Is the no phones policy at the Masters a good or bad thing?

Augusta National is renowned for its traditions. My colleague Kieran Clark has already had his say on some of them, expressing his unease.

There is much to like and admire about the first major of the season but I still struggle with the way they historically treated black golfers and with how long it took them to offer membership to women.

I get many of its traditions but an incident involving former Open champion Mark Calcavecchia left me open-mouthed.

Apparently, the four-time Ryder Cup player was "caught" using his mobile phone in the grounds and was immediately escorted from the premises. This is utterly preposterous!

I would remind the men in Green Jackets that this is 2026.

There is more to this story. Fans - or patrons, as Augusta prefers to call them - are required to hand in their phones before being granted access to the course.

And it is not just the patrons - every Masters competitor also has to hand over his phone. Remember that we are talking about a generation of golfers who all have huge social media followings.

This is NOT the Phoenix Open. Those who attend The Masters know that they can leave their seats, go off in search of food and know that their chairs will still be there, unoccupied, upon their return. They know that if they shout out: "You’re the man, get in the hole" or any other such nonsense that they will also be escorted from the premises.

So don’t you honestly believe that these same people could be trusted to keep their phones switched off? No other sporting event that I can bring to mind treats its spectators with such blatant disrespect.

It’s not just phones that are prohibited - cameras are, too, at least on certain days. While patrons may bring cameras to the practice rounds they are prohibited from tournament rounds.

It gets even more draconian - even outside of Masters week, members and guests are not allowed to use mobile phones at Augusta. 

Oh, and did I mention that if you are caught running anywhere on the course then that is another offence punishable by banishment?

There are also some double standards at play. Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre can hit a bad shot and shout "Jesus f***!" and go unpunished. What do you think would happen if a fan did the same thing? And who is more likely to be heard in millions of homes during a live TV broadcast?

None of the above should surprise any of us - this is the venue that ensured American commentator Gary McCord never returned after describing the greens as being so fast it was as if they had been bikini-waxed. The powers-that-be are not known for their sense of humour.