Who hasn’t, in an idle moment, wondered what it’s like to play Augusta National, home of The Masters Tournament?
Turning on the television each April to watch the first Major of the season, you can almost smell the freshly cut grass of that Georgian arcadia with those perfect fairways, fast running greens and that run of legendary holes around Amen Corner. To play there would be a dream...

Well, in April 2000, my golfing dream came true and, the day after watching Vijay Singh slip into his green jacket, I was lucky enough to tee it up on one of the most celebrated golf courses in the world. I say lucky because the usual protocol is to be invited by a member (they don’t do 2-for-1 green fees at Augusta). However, for the media attending the Masters each year there is a special ballot and 40 names are pulled from a hat to play on the Monday after the tournament has finished - and face the same pin positions the professionals did the previous day.

Now, I reckoned that having watched the Masters on television for 20 years or so gave me a pretty good understanding of the course. Wrong. What you see at home is nothing like playing Augusta on the ground.

First of all, it is unbelievably hilly. The whole course is built on a steep hillside with the grand, old colonial clubhouse at the top, and the holes tumbling down to Rae’s Creek at the bottom. Standing on the 10th tee, you could be forgiven for thinking you were about to set off on a downhill ski run rather than strike a drive on a Majors course, the fairway is so steep.

The greens, as well all know, are fast. But I’ve played on seaside greens in the UK - Hunstanton, for example - that are just as speedy as Augusta’s. It’s the slopes that make them deadly. You really can’t see it on television, but there are some wicked humps and hollows and, if you are above the hole, even the gentlest tickle downhill can run six feet past.

What I found most remarkable, though, is that there are effectively greens within greens. Take the 6th hole, for example, a midlength, downhill par-three. Fairly straightforward, on the face of it. But within the overall green complex, there are four plateaux, each the size of the average temporary winter green. The final day flag is always back right on an elevated, upturned saucer. So land your tee shot on the front of the putting surface and you’ll almost certainly three-putt, but miss the green long and right and you’ll find a fairly flat area of semi-rough from which to chip and make par. The fact is, you are more likely to make a par by missing the green in the right place here, than by finding the green in the wrong place.

The most famous run of holes, of course, is Amen Corner – the par-four 11th, par-three12th over water and par-five 13th. Every golfer, even the very best, has to say their prayers facing this perilous trio. Jack Nicklaus, on an early visit to Augusta, was so intimidated by the tee shot over the water at the 12th, that he shanked his ball straight over Bobby Jones’ head.