Downtown Augusta is only 15 minutes from "The National", but in some ways it could be on another planet.
Welcomed
The one time you can guarantee the streets will be busier is a Sunday morning. This is the South, remember, and there are churches everywhere, and not all of them indoors.
My first experience of Downtown Augusta was a Sunday morning walk along the main street during which I inadvertently attended four different church services, all taking place informally under the trees in the middle of the street.
I was warmly welcomed into each one of them before making my excuses and moving on.
After that I discovered a railroad track running right through the town. One of the locals said two trains a day come through and - given they're about half a mile long - they cause considerable delays for anyone trying to get from one side of the town to another.
I followed the track down to the River to find one such train, stopped and stretching back way over the bridge leading to South Carolina. Its huge engines were groaning and throbbing like a hundred idling Ferraris.
Turns out the train cannot come through the town before 12 noon on Sunday so the drivers were just watching the clock tick up to the top of the hour before heading on through.
I've never been a train spotter but I sat on a wall and watched every freight car go by, announced on its way by the distinctive, evocative wail of the American railroad horn.
Hottest ticket
That was quite enough excitement for one day but a strange thing happened a couple of days later when I was just strolling down the same main street.
There was a guy standing on the pavement outside a shop apparently waiting for a friend who was inside.
Assuming he was local, I just nodded and said hello but back came the reply in an English accent: "Excuse me, are you David Livingstone from Sky Sports?"
Turns out the two guys, Jonathan and Mike from Sevenoaks in Kent, had worked the miracle of getting Masters tickets and had organised their whole trip independently.
They were about to play golf that afternoon and kindly invited me to join them. I couldn't do that so we just had a couple of beers instead and the boys told me exactly how they had organised their trip to the Masters.
So now you know what at least one Sky Sports presenter does in his time off in the week of the greatest golf tournament in the world.
I know a trip to Downtown Augusta is unlikely to be on most bucket lists but a visit to the Masters most surely is.
So if you're ever lucky enough to get the hottest ticket in sport, take a day off from the golf and give good old Downtown a bit of love.
For full details on how to follow all of the Masters build-up and action, simply click here.
