AUGUSTA, Ga. — Nick Shemkovitz knows a little something about the business of catering to golf fans.
As a teaching professional at Caves Valley Golf Club, near Baltimore, Shemkovitz has seen his club serve as the site for several big-time events, including the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, to which Caves played host in 2021 and will again next year.
Still, at the Masters this week, where Shemkovitz is in attendance as a badge-toting patron, he has been enjoying a perk that few golf tournaments can match: a sprawling, upscale entertainment space that Augusta National debuted this week in its perpetual quest to tighten its stranglehold on the title of “golf’s ultimate spectator experience.”
The high-end party venue, called Map & Flag — a nod to the Masters’ iconic logo — is in a shopping center directly across the street from the club, on Washington Road, and is, as the club describes it, “the first and only official Masters hospitality experience outside the gates of Augusta National Golf Club.” The two-story building’s non-descript white-brick exterior doesn’t scream luxury, but you wouldn’t mistake it for a Wal-Mart, either.
On the side of the building facing Washington Road, glass doors spill out onto a balcony that overlooks a fenced-in garden with dozens of tables shaded by green-and-white Masters umbrellas — all shielded by foliage from prying eyes. The real fun, though, is inside, which houses a towering, oval-shaped bar; clubby leather booths; a fleet of televisions beaming in all angles of the tournament; memorabilia, including the caddie kit worn by Jon Rahm’s looper a year ago; and a merchandise shop with select items from the flagship Masters Golf Shop.
“Hoodies, t-shirts, some hats,” Shemkovitz told me Tuesday evening. “Apparel that they think is the cream-of-the-crop stuff.”
Shemkovitz had spent the day with two friends bouncing between Map & Flag and the tournament. The trio had been gifted the tickets through a Caves member and did not know what they cost. The answer is…a lot. Sports Business Journal reported a single weekly Map & Flag ticket, which includes tournament access, costs $17,000, a figure that GOLF.com corroborated. Steep? Unquestionably. But there’s a market for such luxury, as evidenced by this year’s tickets selling out. At a Wednesday press conference, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said, “This facility responds to the interest and demand expressed by patrons over many years who desire world-class hospitality combined with an authentic Masters experience.”
The building sits in the National Hills shopping center, just a few hundred yards from Magnolia Lane. The “National” in the complex’s name is, of course, a hat tip to “Augusta National,” which is especially apt now, given the club bought the shopping center in 2020 for $26 million, which at the time was Augusta National’s biggest single real estate acquisition, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Shemkovitz, who this week was attending his second Masters, and his friends, Patrick Crona and R.J. Kogut, both first-time attendees, took full advantage of their Map & Flag privileges Tuesday. They started their day at the venue digging into some of the best breakfast sandwiches they’d ever eaten paired with hash browns as thick as steaks, then crossed Washington Road to take in the morning action at the course. Around lunchtime they returned to Map & Flag (its ticket-holders are permitted to enter and exit the tournament twice daily) for an eye-popping buffet that included lobster rolls, spicy chicken sandwiches, shrimp and oysters and a carvery with a gawdy selection of meats. Booze is included with the price of admission. So, too, are tips. Phones, however, are a no-go, just as is the case at the tournament.
Shemkovitz described the space as a smaller version of Berckmans Place, the VIP hospitality compound the club opened in 2013 adjacent to the 5th fairway, where Augusta National member Condaleeza Rice has been spotted greeting guests at the entrance. Shemkovitz had Berckmans access at his first Masters and said the clean look and feel of the two venues is similar but that Map & Flag felt less crowded.
“At Berckmans, if you go at the wrong time, you have to wait to get food; there can be very long lines,” he said. “Here, you just grab and go and you’re back on the golf course in 10 minutes.”
As with most things at Augusta, the facility will improve with time. On Wednesday, Ridley said the club will roll out the “second phase” of Map & Flag, on the building’s second floor, at next year’s Masters.
In case they were beginning to feel left out, players also will benefit from new facilities at Augusta National in the coming years. Ridley said at next year’s Masters, the club will debut underground parking for the field, followed, in 2026, by “a three-level state-of-the-art facility, designed to anticipate every need for players, their families, and support teams.”
And in 2027? Stay tuned.
