The Sign
How An Episode of Bluey Put Twenty Five Years of Attending The Masters Into Perspective For Me
It took less than five minutes for Jim Nantz to sign off from Augusta before my four-year-old son asked if we could finally watch the newest episode of Bluey. For the last two weeks, he has seen advertisements for this new episode all over the Disney Channel and has been counting down the days to April 14th. I told him that April 14th was also Masters Sunday so we would be watching a lot of golf, but once it was over we could watch Bluey together.
He complied with that bribe and happily watched along with us - groaning when Morikawa dunked one in the water on 11, laughing when Åberg got his snack knocked out of his hand high-fiving a patron, and cheering when Scottie’s final putt dropped on 18. He enjoyed treats from our Taste of The Masters box and when they showed the main scoreboard, he excitedly said, “Hey that’s where we went!” - recalling our time there just a week earlier for the Drive, Chip, and Putt tournament.
But by the time the jacket was around Scottie’s shoulders, he was reminding me of our bargain and I was changing the channel. If you’ve never seen an episode of Bluey, let me just tell you that this show is advertised as a children’s television show but it is 100% made for the parents. I have cried watching more than one episode. This new release was a special 28-minute -long episode, which is four-times longer than their normal episode length. So I already knew it was likely going to pull at the heart-strings a little.
Full spoilers ahead (if you care about spoilers of a kids TV show…) but in this episode, the Heeler family has put their beloved home up for sale because the dad, Bandit, got a job in another city. The family is hosting a wedding for one of the other recurring characters as a sort-of last hoorah at their home before the sale and the big-move. The oldest child, Bluey, is not happy about moving and is letting everyone know about it - including her teacher and friends at school. This is when the teacher, Calypso, decides to read a story that she thinks might help.
Calypso: Once there was a farmer who owned a beautiful horse, but one day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “That's such bad luck,” they said. “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The very next morning, his horse came back and it brought three wild horses with it. “Wow,” said the neighbors, “that's such good luck." “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The next day his son tried riding one of the wild horses, but it threw him off and he hurt his leg. The neighbors said, “That's bad luck." “We'll see,” replied the farmer. The next day, soldiers came to the village and made all the young men join the army. But they didn't take the farmer's son because his leg was hurt. "That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.
Bluey: Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?Calypso: It's both.
Bluey: I don't understand.
Calypso: Come here.
Bluey scoots closer. Calypso puts her hand on Bluey's shoulder.
Calypso: Everything will work out the way it's supposed to, Bluey.
The rest of the episode you see parallels of this parable play out in Bluey’s own adventure, with moments of both good and bad luck intertwined throughout the day. They find a coin on the ground, they use the coin in a viewfinder at a lookout, the coin gets stuck, another couple finds the coin later, etc. etc. There’s even a double-meaning with the title of the episode, “The Sign”, referencing both the For Sale sign in front of the home and a metaphorical sign that the family was looking for to tell them they needed to stay. The metaphorical sign in the episode came in the form of a butterfly.
Like I said, sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is a children’s television show. But my son watched intently for 28 minutes waiting to find out if the Heeler family would end up losing their beloved family home. It was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment.
This year, I attended my 25th Masters Tournament. 26th if you count the year I went in-utero when my mom walked the grounds pregnant with me. 1997 was my first Masters and the only two I’ve missed since were during COVID. I saw all five of Tiger’s wins with my grandfather.
"That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.
My grandfather passed away unexpectedly in August of 2019, four months after going with me to see Tiger win his latest green jacket. It was also ten days before my son was born. The day of the funeral, we checked the mail at his house and there was a letter in the mailbox from Augusta National Golf Club. It was an invitation to apply for the Legacy Program which allowed him to extend his series badges to one of his biological children. The invitation was dated the day of his death.
"That's such bad luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.
In March of 2020, we were still heavily grieving the loss of my grandfather. The thought of The Masters without him made all of us sick to our stomach. To us, there was no Masters without my grandfather. As we all know, Augusta National made a historic decision, due to COVID, to postpone the tournament to November and have no patrons in attendance. The Masters wasn’t the only golf tournament that had to move their original schedule due to COVID. The Ryder Cup was pushed back to September of 2021; due to COVID regulations the on-site attendance would be limited. At the start of the tournament Samantha Marks posted a tweet asking if anyone would want to start a Ryder Cup group chat for those of us watching from home with FOMO. This group chat is where I met Adam and how I came to join the Golf Unfiltered team.
"That's such good luck,” said the neighbors. "'We'll see,' said the farmer.
In 2022 we were lucky enough to go again for a practice round, but it was the first time our family would walk through those gates without my grandfather. Eerily ironic that it was the same year Tiger had to miss because of his terrible accident a few months before. We were lucky enough to win the lottery for the Drive, Chip, and Putt in 2023 and were able to take my son for the first time. This past year, both my mother and my mother-in-law won the lottery for the Drive, Chip, and Putt. So for the first time we were able to take the entire family through the gates on the same day - my son with all of his grandparents.
Everything will work out the way it's supposed to, Bluey.
There were moments of both good and bad luck running throughout the tournament all weekend. A weather delay on Thursday morning meant the first groups wouldn’t tee off until around 10 a.m. But when the rain stopped, they played golf until almost 8 o’clock at night giving those Thursday patrons an extended day in Augusta. Similarly, the patrons with Friday tickets got to see Tiger play 18+ holes of golf. It was the windiest conditions the tournament has had in years, but it was also some of the most interesting golf we’d had a chance to see in a major in a while. Even the timing of Meredith Scheffler’s pregnancy - while not ideal that she had to miss the tournament, Scottie was able to share another victory with his family and make it back home before the birth of his first child.
Augusta National Golf Club tends to just create these memorable moments, some more magical than others. While we were waiting in line for the gates to open on Wednesday morning, the two guys next to us started asking us for tips on the best way to walk and see the course. The older couple on the other side of us heard and joined in the conversation, asking for the best times to visit the Pro Shop or for good places to sit and rest. Immediately the young guy noticed the logo on the older man’s shirt, “I work at that golf course!” he said enthusiastically. The older man was shocked, “We live there, that’s our summer house!”
Sitting at breakfast that same morning and a couple walks up and asks if they can share a table with us. They mention that it’s their first time at The Masters. The husband said he’s been listening to podcasts to figure out the best way to do and see the course. The wife sees all of the pins that my husband likes to wear on his hat and comments that it must not be our first time. When I said that my first tournament was in 1997, the husband sat up and said, “Wait, are you Nikki Dunagan?” They listened to Will Bardwell’s podcast, The Lying Four, on the drive down. In the episode I shared our family’s story & talked about Johnathan’s pins - and they remembered.
Later that day, we sat in the grandstands on the tee box of 16 to watch some of the groups skip it across the water before heading over to the Par Three tournament. The last group we were waiting for was a trio of Sam Burns, Tom Kim, and Scottie Scheffler. We watched as they hit their tee shot - all three aiming for the Sunday pin location - and then began to cheer along with the rest of the crowd for them to “Skip it!” They happily obliged and took their turns entertaining the patrons trying to skip the ball across the water, carefully avoiding the turtles sunbathing on the edge of the pond. They made their way toward the green and we stood to leave, just as a butterfly landed on the sleeve of my dress. I stood motionless. The butterfly didn’t move. It continued to sit there on my shoulder for 60 seconds. When my husband tried to slowly get the camera to capture the moment, it flew away. Even the security guard standing behind us laughed and made a comment about how the butterfly must’ve liked the flowers on my dress. “It was your grandpa coming to say hi,” my husband said.
In the episode of Bluey, the butterfly is the sign the mom follows to show her the way. For me, maybe the butterfly was a sign from my grandpa. Maybe it was his way of saying goodbye, since it showed up on the 16th hole which is famously covered by Verne Lundquist who The Masters said goodbye to this year. Or maybe it was a sign of who would win the tournament later that week, since Scottie was the player we were watching there when it happened.
I think no matter how you look at it, it just shows that Augusta is creating magic around every corner. Good luck, bad luck, Masters magic, golf ghosts - however you want to describe it, there’s something that happens when you walk these grounds that can’t be explained. You feel it in the little moments - hearing the crunch of the oil slick as you trek across a crosswalk, when the morning sun starts peeking through the loblolly pines. And you feel it in the big moments - hearing a roar coming from an unknown destination behind you, seeing your kid get a high five from one of the players.
I would give anything to be able to experience The Masters with both my grandfather and my son. He would’ve loved seeing him dance up and down the hill in front of the scoreboard during the Drive, Chip, and Putt. He would’ve cracked up at him only knowing Fred Couples as “Boom Boom” and no other name. But my son is getting to make new memories in Augusta, ones with his grandparents. And as much nostalgia I have for those Masters tournaments in the past, at least I get a front row seat in a green-folding chair for the ones to come with the next generation.
Bluey: Is that a happy ending or a sad ending?
Calypso: It's both.
