Best Courses on the Way
If you're driving down I-95 from the Northeast,
pull over in the Pinehurst, N.C., area for Tobacco Road ($107-$134; 919-775-1940, tobaccoroadgolf.com), a freakishly
exciting, love-hate Mike Strantz design that
you'll never forget.
From I-77, Midwesterners can enjoy their own thrill fest, the Pete Dye River course of Virginia Tech ($49-$80; 540-633-6732, rivercoursegolf.com), in Radford, Va., a 7,665-yard fun house bisected by a 70-foot cliff.
Best Alternative Airport
Atlanta is a solid choice,
with direct flights from
everywhere, but it can
get crazy busy, especially
in bad weather, and the
150-mile drive east to
Augusta is dull Interstate
for the duration.
Still, from New York City's LaGuardia, it's $208 on Delta versus $368-$468 to fly direct to Augusta. From Philadelphia on U.S. Air it's $183-$208 nonstop to Atlanta with a fistful of departure and return options versus $528 for the only nonstop flight into Augusta.
My hidden gem is Savannah, Ga. The small but modern airport is easy on the eyes and easy to negotiate, the airfare and rental-car savings (one-third what you pay in Atlanta and Augusta for the same vehicles) are significant and the 2 1/2-hour drive to Augusta is scenic.
Best Courses in Augusta
Almost every course jacks up the price
for Masters week, so if sticker shock
is an issue, go with Augusta Municipal ($30-$35; 706-731-9344). Locals semiaffectionately call it the Patch
(for Cabbage Patch) for obvious reasons,
but for the price, this 6,019-yard par-72 is
O.K. Check out the 422-yard, par-4 11th,
whose fairway runs adjacent to Runway 5
at Daniel Field Airport — and see if you
can spot any differences
in the firmness of the
landing areas.
Jones Creek Golf Club (706-860-4228, jonescreekgolfclub.com), a handsome Rees Jones design, gets a pricey $500 a foursome on the Saturday and Sunday before the Masters, a whopping $900 on the Monday and Sunday of tournament week, and an outrageous $1,200 on Tuesday through Saturday.
Set along the Savannah River just across the South Carolina state line, the River Golf Club (803-202-0110, rivergolfclub.com) is a watery Jim Fazio design that's asking $250 to tee it up on Tuesday through Saturday, but call ahead because the club might settle for something less to fill up the tee sheet.
My advice: Go for a history lesson among the dogwoods at Forest Hills ($150; 706-733-0001, theforesthillsgolfcourse.com), a rolling 1926 Donald Ross design where Bobby Jones won the 1930 Southeastern Open. It's a relative bargain at $75 after 2 p.m.
Best Eats
Two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw
tabs Luigi's (706-722-4056, luigisinc.com)
in downtown Augusta as the one restaurant
on Tour that he can't do without. Crenshaw's
choice is the toasted ravioli with
meat sauce, but it's the lasagna that is the
week's runaway best seller.
Best special-occasion formal dining is at La Maison on Telfair (706-722-4805, lamaisontelfair.com), which is housed in a Victorian mansion, while the French Market Grille (706-855-5111, frenchmarketaugusta.com) is its near equal. French Market's frozen peanut butter pie is the best dessert in town.
Best breakfast dive honors go to the Whistle Stop Cafe (706-724-8224), where the mayor eats every week, while best barbecue is Sconyers, on the outskirts of town. Eating at the restaurant is best — Sconyers is housed in a log cabin, complete with water wheel — but when Jimmy Carter couldn't break away from the White House, he had a take-out order flown in.
The best places to see caddies, with or without their players, are either TBonz Steakhouse, on Washington Road (706-737-8325, tbonz.com), which is closer to Augusta National, or the Gordon Highway (706-796-1875). Be prepared to wait. These are popular spots.
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