Any golf fan tuning in to watch The Masters this week is going to get all of the sights and sounds. The roars for Rory McIlroy will echo throughout Augusta National Golf Club. Amen Corner and the azaleas will be popping with vibrancy and color. And those watching at home will certainly hear the familiar "fore please" on the first tee, and definitely the Masters bird sounds on the broadcast. However, the debate about the bird sounds at Augusta and on the broadcast for the Masters Tournament has been ongoing for years: Are they real?
The answer actually lies somewhere in the middle, which I know is never the fun answer, but it's the proper one. The Masters bird sounds are probably real, but the better question might be if they are live or pre-recorded. Augusta National might be dodging the allegations that the bird sounds are fake, but there will still be some debate about them moving forward.
Masters bird sounds: Are the sound real or fake — and are the live sounds?
This investigation has been ongoing over many years. Shane Ryan of Golf Digest dug deep into the matter and concluded that many players, media members and even patrons who have attended the tournament at Augusta National don’t recall seeing a lot of birds. That doesn’t mean they aren’t real, but it does cast doubt that the Masters bird sounds aren't authentic and, in fact, are actually fake.
However, recently, there have been rumors that the Masters bird sounds are real in a sense but just not completely authentic.
These rumblings suggest that, while they might not be live birds chirping all the time at Augusta National, the bird sounds that are piped into the broadcast were recorded at the iconic golf course and then added in production. Essentially, what you're hearing are the Masters bird sounds — that just might not have been the exact time those birds were chirping. They just happened to b making sounds and singing on the property at one point and were recorded.
That seems like, perhaps, the most likely definitive answer. There are too many trees on the property for there not to be any birds. More importantly, so much about the Masters is made to feel authentic, so it would fit right in to have real bird sounds recorded on the Augusta National grounds.
So that's where we're at. It's not fake bird sounds but it's also not live bird sounds either. While we may never get definitive clarification there, that's what all of the evidence ultimately points to.
Other fake noise accusations and scandals in sports
While the Masters' bird sounds might not be fake per se, pumping in fake noise wouldn't be completely unheard of in sports. Perhaps the most famous example came in 2014-15 when the Atlanta Falcons were found to be pumping fake crowd noise into their stadium in order to create a better home-field advantage. That ultimately cost them a 2016 NFL Draft pick after they were caught and found guilty, so to speak.
However, the Falcons aren't alone. Bill Belichick said this past season while appearing on ESPN's Manningcast during Monday Night Football that the then-Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts would also pump fake crowd noise in whenever Belichick and the New England Patriots played there. Meanwhile, this past college football season, Alabama Crimson Tide broadcaster Chris Stewart accused the rival Tennessee Volunteers of using fake crowd noise at the Vols home stadium, Neyland Stadium, for their Third Saturday in October rivalry clash.
Having fake bird sounds at The Masters would be far less damning than any of those instances, of course. Luckily, as we covered, that's not something we wholly have to worry about with what's most likely going on at Augusta National.
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