The honest guide to a week at Augusta in April: the official ticket lottery, why badges cannot be bought, the courses you can actually play nearby, and how to build the trip around it.
Photograph: Augusta National Golf Club via Google
A week at the Masters is the bucket list trip in golf, and it rewards the traveller who understands going in that Augusta is unlike any other major. You cannot buy your way onto the course as a player, and you cannot reliably buy a badge, so the trip is an exercise in patience, planning and a little luck rather than a credit card. It suits the golfer who has dreamed of standing on the hill at Amen Corner, the couple making a once in a lifetime spring pilgrimage, and the small group who want to pair a day or two inside the gates with a run of good golf in the Georgia and South Carolina countryside.
The 2026 Masters runs April 6 to 12. Most of this guide is about the part nobody tells you: how the tickets really work, where you stay when the whole city is booked, and which fine courses near Augusta will take a visiting group during the most coveted week in golf.
For nearly everyone, the only official route is the Masters ticket lottery at masters.com. You apply with a permanent residential address, one application per address, and may request practice round badges for Monday through Wednesday or tournament day badges for Thursday through Sunday. Selection is random, the application window is short and closes the summer before, and successful applicants pay face value, around 125 dollars for the Monday and Tuesday practice days, 150 dollars for Wednesday, and 160 dollars for each tournament round in 2026.
This matters: Augusta National strictly prohibits the resale of any Masters ticket and warns that entry may be refused to anyone other than the original purchaser. That is why we do not sell or source badges, and why you should be cautious of anyone who promises a guaranteed tournament ticket. What a planner can genuinely do is build the trip around the access you secure or the official hospitality you are offered, and make the rest of the week extraordinary.
| Access | How it works | 2026 face value |
|---|---|---|
| Practice rounds, Mon to Wed | Official lottery at masters.com, random selection | Around $125 to $150 a day |
| Tournament rounds, Thu to Sun | Official lottery, hardest to win | Around $160 a day |
| Resale or third party badges | Prohibited by Augusta National, entry may be refused | Not a safe route |
Ticket process and face values verified June 2026 from the official Masters ticketing information. Augusta National prohibits resale. Always confirm the current process directly at masters.com before relying on any figure.
Since Augusta National is closed to visitors, the golf in a Masters week is played at the excellent courses around the city, several with their own ties to the game's history and to the men who shaped Augusta National.
Three nines designed by Masters champions Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, and the host of the opening rounds of the Augusta National Women's Amateur. The marquee round of the week, with forecaddies and full hospitality. Masters week rates run around $2,200 to $2,500 for a foursome.
One of the oldest clubs in America, with golf played here since 1892 and a course retooled by Alister MacKenzie in the early 1930s, the very years he was laying out Augusta National with Bobby Jones. A throwback gem just over the line in Aiken. Indicative Masters week green fee around $400.
A Donald Ross design from 1928, later restored by Arnold Palmer, and the course where Bobby Jones won the 1930 Southeastern Open on the way to his Grand Slam. The most accessible quality round in the city, with cart, range balls and a buffet lunch around $200 in Masters week.
Designers, history and indicative Masters week rates verified June 2026. Rates spike sharply for tournament week and change year to year. Always confirm directly before booking.
Fly into Augusta or Atlanta and drive in, settle into a rented house or a hotel in the wider area, and get the lie of the land before the week builds.
The practice days are the connoisseur's secret: smaller crowds, the Par 3 Contest building toward Wednesday, and the chance to walk every famous corner of the course.
Your own round at the Nicklaus, Palmer and Player nines, with caddies and a long lunch. The golf you came for as a player.
A historic round at MacKenzie's Palmetto in Aiken or Donald Ross's Forest Hills, then dinner in Augusta as the town fills.
If the lottery is kind, a tournament round inside the gates, building to the back nine on Sunday and the green jacket. Otherwise, the best viewing parties in town.
Build the playing days around the access you hold. Many groups treat the nearby golf as the certain pleasure and any time inside the gates as the bonus the lottery may or may not grant.
| Style | Per person, 2026 | What it usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Golf and atmosphere | From around $2,500 to $4,500 | 4 to 5 nights, 3 rounds nearby, no tournament badge |
| A day inside the gates | From around $5,000 upward | The above plus a practice or tournament day secured by lottery |
| The full week | Highly variable, premium | Multiple days at Augusta, premium housing, full concierge |
Indicative third party trip ranges for 2026, excluding international flights, shown to set expectations only. Augusta housing is at a premium and badges are won by lottery at face value, not bought. We are a guide, not an operator, and never quote our own pricing. Always confirm directly before booking.
Tell us what access you hold or hope to secure and roughly your plans. One concierge costs the surrounding week to the head, the housing, the nearby golf and the logistics, and replies within one working day, with no obligation. We do not resell Masters badges.
April 6 to 12 at Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. Practice rounds run Monday to Wednesday and the four competitive rounds Thursday to Sunday, with the final round and the green jacket on Sunday April 12.
The only official route for most spectators is the lottery at masters.com, applied for with a permanent address, one per address, for practice or tournament days. Selection is random. Resale is strictly prohibited and entry may be refused to anyone other than the original purchaser.
No. It is open only to members and their invited guests, so it cannot be booked. The trip is built around watching the Masters and playing the fine courses nearby, several tied to the men who shaped Augusta National.
Official badges are cheap at face value but won by lottery. The real cost is the premium Augusta housing, the flights, the dining and the nearby rounds. Budget seriously per head and confirm every figure directly before booking.
Masters lottery reminders, Augusta housing tips and the golf worth planning a year ahead. Every other week.