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Jason Day Once Compared Augusta’s Back Nine to 'Playing Golf in heaven.'

Originally posted on DailyClubGolf | By Sneha Abraham | Last updated Apr 3, 2026 12:06 PM ET

For most golfers, Augusta National is the most pressure-filled place on earth, but for Jason Day, one particular moment there feels like “playing golf in heaven”.

The former world No. 1 has a Saturday habit at Augusta that very few people know about. After the Augusta National Women’s Amateur crowd leaves, Jason Day goes to the back nine by himself, and the way he talks about it says a lot.

“That Saturday, it would be like if you died and went to heaven and you were playing a round of golf up there,” Day said. “Typically, I’ll play the back nine, and there won’t be a single soul. It’s the most peaceful nine holes you can have on a golf course all year. It’s magical.”

Stripped of crowds, cameras, and pressure, it’s just flowers, tall trees, and calm silence.

The 38-year-old golfer is getting ready for his 15th Masters, and his routine is still the same. He practices from Sunday to Tuesday. His family joins him for the par-three contest on Wednesday.

Most of the time, he stays at the course, living in a luxury motorhome with a cold plunge, sauna, steam shower, and even his own bed from his home in Ohio.

“I literally go from the course to the bus and back, that’s it,” Day said. But the quiet of that Saturday tradition is only half the story.

Jason Day Returns to Augusta Believing This Is Finally His Year

The memories are strong, but so is his desire to win. Jason Day says his iron shots, which he blamed for missing out on in past Masters, are now better.

The Australian golfer has been working on how high the ball goes, which is very important on Augusta’s fast and firm greens.

“I didn’t hit my irons as high as I would like for four years,” Day said. “I’ve worked on that recently and got my apex back to around 130 feet.”

His results show he is playing well, with a tied-for-second finish in his first event of the season in January and a tied-for-sixth finish at the Houston Open before Augusta. The 2015 PGA Championship winner is now ranked No. 41 in the world and arrives in good form, no longer unsure when talking about his chances.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t say, ‘I think’; I know I have the game,” Day said.

The Masters begins on April 9. By then, Jason Day will have already walked the entire back nine in total silence.

This article first appeared on DailyClubGolf and was syndicated with permission.

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