OPINION

By Jim Litke

updated 8:58 p.m. ET April 10, 2008

Jim Litke

AUGUSTA, Ga. - One thing you never expected to see at the Masters: suggestion boxes.

Yet there they were Thursday, plunked down alongside three holes, 10 electronic kiosks at each site, inviting patrons to submit recommendations on how to improve the tournament and golf in general. The initiative is titled “Share Your Ideas: Golf Goes Worldwide” and it’s a way for the green jackets at Augusta National to give something back to the game that gives them an excuse to dress up like used car salesmen a full six months ahead of Halloween.

For those who can’t drop by, feel free to stop in at www.masters.org and drop them a note. Currently, there are about two dozen postings on the site — most practical so far: Make the hole bigger — but it’s only taking suggestions in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean for the time being.

Personally, I’d like to see Portuguese added, so those fun-loving Brazilians could pass along recommendations for dressing in the heat, and Italian, so we could get into a serious discussion about broadening the menu. In the spirit of sharing, here’s another half-dozen suggestions:

1. Make me a member
OK, I don’t have the initiation fee laying around and truth be told, even the monthly food tab might be out of reach. But if the membership is looking for a way to skew the age demographic, median income and bedtime hour back in the direction of the general population, I’m their man. Besides, I’m lousy at poker, a rummy at gin and what club wouldn’t welcome another pigeon?

2. Leave the Stone Age behind and invite a woman to join

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For those members who don’t like recommendation No. 1, how about my wife?

And if not her, how about Louise Suggs? Seriously folks, the woman is in the Hall of Fame, she has 58 major wins and she was part of a foursome at East Lake Golf Club in 1948 when Augusta co-founder Bobby Jones played his last round of golf. Chairman Billy Payne is the first chief executive at the club with no direct ties to Jones and what better way to restore that link? Suggs was parked outside the backdoor of the clubhouse Thursday, contentedly watching the competitors come and go.

But even at age 84, Suggs looked like she could have popped up out of her chair, grabbed her clubs and contended for the annual club championship in a heartbeat.

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3. Golf cart races down Magnolia Lane
There’s no pool at Augusta National, no tennis or bocce courts, no skeet shooting or even a croquet set. Man cannot compete at golf alone and as driveways go, this one is overwhelming and underutilized.

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