Peter Williams: Augusta National even more impressive in the flesh

Just once in a lifetime, everyone is entitled to a special, unforgettable, unrepeatable experience. Mine came last week - I spent four days playing at Augusta National.

This was not just a few games of golf. It was more akin to a spiritual experience.

As Catholics want to take mass at St Peter's Square and Muslims are urged to go to Mecca, golfers strive to visit the game's great cathedral among the Georgia pines.

The home of the Masters, the club Bobby Jones created, holds an almost mystical place in golf.

Tickets to its major championship are among the most sought after in sport and the worldwide TV audience each April is the biggest golf enjoys annually.

I've been fortunate to be a couple of times before to report on the Masters but that was sharing the place with up to 40,000 people each day.

This time, the number of others on the course, including the grounds crew getting ready for the year's first major in two weeks, was barely 100.

There are two overwhelming, lasting impressions you take from walking the course half a dozen times over four days - the sheer size of the place and its impeccable grooming.

We know from watching on TV that most fairways are generous in their width, although some, such as the 11th and 18th, have tightened considerably as the holes have been made longer.

What you don't realise until you're in them is the size and depth of the fairway bunkers. You are literally in over your head, usually with no view of the green.

Phil Mickelson hit a 9-iron out of one on the left hand side of the 5th last year to within a couple of metres of the hole and made a birdie. When you stand in that bunker and all you can see is a sand wall and blue sky, you just shake your head as to how any player could hit the ball close to the hole.

The pristine, verdant manicuring of Augusta National is famous. So it's extraordinary to see the effort made to get it and keep it that way.

During our first two days there, it rained steadily, so it was impossible to have ride-on machines on the course. Therefore the rough had to be cut by hand. Workers pushing rotary mowers just off the fairway and turning the motor off when a nearby golfer played his shot was something you'd never see in this country.

For other ground staff, their only job is raking pine needles, called pine straw, and laying it neatly around the base of trees. The entire golf course is like the botanical gardens before the Queen visits.

But the extra special feature of Augusta National is its greens. The considerable amount of rain that fell on our first two days there probably did us a favour because they never reached super fast pace.

However, the slope and grain is of a nature you never encounter on golf courses in this country.

I found the most valuable asset during the four days was my caddy. Wearing the club's famous caddy uniform of white overalls and a green cap, my man Rowdy was a genius at deciphering breaks and the likely speed of a putt.

His player wasn't always up to hitting it where he should have, or at the proper speed, but he did hole a couple of snakes that he wouldn't have otherwise.

We played mostly off the members' tees which, with the lack of roll because of the wet weather, were long enough. For one round, we went back to the Masters tees. With nine par fours longer than 410m and a 220m par three, I reckon my par for the day wasn't 72 but about 80. So that means I only shot nine over.