While the actual Masters in Augusta wraps up with pristine greens and hushed crowds, the Bay Area has its own version — and it involves significantly more beer.
Tipsy Putt in Emeryville is hosting its Masters Tournament, giving locals the chance to channel their inner Tiger Woods while channeling their inner... well, someone who's had three IPAs on a Tuesday. The mini-golf bar concept — part putt-putt course, part watering hole — has carved out a niche in the East Bay's entertainment scene, and events like this are exactly why.
Here's what we'll say: love it or hate it, Tipsy Putt represents exactly the kind of small business hustle the Bay Area needs more of. No government grants. No taxpayer-funded "activation spaces." Just entrepreneurs who figured out that people like cold drinks and tiny windmills, then built a business around it. Revolutionary concept, we know.
The Masters Tournament format presumably pits players against each other across the venue's indoor mini-golf holes, with the added variable of alcohol steadily degrading everyone's motor skills as the rounds progress. It's basically an economic experiment in diminishing returns, except the returns are laughs and the cost is your pride.
For a region where city councils seem to spend half their time debating how to regulate fun out of existence, places like Tipsy Putt are a reminder that the private sector can create community gathering spaces without a $50 million bond measure and a five-year environmental review. You just need a liquor license, some astroturf, and a dream.
If you're in the East Bay and looking for something that doesn't involve doomscrolling or attending a public comment meeting about bike lanes, this is your move. Just maybe Uber there — your putting accuracy after round three isn't the only thing that'll be impaired.