Memoirs From Magnolia Lane Recap
The first men’s major of the season has come & gone. After four-putting the final hole, Scottie Scheffler still managed to win a green jacket by three strokes. Now that the Masters is over, think-pieces & hot takes are starting to populate the internet with picks & predictions for the PGA Championship. A good bit of the golf world might be moving on to the next major, but some of us here at Golf Unfiltered are still focused on appreciating the last one.
If you’ve been listening to our podcast for the last few weeks, you’ll know we’ve been talking to long-time Masters patrons about their favorite memories and traditions in a mini series we called Memoirs From Magnolia Lane. The recurring message was how The Masters is “just different” than any other tournament. Our guests came from many different places & they all had different experiences with the tournament. The one thing they shared was appreciation - for the game, the place, the sandwiches, & the memories.
In his return to the mic following the mini series, Adam talked heavily about the importance of stopping to smell the azaleas every once in a while and to focus on appreciating things a little bit more. So in the spirit of appreciation, we wanted to thank all of our guests (again!) for joining us for Memoirs From Magnolia Lane and sharing their stories. We also wanted to share with you the photos that our guests shared to go along with their stories & memories from their episodes.
Episode 1: Core Memory
In the introduction episode, I talked a lot about why I wanted to do this series. I shared why this tournament means so much to me & talked about what life was like growing up at Augusta National. I got a little teary-eyed thinking about my grandfather & how it feels so weird to do this tournament without him. My husband even has a tenured history with the course. Not only did he get to start coming with me starting in 2014, but we recently found some photos in storage that showed his grandparents had even attended the tournament in years past. This year was the first time we’ve gotten to attend a practice round, we’re usually only attending tournament days. So we decided to try & re-create some of the photos that his grandparents had taken at the 1986 practice round.
Episode 2: Masters-In-Law
As a PGA instructor Rick loves attending the PGA Championship, but like he said “Augusta feels like home.” A family friend gave him a tournament badge - and from there both his love for the tournament & obsession with collecting memorabilia kicked off. His impressive collection includes signatures from Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, Tom Watson, & Tiger Woods…to name a few. Although the thing he’s most proud of is being from the same hometown of Horton Smith, the first-ever Masters winner and subject of Rick’s new book.
Episode 3: C is for Clubhouse
Growing up only a stones-throw away from Augusta, Julie didn’t even know anything about golf or the Masters until she worked the tournament for the first time in the early 90s. But that was all it took to win her over for life - she spent the next several years attending the tournament, taking her family & cheering on friends participating in the Drive, Chip & Putt Championships. When her daughter started asking questions about the tournament & had a curiosity of her own, it sparked a passion in Julie to write a book introducing children & families to the basics of the Masters.
Episode 4: You Kinda Have To Pinch Yourself
We wrapped the series talking to a tournament volunteer named Kyle. Not that he was sharing any proprietary information, but he asked for us to not use his last name just in case. Kyle - like all of us - has a deep appreciation for how well Augusta treats their patrons and how smoothly this tournament runs. He has a unique perspective of the tournament as a volunteer, though. He gets to see the pure joy & delight on patrons’ faces as they experience taking in everything Augusta has to offer for the first time. He also has a lot of incredible stories & memories watching some historic victories, including the one he shared standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Matt Kuchar watching Tiger win in 2019.
We hope you enjoyed the mini series and we look forward to hopefully doing more in the future!
