What Augusta Feels Like When It Isn’t Masters Week

Most people who do not live here meet Augusta through one week in April.

Fair enough. The Masters is the Masters. The city gets louder, fuller and a whole lot more expensive for a few days.

Then everybody leaves.

And Augusta goes back to being Augusta.

The quieter version is easier to understand

Outside Masters week, you can move around without feeling like every table, parking space and hotel room has already been claimed by somebody wearing a badge.

Downtown is easier to wander. The river feels like part of the city instead of scenery behind an event. You can stop somewhere because it looks good instead of because it made somebody’s tournament-week list.

There is less pressure to do Augusta correctly

That may be the best part.

You can spend an afternoon at a museum. Play golf somewhere that does not require a television contract. Sit down for dinner without feeling like you needed to make the reservation during the previous presidential administration.

If dinner is the plan, Frog Hollow Tavern on Broad Street is one of the Augusta restaurants worth checking before you head downtown.

You can also do nothing for a while.

It is a good city for a weekend

Augusta makes more sense when you stop treating it like a checklist.

A couple of good meals. Some time downtown. The river. A little art or history. Golf if you came for golf. Enough room in the day for everybody to sit around together when you get back.

Masters week is Augusta at full volume.

The rest of the year is when you can hear the place.