A Few of the Finer Things - May 2018

CHECKING ONE OFF THE BUCKET LIST

It is hard to believe that the movie “The Bucket List” came out 11 years ago. For those who never saw it (possible?), Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman were two men with very different lives who met as hospital roommates when both were diagnosed with terminal cancer. They then headed off on a road trip with a list of to-dos before they die.

Many of us have our own “bucket list” adventures either in our heads or written down. I recently checked off an item on my own mental list.

I have always enjoyed watching The Masters golf tournament on television. I loved everything about it…Jim Nantz with his dramatic opening of the CBS coverage, “The birds are chirping, the azaleas are in bloom…hello friends…welcome to a tradition unlike any other…The Masters!” I always wanted to attend one day.

Last August, my cousin (Todd), my brother (Scott) and I decided that we wanted to take our fathers to The Masters. Todd and my dad had each been once before, but Scott, my uncle (Jeff) and I had not and we decided that it was something we should do—“A bucket list item,” as Scott said. We invited our brothers-in-law but only one could make it work (Todd’s brother-in-law, Jon).

We told my dad and Jeff about the trip in early September once preliminary arrangements were locked down. We told them they were our guests and that this was a token of our appreciation for all they have done for us. They were very surprised and very excited…there were even some tears shed.

Todd and I are both pretty meticulous planners and we left no detail uncovered. We flew to Atlanta on Friday, rented a minivan and drove to Augusta, where we had rented a cute little house via VRBO—it had great reviews as being a wonderful Masters getaway.

We put our stuff in the house and hit the nearest grocery store to get two days of breakfast food plus dinner the next night (we had decided that we would rather eat at the rental after a long day of golf spectating). Six steaks, some vegetables, eggs, cereal, couple bottles of wine and some beer and we were out of there quickly.

Todd got us dinner reservations on Friday at Fifth and Finch, a very popular Augusta spot that had moved their hostess stand outside the restaurant as to make room for extra tables (there were a few extra tables outside as well—even a couple set up in the parking lot) to maximize their likely busiest week of the year. We got to our table (inside) and discovered a lovely bottle of wine with a nicely decorated note waiting for us—a gift from a nice couple (clients) who live nearby! Looking back on it, I had told them we were coming for The Masters and they asked where we were eating but I thought it was just curiosity. Instead, it was another example of how nice the people I deal with truly are...my entire party noticed and it was a very touching gesture!

We had a terrific dinner and laughed and laughed…we were all very excited for the Saturday ahead.

We woke up early and were out of our rental before sunrise. We arrived at the meeting place where we were securing our Masters badges for the day at 7:00 and headed over to Augusta National Golf Club. An important note is that we left our cell phones in the car—there are no phones or cameras allowed at Augusta National during the tournament (this will be very relevant later). It was quite nostalgic as we walked in…to see the pictures I have seen on TV for so many years in real life left me awestruck.

The first thing we did was hit the Merchandise Shop. Imagine the largest Nordstrom you have ever seen and also imagine that it was Christmas week—that is what it felt like. We agreed that the six of us needed to stick together, but that plan soon failed miserably. After collecting a nice haul of shirts, hats, a pullover, some ball markers and a green folding Masters bag chair I made my way to the very crowded checkout lines…only I counted five of us—Todd was missing. I told the group that I would do a quick lap to see if I could find him (recall no cell phones)—this was protested vehemently by Scott who didn’t want to lose another one of us. I assured him that I would be back to the exact spot where we were standing in two minutes and I went searching. I could not spot him so I returned to the group and we decided to head toward the checkout line. We were feeling very helpless and wondered how we were ever going to meet up with Todd other than at the end of the day back at the car. Jeff decided he was going to make another search and rescue effort and we agreed that we would wait on the other side of the checkout near the exit for Jeff whether he found Todd or not. We checked out, waited around twenty minutes and thankfully they both showed up! The experience was very “Seinfeld-ish” as we realized how much we rely on our cell phones to stay in touch (the most dated thing about watching Seinfeld reruns is how many of their mishaps could have been avoided if they had smartphones).

From there we went directly next door to the UPS shipping center (on the Augusta National grounds) where we shipped our merchandise home. The logistics of the entire operation were incredible—to be able to walk out of the merchandise shop and directly into a line where they scanned my driver’s license, printed a mailing label, arrived at the counter with a bag of stuff and a mailing label, swiped my credit card and a convenient $32 later we were on our way—truly amazing!

We then started walking the course—it was around 9:15 and the first tee time wasn’t until just after 10:00. We decided to put down our folding chairs at the 16th green (a par 3)—you put your name on a little card on the chair and no one disturbs it all day…it is unbelievably civilized!

To be walking around the course I had seen on TV for so many years was almost indescribable. It was even more beautiful than it looks on TV (which is quite a statement)! The birds chirped loudly, the azaleas were in full bloom and the fairways looked like immaculate carpets. The course is far hillier than it looks on TV (which is very hilly). One thing that surprised me was how close together the holes are—many of the tees are fifteen yards from the previous hole’s green—it looks so big and spread out on TV, but in reality it is packed quite tightly into a small space (as small as an 18 hole “long” golf course yardage-wise can be).

We watched the first group tee off and made our way to the 2nd green where we camped out for a while. We watched the first four or five groups come through—Paul Casey, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott were among the players we saw in the first hour of play.

We made our way to the 8th tee to watch a few groups tee off from right behind the tee. It is unreal how close you can get—we were within 15 feet of the players as they bombed their 300 yard drives down the long par 5. From there we went over to the 10th green—this is the hole where Bubba Watson hit his very famous approach shot off the pine straw in the playoff in 2012. I was standing on the right side of the green among probably around 300 people and I was truly “taking it all in”—I looked around and the only sound I could hear were the birds chirping until Tiger Woods hit his putt. The sound of his putter hitting the ball was as loud as an aluminum bat hitting a metal fence—it was that quiet—180 degrees away from the noise of the Phoenix Open!

From there we made our way to the bleachers behind the gorgeous 12th hole (par 3)—the famous Amen Corner. We could see players approaching and putting on the 11th green, the entire 12th hole (which looks like golfers have to land their tee shots on a green the size of my dining room table which is tucked in between a sand trap in the front and two more in the back and if you are short of the green and don’t land in the trap you will likely roll back to the legendary Rae’s Creek which runs across the hole) and the 13th tee—quite a great spot. We all found seats (not six together) and agreed that we would stay here for a while. As play progressed we were able to move closer to each other and were sitting piggy-back in consecutive rows. I could not believe what we were experiencing and could not believe where we were…everything was perfect.

After an hour or so, we headed over to one of the concession stands to eat lunch…now this was really something! I had heard about the low prices and classic food at Augusta National but to experience it was quite special (as special as $1.50 egg salad sandwich and a $1.50 pimento cheese sandwich can be). There are no “brands” at The Masters if you are not a sponsor (which there are only a few)—there are signs that say COLA, DIET COLA, LEMON-LIME, SPORTS DRINK, DOMESTIC BEER, IMPORT BEER, AMERICAN CRAFT BEER—hard to explain it but was very refreshing to see in today’s world of brand awareness. Jon paid for lunch for all six of us to catch up on some expense sharing and he got stuck for a whopping $47 (included my $5 American Craft Beer)! That same amount of food and drink at any NFL, NBA or MLB game would likely cost three times as much.

We then split up and agreed to meet at the 16th green chairs eventually which we all did. The coolest shot I saw all day was Henrik Stenson chipping in from the sand on the 7th hole. It is neat to hear the roars of the crowd from other parts of the course and then to look up to the hand-operated leaderboards and find out why people are cheering. After sitting at 16 for a while, we watched the last few groups tee off on 17. We then walked up the 18th hole with the last group of golfers…it had been an incredibly long day and we were all really tired.

One of our best decisions of the weekend was to not go out for dinner on Saturday night—we got back to our rental and we prepared dinner. We watched highlights on the Golf Channel, sipped wine and enjoyed a good home-cooked barbecue meal and relaxed while reminiscing about the unbelievable day we just experienced.

We drove back to Atlanta Sunday morning, flew home and were all on our respective couches by the time the leaders were on the back nine so we got to watch a good amount of the final round.

It was truly a “bucket list” trip in every way.

I am often encouraging clients who have accumulated a nice nest egg that life experiences are worth more than “stuff.” As we go through our Goal Plans I am suggesting more “Live It Up” scenarios which show that these kinds of adventures can be afforded and should be put into action as much as possible!

– Gary Weiss, May 2018