Hello, friends, and welcome to today’s edition of the Rogers Report! I am back in the press building after a full day of adventures during Round 1 of the Masters. As I was scrolling Amazon last week and purchasing some last-minute necessities for this week (sunscreen, hydration tablets, allergy medicine), I found myself on a Cyber Monday-esque shopping binge ahead of Augusta National (as if there isn’t a Walgreens right down the road). This, friends, is how I purchased my first pedometer.
I know that I walk a lot at Augusta, but I’ve never been sure how much. I’m not an Apple Watch or a Whoop person (knowing my heart rate, recovery and sleep metrics always stresses me out!), so the only thing that really tracks my steps at home is my iPhone. The only clue of just how many steps I walk at the Masters every day is usually how tired I am at the end of the night. This year, though, I wanted real data.
Enter the pedometer. For $18.34, I could Amazon Prime a “Step Counter with Clip & Lanyard, Fitness Tracker Large LCD Display, Accurate Step Tracker for Men, Women, Kids and Seniors.” Sounded like a deal to me! When I arrived at the press building just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, I fired it up (clicked “on”) and we were good to go. My plan was to walk all 18 holes and then continue to enjoy the day as I normally would. Let’s crunch the numbers, shall we?
I took the shuttle from the press building up toward the course and made sure to zero out the pedometer before embarking on my adventure around Augusta. I met up with a friend by the 10th tee and decided to walk with her. We followed Joe Highsmith, Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk. When the group finished up on 18, I looked down at my steps: 5,900, or 2.95 miles.
After that, I walked from the clubhouse back up to the press building for lunch. Then I took the shuttle back over toward the first tee to walk the first nine. I was at 7,950 when I started my journey, and the final group of the day was on No. 5, so I got to walk around a pretty vacant first few holes at Augusta National — which was an absolute dream. Because there was no golf happening on those holes, I found myself power-walking until I finally caught Sahith Theegala’s group on No. 8. I walked the first nine in just under 90 minutes, and was at 14,013 steps when I returned to the clubhouse. The total number of steps taken on the front nine at Augusta? 6,063, or 3.03 miles.
Add it all together and my 18-hole walk around Augusta National added up to 11,963 steps, or 5.98 miles, which we here at the Rogers Report will round up to six. Six miles! That’s a pretty good trek, and we aren’t even taking into account all of the hills. Things continued to get interesting after my 18-hole walk. I walked back to the press building to check in with some coworkers, then headed out to the range for a few minutes. From there, I went to Founders Circle in front of the clubhouse, where patrons can get their photo taken. After that, I ran into a friend and walked with her back toward the 18th green, where I saw my coworker Sean Zak, who was heading out to 15 to watch Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia and Rory McIlroy finish up.
Zak and I walked out to No. 15 and walked with Aberg’s group for the last three-and-a-half holes back in toward the clubhouse. From there, we went to the quick quotes area, listened in on Viktor Hovland’s post-round interview, headed back over to the range and made one last walk back to the press building. My total steps for the day at the Masters added up to 21,875, or 10.36 miles.
There’s a few things to consider here. First is that I just had a very full day at the Masters. I was here by 9 a.m., and as I write this very sentence, I’m still here at 8:44 p.m. Another is that media doesn’t enter the gates to Augusta National through the patron entrance, which would’ve added probably 10 more minutes of walking both in and out of the course. And my biggest takeaway is that even if you aren’t out on the course at the Masters, you’re still walking a lot. Between the walks to and from the range, the merchandise shop and hanging out between the first tee, 18th green and the clubhouse, you still end up moving quite a bit.
Here’s what I can tell you. If you head to the Masters and are planning to get the absolute most out of your day, you’re going to be walking at least six miles. You need footwear that’ll agree with the steps you’ll be taking and hills you’ll be conquering at the Masters. Now isn’t the time to try out a new shoe with zero support. There’s a reason so many caddies wear HOKAs!
As someone who covers a lot of golf tournaments, long walks on the golf course are not new to me. At other events, I average somewhere around 12,000 steps a day. Augusta National is definitely bigger than many of the sites I visit, but the fact that it’s the Masters is the real reason people walk so much here. You only have so much time to experience this place! I spend more time out on the course at the Masters than at most other events, and I know the patrons here want to get the most out of every moment at the course. That’s exactly what I did today, and almost 22,000 steps later, I wouldn’t change a thing.
