Augusta's Masters section

Curious because I've never seen it:
What was new, different, better this year compared with last year, five, 10 years ago?
How much does the design, feel change year-to-year?

 

About the same but why should they change? It's always one of the best.

 

You can purchase the package through the Web site. Nine days of papers and their magazine for $60. Good investment to see some comprehensive golf tournament coverage. They also hit some golf-related business and feature stories during the stretch usually:

http://www.augusta.com/masters/shop/index.shtml

I've bought it annually for a few years. They published a 3-D section a few years back. In 2008, when the history of the event was a large part of the preview, the Chronicle had a cover story and double-truck on one of the sections that charted the entire course of Rae's Creek.
Story is here but the graphic element on print was more impressive:

http://www.augusta.com/stories/040608/mas_193301.shtml

 

I remember seeing their Masters section(s) a couple years ago. It was gianormous. Just huge. Pages and pages and pages and pages. I flipped through a few pages, but got bored at about p. 84.

 

I remember being stunned at the product when I saw it at the one Masters I covered and I've seen a few more while judging APSE.

How do they have the manpower to put that out? I'm assuming they have a couple people who do nothing but that year round, but I don't know if that's possible in this day and age.

 

They have a golf writer. The bottom line is that SE John Boyette works his ass off.

 

The whole staff helps produce the section(s). So I've been told by someone who worked there a few years ago. If not all, most.

It's just too much, IMO.

 

I was stunned the first time I saw the sections (Sunday and then daily through the week) 11 years ago and stunned last summer when I judged a contest and saw them again and they were the same size, or even bigger.

 

What I'm most amazed with is that they paid to send one of their writers to Argentina for 10 days for the cover story on Angel Cabrera.

 

That seems excessive, but if the stories I've heard about the percentage of that paper's total ad revenue that comes from that special section are true, they may be able to spend whatever they want for the right story.

 

If I'm not mistaken, they used to bring in other writers from the chain for masters coverage. not sure if that included the preview section or not, but it is an unbelievable product and effort.

 

i saw their preview section for the first time at apse judging this year. it was actually three sections -- one on last year's champion, one on the other major contenders and one on the course. it seemed pretty formulaic, but it was very impressive. the enterprise on the defending champ was great. and it did appear that they used people from the chain to work on the section as well as the regular sports section that week. but to be honest, i cannot see anyone reading it all. that's ok, though, because it's just to fill space around all the ads. i was definitely envious of the number of ads they sold. great effort by them all around.