Keeping up with the Jones: Memories of the 2025 Masters

If I could go back and do it over, I would have kept a journal on all the things I’ve seen and people I’ve met during my visits to Augusta National. My first Masters was 2003 — I was a guest of Club Car’s — and its remarkable how things just seem to happen there. 

One example from this year’s Masters: Golfdom editor Scott Hollister and I are walking past the practice area when he mentions Pete Wendt to me, the affable Certified Golf Course superintendent at Congressional. Scott forgot to tell me, until this moment, that he was on the phone with Pete recently, and he extended an invitation for us to come out to see the crew at the 2025 Senior PGA Championship.

Now it’s maybe all of one minute later, and we’re near the concessions stand in a sea of hundreds of people. I hear someone call out, “Hey, Seth!” I look over and it’s Pete! He’s with Paul Schultheis, vice president of sales at Finch Turf, and a group of superintendents. “Pete, we were literally just talking about you,” I said. What a coincidence. 

This year’s Masters — the unofficial kickoff of the golf season — was great on so many levels. The drama during Sunday’s round, with Rory McIlroy going into extra holes against Justin Rose, was a thrill. McIlroy’s reaction to finally obtaining the career Grand Slam was moving. And for our one day there — I always go on Wednesday — the weather was just perfect.

But my biggest highlight is seeing people react to being there for the first time. I saw that twice this year.

The first was Colby Jones. I ran into him in the parking lot, because it’s the Masters and, like I said, these things just happen. Of course I’d see him immediately before he crossed off this bucket-list item.

I first met Colby last summer when I was paired in his golf group at Bondo Greens (sharp-eyed readers might remember my column about Bondo Greens from last summer; it’s the course a neighbor cuts into his hay fields for his son’s friends to stage an annual tournament). Apparently, during our round and after a few beverages, I told Colby that he needed to just make it happen and go. 

He told me at the Masters that he took my advice, and him and his brother Andrew Jones — superintendent at Deer Trace GC in Louisburg, Kan. — had a blast at Augusta. The Jones brothers came by for our group photo, and before they left, Colby thanked me for motivating him to get there.

I asked Colby what he loved the most, and he said, “I was just amazed at how beautiful the course is, how each hole flows into the next. I loved everything about my two days there.”

The other first-timer was my old friend Thad Thompson, superintendent at Terry Hills GC in Batavia, N.Y. If you follow Thad on X (@TerryHillsMaint) or read his advice column in Golfdom, you know Thad can be pretty sarcastic. Seeing him at Augusta National, a course he’s admired his entire life, the old superintendent became a softy, soaking in every minute.

I asked Thad what his favorite part was. He said, “How nice everyone was, the bathrooms, the golf course being ‘perfect’ and every expectation exceeded.”

Thad is a guy who has been a Class A GCSAA member for years, and he finally took advantage of that member benefit in 2025.

If you’re reading this column, there’s a good chance you’re either a Class A GCSAA member or you’re working to attain that status. And a reminder, Class A members can attend the Masters — a bucket list item for many — for free, thanks to the generosity of Augusta National.

Check out the Golfdom Gallery of who we saw at this year’s Masters. You’re invited to join us next year. I hope to see you there.

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