The Masters is almost as much about traditions as it is about great golf.  Its champions are set apart forever, and, by tradition, select the menu for the champion's dinner the following year.  Both its pimento cheese and egg salad sandwiches are traditions, as is the green jacket that Augusta National members wear on the course during the event.  And, of course, each year's champion receives his own green jacket, another longstanding tradition.

But Wednesday at The Masters is also about another tradition--the tournament's Par Three championship.  On a small par three course adjacent to Augusta National, current and former players have fun during a par-three tournament that allows for a much less exacting style of play than the event that follows.  Many players bring their kids along as caddies, all of whom don white caddie uniforms just like the big boys (and girls) who carry the bags in The Masters itself.  Truth be told, it's the kids who are the stars in this little event.

So we started our day by watching a couple of hours of real practice on the back nine on Wednesday, mostly around Number 16 and Amen Corner (Numbers 11, 12 and 13).  By tradition, most golfers skipped balls across the pond to the green on Number 16, urged along by the crowd there.  Many jumped up onto the green and others fell short.  Then we made our way up the 18th fairway to the clubhouse and had lunch in the concession area nearby. 

Afterwards, we walked over to the par three course and found a spot on the 6th green and watched several groups come through.  Due to our long drive home, we left the course long before a winner was declared.  But one thing's for sure--whoever did win that event won't be crowned champion of The Masters on Sunday.  It just never seems to happen.

Call it tradition.

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Fredrik Jacobson, of Sweden, brought his son along as his caddy for the par three tournament on Wednesday

A group of international visitors made a color-coordinated splash in the concession area on Wednesday

Patrons awaited golfers at Number 10 green on Wednesday in Augusta

Volunteers manned an information booth near Amen Corner at The Masters

Tiger Woods lined up a putt on Number 16 while Sean O'Hair looked on during Wednesday's practice round

When the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau invited Small Market Meetings editor Vickie Mitchell  to come for a preview of their new downtown convention center during the week of The Masters, she knew just what to do.  She invited me to go in her place.

Vickie had done a similar trip to Augusta a few years back and asked if I'd like to do it since I am a golfer.  So my wife, Kim, and I made a three-day road trip of it and enjoyed some true Georgia hospitality along the way.  We overnighted in Asheville, North Carolina and were in Augusta by noon the next day.  I did a hardhat tour of the new TEE (Trade, Exhibit and Event) Center that will debut in January, and also got to see the adjacent Marriott Augusta Hotel and Suites, the Augusta Museum of History and this city's impressive riverfront development along the Savannah River. 

That evening, we and other guests enjoyed a wonderful meal at our hospitality house (an Augusta tradition for golfers and dignitaries attending the golf tournament) and joined CVB CEO Barry White for an evening with Darius Rucker and his band at an outdoor concert for the city's First Tee program.  First Tee gives kids of all backgrounds the chance to learn golf and the game's longstanding tenets of fair play and decorum during competition.  Rucker, himself, is an avid golfer and grew up nearby.

The following day, CVB marketing communications director Katrina Selby escorted Kim and me to the Wednesday practice round for The Masters.

www.augustaga.org

Our group relaxed for a moment on the riverfront promenade that stretches along the Savannah River

Stately homes line the other side of the Savannah River across from the Marriott Augusta Hotel and Suites

The new TEE (Trade, Exhibit and Event) Center in Augusta will open in January 2013

We were served a wonderful evening meal on this patio in our hospitality house in Augusta

On Monday evening, March 19, the Tunica RiverPark welcomed more than 200 STS Spring Meeting delegates and guests for one of its earliest re-opening events since the devastating flood of last spring.  It has not been even a year since the Mississippi River extended its muddy grasp high into the Tunica shoreline and sent water, silt, sand and debris into casinos, restaurants and this new interpretive facility that claims a prominent place in this northern Mississippi region's tourism landscape.

A gorgeous evening welcomed travel industry members from a dozen southern states and speakers from across the country.  Many gathered on the facility's broad balcony overlooking the river, while others were drawn inside by a sumptuous array of Mississippi cuisine and the outstanding blue band that played throughout the evening.  The musicians were primarily college students from nearby Delta State University, which has a distinguished academic program for those studying music and in particular, the blues.

The Mississippi River Museum, which is part of this facility, is still being renovated after the flooding, but many delegates took the time to watch the multimedia presentation in its theater that showed dozens of fascinating photos of the flood's effects.  Bill Canter, a marketing official with the Tunica CVB, was personally involved in the cleanup for about six months on a daily basis, and entertained me and others with stories of endless days of cleaning up mud and sand from the park's landscaped grounds and building.  No one could have been happier than Bill to be standing in the RiverPark this sunlit evening enjoying good company and great entertainment after what he personally devoted to this cleanup effort.

The Tunica Queen was docked below us and is running again.  The park's adjoining ecotrail is also open.  Take it from me, when you hit a cold streak in the casino, and want to get outside to enjoy the weather, this beautiful river park is one of your first options.

www.tunicariverpark.com

The Tunica River Park is open again after months of cleanup and renovation

A barge eased southward on a sunlit evening as our group visited the park

Barbecue, gumbo, greens, fried catfish and an array of desserts were featured at the event

The terrace outside the structure made for a wonderful evening of networking in Tunica

Graceland is an iconic stop for Elvis fans the world over

During our BankTravel event at Graceland on February 7, Memphis CVB president Kevin Kane told me that he personally escorts rock and roll dignitaries to this mecca for musicians.  For instance, he brought Elvis Costello over here and said that Costello removed his hat and sunglasses when he approached Presley's grave and bowed his head in reverence for a few moments.  It's that kind of place.

Kane and all his associates from the convention bureau outdid themselves for our prestigious group of bank travel industry members.  Not only did more than 175 bankers attend, but more than three dozen major tour operators as well.  Banks have become such a qualified source of business for these tour companies that not only do they attend, but many sponsor events or seminars in order to highlight their services to this group.

At Graceland, we enjoyed Corky's barbecue, rock and roll music from Memphis native Andy Childs and his band, lots of beverages including a wonderful setup at Presley's automobile museum across the street, and, of course, home tours of Graceland itself.  I made it up to the home late in the evening and one of our tour guides told me they'd already had more than 350 delegates tour the house.  As it turned out, well over 400 made the pilgrimage to Presley's beloved residence.  And I don't know how many delegates I saw buying Elvis merchandise in the gift shops.

As I told attendees during our remarks that evening, Memphis is one of America's iconic cities.  When you hit this town, you can feel the spirits of musicians and sharecroppers, bluesmen and barge workers.  This is a blue collar town with a blue-blooded geneology.  Any town that inspires Paul Simon's best work and calls Al Green back to the pulpit, has earned the right to be the King's final resting place.

Kudos to Memphis and all their partners and a special shout out to Lisa Catron, who personally oversaw much of the host city's very special attention to our group.

Lisa Catron, left, was key to the success of the event in Memphis

More than 400 delegates took the time to tour Presley's beloved Graceland

Presley's grave is onsite and draws rock and roll dignitaries each year

Andy Childs, a Memphis native, brought his band and played for an appreciative crowd at the event

Numerous groups toured Woodford Reserve Distillery the day we held our planning retreat there.

On November 4, we held our annual editorial planning retreat at Woodford Reserve Distillery in Woodford County, Kentucky. This is the third time we've held this retreat at this historic central Kentucky site over the past decade or so. Woodford Reserve produces premium small batch Kentucky bourbon and is owned by Brown Forman Corporation. Some buildings on this tiny, wooded site date to 1838 and the distillery was listed as a National HIstoric Landmark in 2000.

We were impressed by the number of corporate and leisure tour groups that came to the facility on this late fall day. Tim Knittel, the culinary program and meeting facility manager here, told me that this was actually a light day for groups. During football weekends, the distillery hosts up to a thousand or more guests on Fridays, he said. Ten thousand guests or more tour the distillery on busy months, he added.

Knittel and Marnie Walters, manager of sales and marketing for the distillery, are working with other entities in the central Kentucky region to package the distillery for meeting groups. We met in their creekside facility, The Dryer House. An adjacent patio offers outdoor seating for meeting attendees beside the tiny creek that runs through this property.  Tours of the distillery are complimentary for groups meeting on the premises. Catering is handled through Knittel's office and is arranged through local chef Ouita Michel, who runs another Woodford County establishment, the Holly Hill Inn.

For more information on Woodford Reserve, visit www.woodfordreserve.com.

Some buildings date to 1838 at Woodford Reserve Distillery outside Versailles, Kentucky.

We planned much of our 2013 editorial for four different publications and online editions in The Dryer House meeting facility.

The Dryer House sits on a creek and has an outdoor patio in the back for casual meetings in nice weather.

The stately Ross Bridge Resort, seen here from the first tee,  holds a commanding

place on the property and is visible from many holes on the golf course.

Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa is carved out of the Appalachian foothills just minutes from busy Birmingham, Alabama.  As soon as you drive onto this resort property that carries a Scottish theme for its namesake, you can feel yourself begin to relax just a bit.  We arrived here after breakfast at FarmLinks by way of a schedule change.  Due to a wet forecast for Friday, our hosts with the RTJ Trail set us up to play this resort's spectacular course a day early.

I've played this course a couple of times with the resort's general manager, Steve Miller, who is a pretty good player.  Steve had planned to play with us at Ross Bridge, but when we switched dates, he ended up playing with us the next day at the nearby RTJ Trail's Oxmoor Valley course.  I had the chance to play with Mike Gunn, a sales executive with the Greater Birmingham CVB, and a couple of fellow writers.  Ross Bridge is one of the longest golf courses in the world if you play it from the back tees.  Not only did we not do that, but I don't remember ever seeing anyone play from those tees in my rounds here.  It measures nearly 8,200 yards from the tips.

The first thing you notice about this course is that you almost always have a great view of the imposing Ross Bridge Resort from anywhere on the course.  This 259-room resort hotel sits on the property's highest point and is a focal point for any round here.  The golf shop is attached to the hotel, so guests walk from their rooms into the pro shop.  Each room has a balcony and the rates at Ross Bridge are very reasonable compared to most resorts of this caliber.  Miller told us at lunch the next day that $189 a night was a fairly good average rate here.  He also estimated that as many as a third of all guests in the resort played the course at least once during their stay.

Ross Bridge has some great holes and its greens are a bit less severe than some of the other RTJ Trail courses.  This is a resort course and if you play it from a reasonable tee based on your handicap, you can score here. 

After golf, I went to my room and opened the balcony doors overlooking the resort pool.  As I got out of the shower I heard the bagpiper.  A lone piper began on the first tee and walked a bit around the property, ending up on the poolside patio.  I listened for 20 minutes or so while I relaxed on the balcony.  This is an evening signature at Ross Bridge and it really drives home the resort's Scottish theme.  Bluegrass music has been described as a "high lonesome sound".  Bagpipe music?  For me it has always been ethereal and haunting. Something best heard from a distant hill.  This tradition makes a lasting impression for any visit to Ross Bridge Resort.

The finishing holes on each nine come in over this lake at Ross Bridge Resort.

The Ross Bridge course measures almost 8,200 yards from its back tees.

Players carry as much of the lake as they can with their drives on 18.  Their second shot will also carry

over water to this heavily bunkered green.

In early morning, mist off the lakes at Grand National gives golfers a memorable look at Alabama's scenery.

We started early on Wednesday, teeing off at 7:00 a.m. on the Lakes Course of the RTJ complex at Grand National in Auburn-Opelika.  Many consider this course to be among the most scenic in the entire RTJ system.  By starting early, we saw lots of holes draped in fog and mist rising from its large lakes.  Llke so many RTJ layouts, the greens on this course are large, sculpted and fast.  If you are above the hole on these greens, lagging a putt anywhere close to the hole is a challenge. 

There are two regulation size courses here, the Links and the Lakes Course, and a short course (18-hole par three).  This site is dominated by nearby 600-acre Lake Saugahatchee.  Of the 54 holes at Grand National, well over half have water on them from this lake system.  Twelve holes on the course we played were on the lake, including the par-three 15th, which is considered a signature hole for the entire RTJ Trail.  After grabbing lunch and a quick video interview with director of golf, Scott Gomberg, we headed for FarmLinks, about an hour away.

This is one of the great golf stories in Alabama.  FarmLinks at Pursell Farms was envisioned by David Pursell, an accomplished artist and golfer who grew up in the family's fertilizer business.  Pursell dreamed of building a demonstration golf course in tiny Sylacauga, Alabama and inviting golf course superintendants to fly in from across the country for training in turf management.  His vision became reality in 2003 with FarmLinks was completed, designed and built by Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry.  Pursell sold the family fertilizer business in 2006, but continues to oversee FarmLinks, which hosts corporate partners like Toro and ClubCar.  Hundreds of golf course superintendants have already been to FarmLinks, where they study turf management, play golf and enjoy the first-class amenities afforded at this golf resort, which was recently named #39 of Golf Digest's 75 Best Golf Resorts in North America.

The course itself was a contrast to the tight, tree-lined RTJ courses we had played the first two days.  FarmLinks is a great golf course with wide, sweeping fairways that allowed for a few errant drives without as much penalty.  The greens were impeccable, but less undulating and much easier to lag long putts on once you had the speed down.  The vistas on this golf course are farm vistas--broad expanses of wildflowers and fields with trees in shadows on the horizon.  The par-three 5th hole is a signature hole that drops maybe a couple of hundred feet depending on which tees you play.  The 18th, by contrast, is a long par-five that is carved from former cropland and seems to stretch forever back towards the clubhouse.  Pursell told us he loved the 18th because "we used 150 acres of farmland to create that hole."

Pursell joined us for dinner that evening at Parker Lodge, a rustic inn overlooking the 17th green and lake, that has eight guestrooms, a warm great room, complete kitchen facilities, and other amenities.  He spent an hour or so with us over steaks and detailed his vision for this family enterprise.  FarmLinks is about an hour from Birmingham and should be included in any golf trip to that part of Alabama.  Reservations are recommended and for $135 you can play all day with all beverages, range balls and lunch provided. Alcohol is not permitted on the course or sold on the facility.

Water down the left side guards the entire second hole on the Lakes Course at Grand National in Opelika.

The par three 5th hole is a signature at FarmLinks.

I shot this archway from Parkers Lodge overlooking the 17th hole after our overnight stay.

Owner David Pursell used "150 acres of farmland" to build the 18th hole at FarmLinks.

Golfers receive unlimited golf, range balls, lunch, and beverages on the course for one fee at FarmLinks.

The Senator is one of three championship courses at Prattville's Capitol Hill complex on the RTJ Trail.

Last week I joined a group of golf writers and Pam Shaheen of Crossroads Marketing Inc. for a week-long trip to play golf courses in Alabama. We played several of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses, plus a couple that are marketed as part of the Honours Golf collection. The RTJ Trail will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year and has been a unqualified success in the mission set out for it by the state's retirement system. The system was built to highlight Alabama as a travel destination and as a prospective site for new economic development. Over the past two decades, golf groups in this country and abroad have found their way to Alabama as a result, and three major automobile plants have landed here. Mercedes Benz, Honda and Hyundai-Kia have all begun production here over that time period. Honours Golf manages golf courses in numerous southeastern states.

Due to flight delays, I missed the first round at Highland Park, a venerable old course in downtown Birmingham. However, I've played this course numerous times with Jim Smither of the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. This is an Honours course that is owned by the city of Birmingham and it was in great shape. Its heritage includes a tournament won there by Bobby Jones when he was a teenager. Bob Hope also played this course when he was in Birmingham years ago. We made our way that evening to Montgomery, where we dined as a group at Dreamland BBQ, an Alabama institution that began in Tuscaloosa. I had a great pork plate and their signature banana pudding for dessert. Several members of the Montgomery CVB and Alabama tourism office joined us at Dreamland.

The following morning, I played at Capitol Hill, an RTJ complex in nearby Prattville that includes three 18-hole regulation layouts. We played The Senator, a links-style course that hosts the LPGA's Navistar Classic golf tournament.  The Senator layout is immaculate and its greens are treacherously fast,  but I was also fascinated by the course's use of indiginous kudzu.  Several holes on the front that are framed by kudzu-draped forests. As a southerner, I'm familiar with this wild plant that overtakes entire sections of forests and creates eerie backdrops that are as beautiful as they are mysterious. Ravines and glens on some holes were covered by this vine and made for gorgeous canopies along the way. Director of Golf Mike Beverly joined my group and we had a great weather for golf.

That evening, we made our way to Auburn, where I stayed at the impressive Hotel at Auburn University. John Wild, president of the Auburn and Opelika Tourism Bureau, arranged to take us on a tour of Jordan-Hare Stadium, home to the 2010 national champion Auburn football team, and then hosted us at Brick Oven Pizza, a campus icon, for pizza, calzones and beer.

The Senator course at Capitol Hill is host to the LPGA's Navistar Classic each summer.

I loved the kudzu that framed several holes on the front nine.  This wild plant is prevalent in many parts of the American south.

We stopped for a moment to take in the wild foliage that thrived in this ravine on The Senator's front side.

A delightful urban environment awaits walkers on New York's High Line

One of New York's newest visitor experiences is the High Line, an urban trail that is being built on the former railroad tracks that carried freight trains through the city.  It is complete today from 30th Street to Gansevoort Street, almost 20 city blocks.  We walked up steps on 23rd Street and joined a throng of walkers going both ways.  The High Line is meticulously landscaped and has many places to stop and sit on benches or gaze at the city skyline.

We walked until it ended at Gansevoort Street, where a shopping district and several cafes welcome walkers.  The High Line is too crowded for runners, though we saw a few people giving it a go.  This is much more suited to walking.  Apartment buildings line the north side, and some are built over the pedway.  The south side overlooks the Hudson River and New Jersey. 

We had coffee on Gansevoort and then found our way very easily to Greenwich Village and Bleeker Street.  We spent a couple of hours checking out the shops and had lunch at John's Pizza - Bleeker Street.  We could not have had better weather in New York in October.  It was a magnificent day for a walk in America's premier city on its newest offering for walkers.

Two-way traffic works well on this pedway that is replacing old railroad tracks

Meticulous landscaping is one of the highlights of the High Line

Views across the river to New Jersey greet walkers looking southward

Falling water offers a calming presence at this magnificent memorial

It's hard to write about the 9/11 Memorial without feeling like an interloper. This is such a sacred place to so many families that it's hard to feel like this belongs to all of us. But it does and it should. Before we left Kentucky, we got online to make arrangements for four passes during our trip to New York and it added so much substance to our trip. I would not have missed it and I heartily recommend it.

We were there on a cloudless day under a bright blue sky. Airliners leaving La Guardia made a constant pass above us. It was impossible not to connect the dots and think about how that day unfolded for this magnificent city ten years ago.

This memorial is as peaceful a place as you can hope to be. The water that cascades down the walls of both memorials accomplishes its purpose. It is restorative, uplifting and full of hope. It falls into pools that then fall into wells that seemingly have no end. They are eternal in nature. 

The Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center, is well underway and will stand 1776 feet tall at its completion.

An American flag graces a nearby building at the 9/11 Memorial

A single rose is a poignant addition to a victim's name in the memorial

Presently, visitors are alloted 30 minutes to tour the 9/11 Memorial