'This has been my third visit, so I feel like a bit of an old hand'

MY FAVOURITE day of the year, at least on the golf course, is the one I spend at Augusta National maybe two weeks before the Masters. I call it my pre-practice round. This time I was here with my fellow Australian John Senden, who was making his first ever visit, on the Monday before I won the CA Championship at Doral.

As usual, it was a great experience. There was hardly anyone else on the golf course. All of the staff were in place. The greens and fairways were getting close to being in Masters condition. There were no spectators – sorry – patrons. So there were no gallery ropes. It was just the two of us against Augusta National the way the members play it, except we were on the Masters tees.

Earlier, we also had an opportunity to drive into the club all the way up Magnolia Lane. One of the small letdowns about playing in the Masters is that we don't get to use that famous little avenue between the trees when we arrive. We have to enter through the gate next to Magnolia Lane and park in the players' lot.

The good news is that, two years ago, I was first able to experience the "proper" drive in, right up to the old colonial clubhouse, then park where the members leave their cars. I'll never forget that feeling.

The only other restriction the club puts on us when we make an early visit is that we have to use a club caddy. It used to be that you had to play with a member as his guest, but that rule is no longer in place. The club caddies are great though. They've all been round the course a thousand times and know stuff that you could never work out by yourself.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and a great prelude to Masters week. I actually got here late last Sunday night, after flying in from playing in Houston. So I didn't register until Monday. That's early Monday. On a normal week I'd have plans to sleep in and be looking forward to taking it easy after playing hard for four days. Not during Masters week though. After a restless night, I was at the club by 8am.

I just couldn't help myself.

I'm hardly alone, of course. The pre-final-round talk in the locker room in Houston was of how many guys were going to take the next day off and not bother playing. Almost all of them were on Augusta National by 8.30am! Which is not that surprising. No matter where you are staying in town, the place isn't going to be as nice as hanging out at the club. Even sitting in the clubhouse gazing over the golf course is such a nice thing to do.

It really is great to get away from the hubbub of the town during Masters week. Augusta is a zoo when the tournament is on. In fact, for everyone involved with the tour other than the players – caddies, wives, officials, equipment reps, the media – this isn't the best week of the year, far from it.

As I said, this has been my third visit to the Masters. So I'm beginning to feel like a bit of an old hand. I'm a lot more comfortable than I was back in 2006. I'm not so scared of doing the wrong thing, or walking in the wrong place, or taking a huge divot out of the pristine fairways. I know where everything is. I know the rules. I know where to park the car. And I know how many tickets I am going to get.

That's a question I'm asked a lot, actually. I get eight tickets plus those for my immediate family. This year my wife and kids are with me, but my parents are not. The other eight are distributed amongst friends. It's funny, but every year I seem to get a lot of calls and e-mails from January on. The Masters is the event everyone wants to come to.

The welcome we get from the members and the club's staff is memorable too. It's unbelievable how they look after us. They are so polite and nice. When we sit down to eat in the players' locker room they tend to our every request, within reason. It's some of the best food of the year. Although we live in an unreal world where we get pampered everywhere, the Masters is a special week and the pinnacle of "unreality", if you like.

One of the coolest places to eat and drink is on the locker room balcony, which overlooks the course. I love to go there early on Saturday and Sunday – even if I'd rather not be there at that time – before the crowds arrive. I sit there with a coffee and watch the course fill up – which it seems to do in about five minutes. Strictly speaking, there is no running allowed at Augusta National, so all I can say is that there is a lot of very fast walking going on...

The coolest aspect of the Masters, however, is that the only people allowed inside the ropes are the players and the caddies. There are no coaches, no psychologists, no friends, no trainers, no media and no photographers. It's a bit like being in paradise, our own little sanctuary. Outside the ropes is all the craziness; inside, it is as peaceful as it can get.

Nowhere is that more true than on the 12th green and 13th tee. When we get out there it is probably the nicest ten minutes of the day. It is just me, my playing partner, our two caddies, a couple of officials and the cameraman up on the tower. It's very different playing professional golf about 200 yards removed from the nearest person. Very different and very special, pretty much summing up Masters week really.