Lee endured through his early life and golf career, and also how lucky he was: this combination shows everything he had to go through. Lee himself grew up caddying, helping to support his family. When Lee was 9 years old, his father died fighting in WWII, and his mother died only a few months later. He had nine other siblings. Lee didn’t get to play his first full round until the age of 16. He luckily caught the eye of boxer Joe Louis and his instructor Ted Rhodes in Los Angeles, and they helped hone his game and get him in a few tournaments. Then, in 1959, Lee was drafted into the Army, but at his station in Washington state, he discovered that his colonel loved to play golf—this stroke of luck allowed Lee to continue playing from time to time. Two years later after he was discharged, Lee joined the United Golf Association—the only place where Black professionals could compete in those years—and at one point he won 18 of the 22 tournaments he played in. In those days, the winner on the UGA would take home about $500. In 1967, he finally got enough money together to try to qualify for the PGA Tour. He easily qualified, and the following year made about $38,000—as 40th on the money list—about four times more what he was making winning virtually every tournament he played on the UGA. And yet, on the PGA Tour in the late 60s and early 70s, he and other Black players still routinely had to change their clothes and shoes in the parking lot, because they were not allowed in many clubhouses at tour venues. 

In the 1970s, the only Black people you’d see on a Masters telecast were the loyal club caddies, standing next to their white players, in front of a backdrop of thousands of white patrons. In the months before Lee’s premiere at the Masters, he received boxes of hate mail and received dozens of death threats. When he arrived at Augusta, he rented two homes and moved between them, and always surrounded himself with a group of friends, to increase his security. He returned again in 1977 and played five consecutive years, until 1981. For many years, he remained the only Black player at the Masters. 

As we all know, Augusta National has a ton of money, and outside of buying up a lot of surrounding property, they haven’t necessarily been generous neighbors. Finally, they’ve put some money where their mouth is, with a financial commitment to grow the game for other Black golfers. The members of Augusta National have endowed two scholarships in Elder's name at nearby Paine College, historically Black college in Augusta. The scholarships will go to a player who competes on the men's golf team and one to a player on the new women's team, funded by the golf club. 

“Augusta National Golf Club” by danperry.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

So during this Masters, I'm thinking about a lot of different kinds of commitments. While many have rightly criticized Augusta National for being slow to evolve—especially regarding their stance on female members and people of color, the need for “Tiger proofing,” and their relationship with their impoverished neighbors over the decades—it’s reassuring to see the steps they’ve taken over the last few years to take massive steps (for them) toward a more equitable future. Many of us (who are white, and men) grew up imagining winning the Masters. Now others can dream similar dreams. 

These changes may be late, but that it’s never too late to make the right decision and initiate important change. It’s one lesson many of us have learned in the past years, in various parts of our lives, and I for one was glad to see the greatest week in golf become a better member and patron of our world. 

Like most players this week, Augusta is deliberate and dedicated to tradition, while playing it cautiously and conservatively. But they still need to commit to every action. We all know that actions speak louder than words, and change isn’t a one-time task—real change takes time, and as we watch the ANWA and Masters each year, we’ll see what kind of commitment the club has for the future, not just the past.