As we mark the one-year milestone of "The Roll-Up," we want to give a big shoutout to all of you for hopping aboard this wild ride with us. From unraveling the bizarre beginnings of holiday customs to delving into the eccentric superstitions of baseball players, we've cherished the flood of feedback from our awesome readers like you. Thanks for reading, interacting, and being the lifeblood of this newsletter. Here's to more interesting and occasionally odd content hitting your inbox on the first (sometimes second) Wednesday of every month!

The Patrons Survival Guide at Augusta National

For all you golf aficionados making the pilgrimage down to Augusta this week, we're rolling-up a crucial list of four things to help you avoid looking like a first-timer on Magnolia Lane. After all, being at the nicest club in the world with a bottomless supply of $5 cocktails has the potential to end in disaster for some. This ain’t no Phoenix Open:

No Playing in the Sand: In 2012, forty-year-old Clayton Baker seemingly enjoyed a few too many $5 cocktails and ventured beyond the ropes of the 10th hole, taking his beer cup and scooping out some of the sand (quartz, actually) from the fairway bunker. This seemingly minor act of pilfering quickly escalated as security ensnared him, leading to his arrest, a lifetime ban from the tournament, and $20,000 in legal fees. As Baker put it, "I did something I shouldn't have done and it cost me $20,000 and a lot of public shame. That seems like a lot for a handful of sand." You can say that again, Clayton!

Pond Skimming is for Skiers: Golf Digest reporter, Mike Stachura, while playing the course after the 1996 Masters, embarked on a clandestine mission to figure out how the club keeps their ponds in such pristine condition. On the 15th hole he scooped out some of the water from the pond and took it home for analysis which revealed the presence of blue food dye, a common practice in water beautification. Though not "formally" banned, the incident has since kept Stachura from returning to Augusta, marking a silent acknowledgment of the line crossed in pursuit of journalistic curiosity.

Watch Your Tongue: Gary McCord, known for his colorful commentary, found himself in hot water after his attempt at humor during the 1994 Masters broadcast didn't land as intended with the Augusta National stewards. McCord's remarks, suggesting that the greens had been made slick with "bikini wax" and likening a difficult part of the course to needing "body bags", crossed the invisible line of Augusta's storied decorum and resulted in McCord being permanently barred from future Masters coverage. McCord, taking a page out of the Trump playbook, shows us however that there is no such thing as bad press, "I've been banned by the Masters for the last 30 years after the bikini wax joke... it's the best thing to happen to my career". Hallowed grounds, indeed.

Just Say Yes: At this point it goes without saying, but don't scalp tickets at The Masters. The tale of Michael Freeman and his family serves as a stark illustration of how seriously the club takes this issue. Although this scheme was far more elaborate than traditional scalping (check it out here) the Texas family found themselves in a whirlwind of legal troubles after pleading guilty to fraudulently obtaining Masters tickets and scalping them, culminating in a hefty restitution exceeding $275,000 and a 28-month prison sentence for the ring-leader. A tall price to pay just to sell a few extra Masters tickets. If you manage to score tickets, just say yes!

No Cell Phones, Please

With The Masters stealing the limelight this week, we want to highlight that Augusta National still clings to its ‘no cell phone’ rule. Can you imagine surviving eight hours during a normal day without our beloved handheld gadgets? Yet, lo and behold, the tradition endures, pulling in larger crowds each year.

Check out the scene above – everyone's glued to their screens, capturing every moment of LeBron's game-winning shot, except for the lone wolf in the front row: none other than Phil Knight, the big cheese CEO of Nike. The true top tier fans don’t take videos of floor seats to brag to their friends, they just take their friends.

Maybe it's high time we all took a page out of The Masters' and Mr. Knight's playbook and stashed away our phones for a hot minute. Let's face it, your pals don't really care if you were there, and after all, we're not as important as our cellphones would like us to think. Act like you’ve been there before.

Chris Faux Joins SCF Event as Panelist

We're excited to have participated in yesterday's Southern Capital Forum event in Atlanta with our very own, Chris Faux, joining as a panelist. The event focused on the latest M&A trends and insights affecting private market investors in the Southeast.

About the Southern Capital Forum: Founded in 1984 to foster closer professional relationships among the members of the Southeast private capital community through the exchange of information and ideas, the Southern Capital Forum (aka Atlanta Venture Forum) has grown into the largest trade association for private capital investors in the Southeast. Membership in the Southern Capital Forum is comprised of private equity, venture capital, corporate and angel investors, and groups that provide products or services to the private capital community.

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