Things I learned at the PGA Championship

Thanks to a vendor that Josh works with, this weekend we were lucky enough to attend the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club.  Saying that Josh loves golf would be an understatement – he plays any chance that he gets (pretty much every Saturday morning when the weather is nice).

Earlier this year, Josh had the opportunity to go to The Masters in Augusta, GA but due to feeling violently ill the morning he was supposed to meet the bus to ride to the tournament, he opted not to go.  Getting tickets to The Masters isn’t easy, so I knew he felt terrible when he crawled back into bed that morning.  A few months later, he was invited by a good friend to go to THE PLAYERS tournament in Jacksonville, FL.  After a couple hours out on the course, there was a weather delay so they left.  It hadn’t been a good tournament year for him.  Knowing the issues he’d faced in his last two tournament attempts, I definitely wanted him to have a chance to have a good day to look back on, so I agreed to attend.  And if we’re friends on Facebook, you know I was particularly looking forward to seeing a specific cute, Aussie golfer (Adam Scott). 🙂

While Josh has been a golf follower for years, I have to admit that it’s taken me a good two years to appreciate the game.  I won’t be playing anytime soon (because I’m downright terrible) but I’ll sit down and watch it on TV (if I don’t fall asleep). 🙂  Since I’d obviously never been to a professional tournament, I didn’t know what to expect, but was excited to find out when we arrived yesterday.  I did learn a few things worth pointing out though, just in case any of you ever end up at a major tournament:

1. Wear sunscreen.  This is a given.  I slathered my arms and legs with 45+ SPF, but somehow managed to forget my neck. How? I’m not quite sure.  But I have a painful reminder that prevented me from sleeping well last night…
   

   Ouch!

2. Drink lots of water. It gets hot out on the course, especially in the summer.  Concession prices were somewhat reasonable ($3 for a bottle of water), but there were water fountains around the course so you could refill for free (though it wasn’t ice cold).  No sense in getting dehydrated while walking around!
3. Golfers won’t spend much time with fans.  Players want to focus before they tee off.  While you can stand around and watch, they’re likely not going to pay much attention to their fans when in tournament mode.  If that’s what you want, go to the practice round.  They’ll let you take pictures and get autographs.  Not so much during the actual tournament. [Note: I chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” when Adam Scott walked by where Josh and I were standing.  He smiled at me. 🙂  Josh wished him luck and he said “Thanks.”]
4. Don’t wear flip flops.  They might make your outfit look cute, but after about 2.5 hours of walking around a golf course, blisters start to form, no matter how comfortable the shoes normally are.  Your feet also get very, very dirty unless you stay on the cart path the entire time.  Luckily, there are first aid tents where you can get bandages for your barking pups.
   

   Double ouch!

5. You get more info on TV than you do walking around. Unless you’re listening to audio while walking around [AmEx had cool ear pieces that they gave away allowing you to do so] it’s hard to follow what’s going on.  Josh and I walked around without listening to ear pieces.  We relied on other fans to tell us who was about what was going on around the course.
6. When someone yells “FORE!” you really should duck.  When we were standing on the 9^th hole Ryan Palmer hit the ball, we heard someone yell and everyone in the area took cover.  Luckily, he hit the tree directly behind us, and knocked a branch down onto some other spectators.  Thankfully, no one was injured!
7. When someone offers you free tickets, go!  (Even if you don’t like golf.)  I never would have paid to go to this tournament, unless Josh really, really, really wanted to go and asked for tickets for his birthday.  We had a lot of fun walking around together and he had a chance to share something that he really loves with me.  We had a great day hanging out and had a wonderful experience together.

I’m glad that we had this opportunity, because there’s been talk of planning a trip to Scotland for the 2013 British Open at Muirfield.

Anyone out there have any additional tips that should be shared for attending a major tournament?  Do tell!

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