This week the Augusta National Golf Club hosts its annual tournament, The Masters. The Masters consistently has the highest television ratings of any golf tournament during the year and is the only major championship held at the same golf course every year.
Because of this, Augusta National has always made an attempt to control the media. If you watch CBS golf broadcasts on a regular basis, you notice that the announcers always choose their words very carefully.
The people that have come to watch the golf tournament are not called "fans" or "spectators", they are "patrons". The longer grass that lines the fairways is not "rough", it is "the second cut".
The commentators are always referencing the beautiful azaleas and trademark Augusta roars. Never do they discuss the fact that Augusta National Golf Club doesn't have a female member and only admitted an African-American member just over a decade ago.
One reason that the commentators are so restrained during the broadcasts is that they know what can happen if they stray from Augusta's rules.
Gary McCord, one of the networks most popular golf commentators, has not been allowed to take part in the Masters since 1995. What did McCord say to earn bannishment from The Masters? He once described an errant shot as "landing in the cheap seats" and said that the notoriously fast Augusta greens were not cut, they were "bikini waxed".
Augusta National has become a bit more media friendly in recent years though. There is more live coverage of the tournament on TV, with the first two days of the tournament now on ESPN. They also have live online broadcasting of a few of the holes.
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