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He’s been to 68 Masters — and brought 200 first-timers along

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Lou Miller loves the Masters Tournament so much that he can’t help but spread the joy.

Each year since 1966, when he started to “have the honor” of buying four series badges, Miller has brought at least one first-timer to the tournament. He estimates he’s brought at least 200 – and this year is no exception.

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He does morning and afternoon shifts, switching out the badges, so six different people can join him each day. On Friday morning, he was joined by son Brent Miller and Brent’s daughters, Porter, 17, and Neely, 12. They had all been to the Masters before, but two of his afternoon guests, Jordan Loewen and his wife, Karis Loewen, had not.

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“If you look up ‘serving heart’ in the dictionary, there should be a picture of him,” Brent said. “I’ve never heard of anybody who does something like this.”

“It’s been a thrill for me,” said the 82-year-old Miller, who was in the golf business his entire working life, including a stint as director of golf at Pinehurst Resort. “To see the excitement on their faces. It’s a dream come true. I enjoy seeing people be happy, seeing them be themselves.”

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Miller grew up in Lincolnton, Ga., which is 35 miles from Augusta, and now lives in Chapin, S.C., where he retired a year and half ago after 18 years as the president and managing partner at Old Edwards Club in Highlands, N.C.

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Miller’s pitch to prospective Masters rookies is simple and gets right to the point. It goes like this:

“Would you be interested in going to the Masters?”

Very few have turned him down.

“That’s like fishing up at Clarks Hill (a man-made reservoir near Lincolnton) and feeling that bite when it hits your worm. When you do that, their ears stand up.”

Upon accepting the invitation, Miller said some of them are overcome with emotion. He is, too, he said.

“You hear it in their voice,” he said, his voice cracking just thinking about it. “You hear it with a tear. It completes their golf journey. There’s nothing like being at Augusta. They’re nothing like the romance, the history and nothing like the ambiance of walking in. Literally, I’ve had people get down on their knees and said this can’t be real grass.”

Lou Miller (blue cap) poses for a photo with his granddaughters Porter (left), 17, and Neely (right), 12, and his son Brent Miller (white cap), all of Chapin, South Carolina, in front of the Masters scoreboard during the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2026. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-Imagn Images

Because the initial experience can be other-worldly for a golf fan, Miller gives his guests what he calls the “Lou Miller Tour.”

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“I haven’t let anybody go by themselves the first time,” Miller said. “For a first-timer, the experience is just overwhelming. It sure is easier for somebody who knows a little bit about the journey.”

“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘He’s the man, you know that?’ Brent said. “He really is the master of ceremonies. He’s the all-time master of ceremonies.”

First-time visitors always mention how much hillier the course appears in person than on television.

“And when they first see nine and 18 greens, they say they are smaller than they anticipated them being,” he said. “I like to take them behind the 18th tee and show them how narrow that is. The tee on seven. Then the new tee on No. 5.”

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Miller never kept track of the names of the people he introduced to the Masters Tournament. But he still hears from some of them.

After recently being a guest on Ward Clayton’s podcast “Road to Augusta,” Miller said he got a few calls.

For Miller, this is his 68th consecutive Masters. The streak was in jeopardy in 2020 during the November COVID-19 Masters. But, through some connections he’d rather not reveal, he attended the Saturday round.

“But I was on a short leash,” he said. “I could only stay three hours.”

At the time, he wasn’t thinking about the streak, just how much he missed the normal April timeframe.

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“I didn’t get my spring fix,” he said.

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In addition to the Thursday-Sunday tournament rounds that his series badges covers, he always attends the practice rounds. He gets in the gate because he’s a PGA of America member, but can’t bring guests. That only happens when the tournament starts.

“It never gets old,” said of attending all seven days of Masters Week.

He was waiting for the gates to open at 7 a.m. Monday this week and will again be at the course each day through Sunday.

“There were 5,000 or 6,000 ahead of me,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people arrive early.”

The first time he sees Augusta National each year is still a thrill. It puts chill bumps on me.”

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From his first Masters, in 1958, Miller’s man was Arnold Palmer. He estimates that of the six-year span when Palmer won four times (1958-64), he saw 95 percent of Palmer’s shots.

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“One guy said, ‘Lou, you took me to the Masters in 1968.’ Another said, ‘You took me in 1971.’”

Why Palmer?

“Just his charisma,” Miller said, “and the way he played the game. The Palmer charge. Golf was just getting started on TV and he was leading the charge, you could say.”

For 1963 and 1964, when Palmer still reigned as the King of golf, Miller did miss some of the hero’s shots.

“I worked at a concession stand at No. 12,” he said. “I hated every minute of it because I was missing Arnie’s Army coming through. They would prepare you 30 minutes ahead of time – get ready, Palmer’s coming.”

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Miller did it because he was a poor student at Augusta College.

“I needed money for gas,” he said.

After Palmer’s heyday, Miller threw his support behind Jack Nicklaus, who would go on to win six Masters.

“I initially wasn’t a Nicklaus fan because he took the trophy away from Palmer, but I became a fan and admired his career so much,” Miller said. “Then I became a Tom Watson fan. Then Jordan Spieth. Now, of course, Scheffler. I’m a DeChambeau fan because he’s got a different approach to golf.”

Miller was a star receiver and defensive back on Lincoln County’s first state championship team in 1960. It wasn’t until just before the 1961 Masters that the team received its championship letter jackets. Despite 85-degree weather, he and “three or four” of his teammates sported the jacket during the Masters.

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“We didn’t care; we were proud of that state championship,” he said.

David Westin is a recipient of the Masters Major Achievement Award and has covered every tournament at Augusta National Golf Club since 1979 for The Augusta Chronicle. He also caddied at the club for a time.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Masters patron uses badges to bring first-timers to Augusta National since 1966

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