If you are not familiar with the Masters app, you’re missing out on the best digital experience in golf. Augusta’s award winning application is the benchmark against which all other golf apps are compared. Many quite negatively. Golf fans sing its praises for four days every April.
But did you know that Augusta National, with its strict attention to tradition and lock step rules, is the leader in both in expanding their reach to the next generation of golfers and bringing new technology to the golf world? For ten years Augusta has hosted the national finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition, inviting golfers as young as 7 to have a lifetime experience on their hallowed grounds. Five years ago they began hosting the Augusta Women’s Amateur Championship. The top amateur woman from around the world, whether or not they make the 36 hole cut get to play the course the week before the Masters. How many of us would give a body part to get to play Augusta ever, much less the week before the major championship? These two events demonstrate to even a casual observer of Augusta’s commitment to grow the game.
Behind the scenes ANGC does so much more. Patrons (the rest of the world calls them fans but this is one of those ANGC traditions) are strictly prohibited from bringing cameras and phones to the property on tournament days. Instead, the Masters sends out countless photos and videos to keep their fans engaged. Where do they post them? The 1.5 million Masters’ followers on X saw Tiger’s birdie on the 1st moments after he holed the putt. And the Masters doesn’t just post to X. They have another 1.5 million followers on Meta. 250,000 on YouTube.
What came as a surprise to this 52 year old is that genteel Augusta has 500,000 subscribers (or is it followers? I have zero frame of reference) on TikTok! ANGC produces content solely for their TikTok audience. Obviously the average TikTok users are part of a much younger generation. Their content isn’t your typical “look at me I’m dancing in public” content either. A drone flyover of Amen Corner earlier this week garnered millions of views.
While those who use the app already appreciate their ground breaking ability to watch every shot taken by any golfer they choose throughout the event, this season the Masters has brought forth two more innovations to improve the fan experience.
The days of the slow motion view of the player’s tee shot with the guys in the booth breaking it down will look like SD TV in the 4k era. This year, in connection with GolfTec, viewers will see “optimotion technology”. This 3D enhanced product allows the audience to see precisely how the golfer moves to a degree and how much weight shifts at what precise moment on the backswing, prior to impact, etc. This is probably the future of golf instruction which will make amateurs better players and enjoy the game more. Growing the game.
The most interesting innovation this year is the collaboration with IBM watsonx. This use of AI will allow users of the Masters app to see every stat and every projection for every shot by every golfer on the course. Using 8 years of data and lasers located on the property, the AI can generate the precise probabilities for any circumstance. For example, a tee shot from the first group today came to rest on the pine straw left of the first fairway. “Hole Insights”, taking into consideration the hole location, immediately projected that the player had a 52% chance of parring the hole and a 48% chance of making a bogey. I’m amazed. This is something that I will be playing with the rest of this weekend. Additionally, the AI will also generate narration (in both English and Spanish) for any clips a fan wishes to view. This should definitely appeal to a wide audience. Growing the game.
