It was the 2023 Masters and when I received the tap on my shoulder, I was preparing for a golf game near Augusta, Georgia.
“Here, take one,” the man said, flashing in my direction with a white and green button with an unmistakable logo: Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters Championship.
Every year, the Masters sells millions of dollars in merchandise from on-site operations, all with the game’s iconic yellow logo with the script “Master” on it. If the logo represents a golf product beluga whale, the logo on the ball mark represents a wool mammoth. Augusta Country and Me member Identification.
The shape looks the same – the outline of the United States map is the same, and the script below has the same letters – but the logo is green and the letters say “National Augusta”. I thank the starter for the gift and carefully stuffed it in my golf bag for nearly 12 months.
One day I will find that the ball mark has a good purpose and when I find it, I know.
I didn’t expect I will attend the gift exchange in Vonanpur. To be fair, I don’t even know where Vonanpur is, including most of the time I spent in it.
I can tell you now that Vonanbull is an Australian beach town in Victoria, about one third of what it is from Melbourne to Adelaide. This is the person on my side of the world – New York– Visit when they try very hard to escape. Huge, perfectly symmetrical pine trees will drag mainly into the town frame while the long boardwalk traces along the coast. The air hangs in the sea and the dew hangs in the sea, and a quiet sense of satisfaction lies beneath the surface of people in the town and its wild suburbs.
We spent two weeks on the greatest journey of our life in Melbourne, but as we turned to our country and entered it, we quickly learned that our journey was about to change. Some of them are golf and we hear the Scottish flavor of the countryside. Some of them are the environment: a tortuous single-lane seaside expressway called the “Dahai Road”.
Like Big Sur or the road to Hana, Great Ocean Road is one of them.Journey is the destination” Place, there are 150 miles of idyllic seaside towns (to the right) and totally perfect coastline (to the left). Unlike Big Sur and the road to Hana, Great Ocean Road welcomes golf with a more equal sensitivity. The course was squeezed into the outcropping of the land protruding over the ocean, kept cautious (but hardly international) and was given a green green fee for the LORD with the box of honor and the “advised”. If Melbourne’s golf is suitable for those with champagne, then golf along Ocean Road is for those with an appetite for meat and potatoes.
Some golf courses are definitely worth a visit – Apollo Bay and Peterborough count as two – but our arrangement only puts a Tee time in a Tee time, in a place called Fair Fair Fairy golf club.
As we started driving along the Great Ocean Road, we pulled up the course on Google Maps and giggled with joy. It was baked, bordered by brown, with pot lids scattered on it, overlooking the ocean.
Now is the time to send our trip out in glory.
Australian Harbor Fairy Tale Golf Club.
golf
“Hey,” Peter was in a tone of half-king, which made it difficult for him to discern his seriousness.
“Do you have a dinner plan?”
We don’t. But that’s the kind of message we might wish to leave from Peter, an honest God stranger we met just 10 minutes ago. We paired with Peter on the first hole of Fairy Tale Golf Club, a ubiquitous golf course… on an island that is nowhere to go. We are part of the town where the roads are mostly made of dirt and locals warn to drive at night for fear of a total of cars on kangaroos.
We are in places like that, and recently one can bury the body comfortably along the coastline and undisturbed for decades. In other words, we don’t want to make friends.
But Peter didn’t want to hear “no”. He is such a community that he is so capable and willing to help that he is willing to drag our dinner plan to the well-known finish line, if that is the case. That’s what Peter did as we waited for the group to clear the second fairway.
Peter said in his cell phone: “Hi look, I have these two great gentlemen from America and they hope to get into your restaurant for dinner tonight.” “They are really happy, they know it’s hard to squeeze in, but I want to call and ask if it’s OK?”
It is not clear what prompted Peter to enter this random act of kindness, but to this point our journey through Australia, we have learned not to question it. Australians are the friendliest people we’ve ever met, seemingly the kind of lying in a dirty puddle in the middle of an intersection, and if that means keeping your shoes clean, it’s really delighted in a dirty puddle. Peter transformed from stranger to personal concierge in about eight minutes, and we barely blinked.
It was a holiday weekend in Warrambool, so the restaurant was booked, but Peter didn’t avoid it. He spent most of his first four holes calling the restaurant until he settled himself in love and was willing to place us.
We tried to thank him and his brother-in-law for help when the 9th Green left us, but Peter refused.
“It’s really nothing,” he said with a smile. “Pay forward.”
We met Evan James soon after. Brother stood on the tenth tee as we bid for Peter One Adieu, and they interrupted us as we turned to the golf course.
“Do you want to play?” they asked.
Evin and James are quick friends. They live in Melbourne but are visiting their family on vacation in Warrnambool, and they escape to the golf course as their wife spends an afternoon on the beach.
Evin and James were laid off during a young golfer demonstration. James is a wide-shoulder guy in his 20s who is a golf escaper. A young father and husband, he is not a serious player, but he is a serious fan. He has participated in a Liv event in Adelaide across the country and dreamed of turning his farm into a driving range outside of Melbourne.
Evin, on the other hand, is a golf obsession. In his 20s, he played the role of rowing and entered golf as a co-author. In the years since, he has used the sheer power of YouTube and Will to bring himself from hackers to 10ish barriers. He ate golf generously and while we were playing, he asked questions from my colleagues a few years ago.
“What do you think of Bryson?”
“What is the coolest game you’ve ever aired?”
“What is the Ryder Cup?”
We headed to the sunset at Fairy Tale Harbor with James and Evan, and were by our side, the conversation was relaxed and breeze. The course proved to be the right gem – completely different from anywhere we have ever played in Australia.
Somehow, until after we got home, Evin finally put the pieces together.
“Wait, do you want to cover it up master? ! ? ”
Sean and I laughed. Yes, we are. Our trip will take us to Augusta in just a few days.
Evan’s eyes almost fell out of his head.
“Who are you Serious? ! ”
Sean and I laughed again. Yes, we are.
I spent the last few holes telling Evan all about the April tradition on the other side of the world. The golf course looks as beautiful as it looks on a TV, but Way Shearer. Why I find savory cheese overrated (sharp, like cream cheese) and Georgia peach ice cream sandwiches (soft, like pillow). In fact, how mobile phone policies are strictly implemented.
When we reached the 18th Green, I felt that Evan would keep asking us questions about the Augusta country, if allowed. I know this feeling-I felt the same way not long ago.
Unfortunately, time does not allow. Our round is about to be completed, and within a day we will be gone forever.
“I get Evin said, smiling at the master’s sudden body approaching. “I don’t know how.”
As we bent over the 18th green, I thought of my strange life on the golf course. This sport has taken me far beyond my craziest dreams. Hell, it brings me here, On the greatest journey of my life, I went to the golf course on the other end of the world with strangers from the quartet, who provided me with dinner reservations and became quick friends. If anyone knows the value of a beautiful golf dream, it is me.
Our round is over, and after a moment we will always walk our way. But before that, I reached into my golf bag and pulled out a ball mark.
James Colgan is Golf news and writes stories for websites and magazines. He manages the media verticals of popular microphones, golf, and leverages his camera experience on the brand platform. Before joining golf, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and Astute looper) from Long Island, where he came from. He can be contacted at james.colgan@golf.com.
