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From Tigers to Boa Constrictors: a guide to watching the US Masters

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Bill Elliott is a legend of that great sport, US Masters spectating. Here he lets us in on a few of his favourite memories from three decades in the galleries at the Augusta National. Be careful, this article may encourage you to book a week in Georgia.

Blimey, is that the time? I say this because I've just noticed that the US Masters is just a few weeks away and I haven't even started packing yet. When I clamber aboard the old, steel tube at Gatwick on April 6 to fly to the USA it will be the 29th consecutive time I have made this trip.

That in turn means I have now spent two months of my life just getting to, and returning from, Augusta National. Plus, it means that I've used up seven months of lifetime watching practice and play at the year's first major. These small, personal stats in turn beg the question: has it been worth it? To which the instant answer is: Yes, absobloodylutely.

To be fair, this is partly because of the sensational competition I've seen since 1980 but partly also because Augusta is a town that knows how to party and, yes, I've been to a few parties over the last 28 years. Some I've even told my wife about although I don't think she needs to know too much about the stripper with the boa constrictor or the mud-wrestling gaff that opened up for Masters week just down the road from the golf club.

What I do know is that my enthusiasm for the Masters is, if anything, even greater now than it was back then. The television pictures are now so good that everyone has an idea of how beautiful Augusta National is but, even via HD, this remains only a suspicion. To truly appreciate the course, the flowers, the girls in mini-skirts, the joy of a glass of something decent on the clubhouse lawn you really need to be there.

And of course you can. The Masters remains the hottest ticket in sport but heat generates business and so if you have the money then Augusta is yours. Expect to pay about 10,000 dollars for the privilege although if you're lucky this may include accommodation for a few nights. This is not unimportant in a town where the Holiday Inn room rate accelerates from 50 bucks on Sunday night to around 500 dollars on Monday of Masters week.

What has changed over the years? Well the retail area has moved from the small pro's shop to a hanger that could if required house a couple of transatlantic aeroplanes but the biggest alteration has been the course itself. It is now all but unrecognisable to the track I first gazed at while Seve Ballesteros was winning in 1980.

Longer by several hundred yards and with more bunkers, the old Alister MacKenzie masterpiece is now leaner and meaner than ever the British-born maestro intended. Perversely, from tee to green it is an amateur's paradise because we just give it a whack off the tee while the pros must actually try to land in a precise part of the fairways to have a chance of hitting the correct second shot.

Accuracy is what Augusta is all about. Accuracy off the tee and on the green. Traditionally, the putting surfaces are as slippery as an MP's expenses, sloping as they do this way and that to offer disaster to even the most accomplished of putters. The severity of these slopes cannot be over-emphasised. Certainly the first-time visitor is always surprised at how hilly Augusta National is. To give you some idea of this, imagine they started building a house on the 12th green that sits in the lowest part of the course. Fact is this building would be an astonishing 15 stories high by the time it got level with the 18th green that sits outside the clubhouse. Now that's a hill!

Years ago Seve told me that the secret of success at Augusta comes in two parts: avoid three-putting any green for the four days of competition and birdie two of the four par fives each round. "Do this, " says Seve. "And you will finish eight under par and eight under will give you a good chance of victory."

Sounds easy doesn't it? What the great man added was that while length of the tee is a huge advantage at Augusta, it is not the most important asset for a player. "You can see from recent wins by Mike Weir and Zach Johnson that long-hitting is not vital but what is vital is a short game from heaven. No-one will ever win the Masters who does not have a great short-game."

Ballesteros's strategy is as vividly relevant now as it was then, no matter how many tweaks Augusta has to suffer. Once again, I can't wait to get there.