The Masters: How smartwatches have burst Augusta National’s device-free bubble

Augusta National Golf Club is as old-school as it is secretive, and one of its strictest rules is that fans aren’t allowed to bring in mobile phones. That means anyone stepping onto the hallowed grounds loses contact with the outside world.

Unless you have a smartwatch.

Chris Daniels came here from Leesburg, Va., and was one of the many fans in the galleries with an Apple Watch on his wrist. As he watched the par-3 tournament on Wednesday, text messages kept coming in. But before he dared taking his Apple Watch to the course, he checked the Masters’ rules to make sure such devices were permissible.

“To me, this is fine as far as the rules are concerned,” Daniels said.

This type of gear actually lives in a grey area of rules that are generally black and white. The watches are technically allowed. But their capabilities aren’t.

Augusta National wants the smartwatches to be dumb.

According to the tournament’s website, electronic devices are prohibited. That means no mobile phones, laptops, tablets or even beepers. But in the fine print, there is a notable exception: “Devices such as fitness tracking bands and electronic watches are permitted. However, the use of such devices for phone calls, emails, text messaging and other photo, video or data recording and/or transmission is prohibited.”

But tracking your tens of thousands of steps as you walk the course looks no different than sending a quick text message — and even Augusta National has a hard time enforcing the rules.

For many smartwatches to receive emails or texts, they have to be within close range of a mobile phone — and sneaking a mobile phone into Augusta National is about as realistic as sneaking out with a green jacket. But a device like an Apple Watch doesn’t need to be linked with an iPhone to work, since users can pay a monthly fee to a carrier so that the watch has service independently.

Daniels was hoping to use his connected Apple Watch to communicate with a friend and find each other on the course in case they got separated. There was just one problem: His friend’s Apple Watch wasn’t hooked up to a carrier.

Daniels wasn’t alone. The galleries at Augusta National these days are lined with smartwatches — even if the people wearing them aren’t exactly eager to boast about it.

One fan was seen by The Wall Street Journal furtively tapping at his Apple Watch away from the crowd next to the 10th fairway. The man declined to give his name and was only willing to identify himself as coming from the western half of Pennsylvania. He feared that speaking about his smartwatch usage could jeopardise his ability to attend the Masters in the future.

“These tickets are too precious,” he said, pointing to the badge hanging around his neck.

The fan said he was using the watch to document his walk on the course. But was he also able to send text messages and emails too? “I’m not going to talk to that,” he said. “I’m not going to turn myself in.”

While smartwatches have been around for years — Apple Watch, the market leader, has been around since 2015 — they have become more ubiquitous lately. So this hack has surged in popularity at a tournament that has been played since 1934 and in some ways still feels like it’s in 1934.

The utility of a smartwatch here is directly linked to the ban on phones, a rule that gives the Masters a different vibe than practically any other sporting event. The effect of being unplugged from the outside world is that everyone has no choice but to plug into the golf. Hands spend more clapping when they can’t scroll social media apps. And when Tiger Woods putts, fans actually have to watch it happen with their own eyeballs instead of the usual array of phones that appear to record video of it.

It’s a bargain that Terry Faust is happy to make. A fan attending his first Masters this year, he said he was with a friend who was using a smartwatch on the grounds to respond to texts and work emails. But his own Apple Watch wasn’t connected — and he wouldn’t have any other way.

“I’m just glad to be here with nobody bothering me,” Faust said.

— The Wall Street Journal