The bunker would little affect todays best in its original position, but what if, like fairway bunkers at the fifth and eighth,, it was restored somewhat further downrange? All rights reserved. While the two 1987 Fazio-designed holes may escape, the original holes . Clifford Roberts estimated that the original actually measured little more than 110 yards and, we are told, early Masters participants found it far too easy. Alexander Gough (@alexlogangough) January 19, 2020. 1930 Four years before completion. Sibley Mill - In 2016, two businessmen purchased Sibley Mill with a . His work includes: In 1999, a second cut of fairway was introduced and two holes were lengthened. But at Augusta, well-intended ideas to improve the golf course seldom are tempered by several years worth of study and debate; with the next Major never more than 12 months away, they happen quickly and, in the contemporary era, with almost numbing regularity. But with a robust 4.24 average in 2008 (fourth hardest overall), such would be a small price to pay in setting a tone for this historically minded quest. Get details on each hole, along with par and yardage information. Hole No.9 Restore Dr. MacKenzies original single-bunker, boomerang green, a remarkably striking feature offering all manner of exciting pin placements and whose right-side false front could still, with perhaps a bit of minor massaging, provide the same roll-down- the-hill dangers incumbent to present first-tier pins. Multiple photos from Eureka Earth show construction back beyond the teeing ground, and even a rectangular, white outline of what would sensibly be a new tee. Augusta National has spent $200 million buying up property around the course for two decades. So do we judge by four days in April, or the rest of the clubs golfing year? Instead, at the suggestion of Gene Sarazen, a right-side hazard was added, theoretically narrowing the primary driving area but also leaving the shorter left-side route more open for attack. The aerial shows sweeping revisions to the first five holes of the nine-hole course, with a number of greens now hugging water. It is the smaller of two airports operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports . Further, the hole has twice been lengthened since World War II, though only in recent years did its back tee reach (and ultimately exceed) the 220-yard distance that has been listed since the early postwar years. The restrained hand used to create Augusta National epitomizes the true genius of the design. Further, how about reducing the size of the first greenside bunker and re-establishing the lost section of putting surface that extended forward along the creek bank, creating a really dramatic pin placement whose slightly shorter carry might tempt even more players to have a go? For the purpose of The Masters, it is difficult to argue that the current hole despite offering little more than two really effective pin placements on a larger-than-average green isnt far better suited to the rigors and excitement of modern tournament play. And while it looks as if several holes might feature new tees or fewer trees, its also possible the club has other plans. it is hardly surprising that the sixth green was among Perry Maxwell's initial 1937 renovations, a reconstruction that removed the mound, left much of the Redan-like left-side contour intact, and added a prominent right-side shelf. The new No. The Office of Human It thus appears to be precisely the sort of closer that the clubs present architectural vision calls for which, since the U.S. Open wont be coming there any time soon, is really rather a shame. Fairways have been narrowed, and a second cut of grass almost rough, albeit on the light side was introduced. It looks to be hidden in the woods between the 5th, 6th and 7th holes. The club's co-founder Cliff Roberts told the Olmsted Brothers, the firm charged with Augusta National's landscaping, that an "approach and putt" course should be constructed alongside the main layout, which was still two years away from opening. The range of shotmaking skills originally required for the better player to reach the second green in two was enviable: a drawn tee ball (to carry/avoid the bunker, and follow the general turn of the fairway), then a long, controlled fade to the narrow, left-to-right bending green. 3Flowering PeachPar 41933: 350 yards2009: 350 yards. Maxwells initial version, by the way, featured four left greenside bunkers, but the two that have survived would likely be the only ones relevant to modern Masters participants. Or it could be much ado about nothing. T3. Indeed, their original sixteenth hole now virtually forgotten was listed at 145 yards and ran nearly due west, emanating from alternate tees on either side of the fifteenth green. For the most part, however, this creek was piped underground during construction, though at the first and seventeenth, it remained in front of the tees until 1951, when it was finally buried in its entirety. This same small hazard which was an extension of the creek-turned-pond which fronts the fifteenth green was also slated to cross the first, third, seventh, eighth and seventeenth fairways, though generally in far less invasive ways. 4 tee, on the opposite side of the No. But the original version also had the front-left extension of the putting surface which, one senses, would offer particularly exciting possibilities to modern tournament players. Originally built with a uniquely bunkerless, mound-flanked green similar to that in play today, the eighth was emasculated in 1956 when, concerned over spectator viewing and congestion, the club had George Cobb build a new, moundless putting surface which would eventually come to be guarded by bland, strategically insignificant bunkers. Hole No.3 Replace Jack Nicklauss four fairway bunkers with a restored version of the original single hazard, slightly repositioned if necessary. The course was such a hit that it was incorporated into the Masters Tournament, with the inaugural Par 3 Contest taking place in 1960, won by Sam Sneed. With the ongoing concerns over distance, as well as advances in golf ball technology, it seems that Augusta is looking to negate the extra distance by making some holes longer. Zak is a writer at GOLF Magazine, currently working on a book about the summer he spent in St. Andrews. by Daniel Wexler . The purpose of this piece is to examine, on a hole-by-hole basis, the full scope of these changes, and to reach some conclusions as to how Jones and MacKenzies original 1933 design might measure up against the layout shortly to be on display once again at the 2009 Masters. The now-famous and ultra-speedy bent grass on the greens wasnt introduced until 1980. But yes, that is grass on the fairways. As with hole number four, modern green speeds would have surely rendered MacKenzies original green unplayable at least two decades ago, so the debate is largely a moot one. The golf world has opined on how to change this par-5, which plays as one of the easiest holes on the course (according to par) during the Masters each year. MacKenzie, of course, was well-known for his green contouring, but it is unlikely that many of his roughly 120 courses worldwide were constructed with putting surfaces as consistently undulating as those at Augusta. Wexler, Daniel The Evolution of Augusta National: What Would The Good Doctor Say? Hole No. 15 FirethornPar 51933: 485 yards2009: 530 yards. The now-famous and ultra-speedy bent grass on the greens wasn't . 13 but more on that later) and wow, theyre green enough to look game-ready. Both putting surface and greenside bunkering have been modestly re-shaped over the decades (including some initial 1938 work by Perry Maxwell) but as a whole, the green complex is at least conceptually consistent with the Jones and MacKenzie original. The sandy 9th green (top) in contrast to the bright-green 18th (bottom). Also, though not a course design issue in the strictest sense, one would be remiss not to note the unfortunate impact that Augustas conditioning has had on the game of golf worldwide. But such architectural adventurism would undoubtedly seem less offensive if it werent forever masked in claims of reverence to Jones and his vision a vision which is blurry, at best, on the golf course today. Longtime Augusta Chronicle scribe Scott Michaux says hes heard the building may function as some sort of facility for members to take advantage of during tournament week perhaps a restaurant. Back in mid-July aerial photos showed that the Par 5 13th hole at Augusta National was undergoing major renovations. Hole No. Its possible the two trees were planted as future obstacles to prevent players from intentionally driving left off what could be a new tee box on a longer No. No. L.A.s massive golfing year is officially underway (with plenty more to come), The best golf vibes in LA are at this Santa Monica muni, The 10 most expensive tee times in Phoenix/Scottsdale on Super Bowl weekend. And watch this video about them below. 7PampasPar 41933: 340 yards2009: 445 yards. This newer right-side bunker has been altered/expanded since, most recently being enlarged in 1999. It is also interesting to note that MacKenzies original 1931 routing map indicates plans for a creek to cross in front of the second green. Still, its hardly a far-fetched conspiracy theory to think that those piles of rock would be logical places for a new tee box. Augusta National and the Masters through the years. Speaking in general terms, the one indisputable difference between any early version and the present surely lies in the narrowing of fairways via the addition of rough and trees, moves which have sacrificed a significant degree of Augustas strategic challenge and very nearly all that initially made the layout such a unique and groundbreaking advance in the field of golf course design. This, combined with the eradication of rough, would re-open the far-left and far-right avenues of play, once again allowing the eleventh to pose one of the games wonderful strategic questions instead of simply being a backbreakingly brutal test. Other changes have been limited primarily to the teeing ground, which has been moved and elevated on multiple occasions, enhancing both the holes length and the angle of its dogleg. Also altered is the teeing ground, which was moved leftward and forward in 1972 (to create space relative to the thirteenth green), then extended back to its current 440 yards during Tom Fazios 2002 reworking. 17 NandinaPar 41933: 400 yards2009: 440 yards. Once upon a time, the plain that encompasses parts of the second, third, seventh, fifteenth and seventeenth fairways was largely a wide open stretch, dotted only with the occasional pine tree. To the extent that this has largely been sacrificed with an eye towards The Masters might, depending upon ones priorities, be forgivable. New drone shots of some of Augusta National's recent renovations might make the next five remaining months go by just a little bit faster. Hole No. According to Twitter user Ken Brown, the tee on the Par 5 15th at Augusta will be moved back for the 2022 Masters. The golfer whose ball bounded indiscriminately down to the fairways leftward reaches, on the other hand, then faced, in MacKenzies words, a difficult second shot over a large spectacular bunker, with small chance of getting near the pin for the green would indeed have become a very shallow, sand-fronted target from that angle. This is largely a question of taste. Travel Mailbag: Is Bay Hill open to the public? Beyond the architectural particulars inherent to individual holes, there are several broader conclusions which might reasonably be drawn when comparing Augusta National then and now. The plan: The idea of creating a long range or master plan has been a recent trend in golf course design inspired by years of committee tampering at some of the worlds great courses. (Note Magnolia Lane on the far right about a third of the way down). The present three-level green, with its enormous back-to-front fall, requires the deftest of touches on both approaches and chips, and inevitably provides those tragic moments when a second shot, apparently well-struck, spins back just a yard too farthen agonizingly trickles some thirty yards back off the putting surface. On June 20th, Eureka Earth posted photos of construction beginning on the historic par 5. The Augusta National Golf Club's Par-3 Course will sport a new look for the 2023 Masters Tournament. On the one hand, this can be viewed as more strategic that is, one might be inclined to flirt with the fairway bunker to open up a back-left pin one day, then skirt the treeline to get a better angle on a back-right target the next. While Roberts' plan faced initial pushback from membership, the course opened in the fall of '58 to rave reviews. Holes have been lengthened, ponds have been added to Nos. But the less-symmetrical, more-contoured putting surface was surely more interesting than that in play today, which inevitably made for even greater theater on those earlier Masters Sundays. Tweaks to Augusta National: The hottest post-War architect had already earned the respect of Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones, making him the logical choice to replace Perry Maxwell as Augusta . But regardless of such glaring stylistic differences, the substance of the hole remains among the least-altered at Augusta, particularly the putting surface which, save for some adjacent mounding added during the 1950s and 60s, has been little bothered. MacKenzie, however, had a purpose for his lost fairway bunker: tee shots which carried it were left with a clear view of the putting surface for their second, while balls played safely left stuck the golfer with a semi-blind approach over the now-deceased frontal mounding. Thus a fairway might measure a full 60 yards in width, but only the player skilled enough to position their tee ball within, say, a particular 10-yard section (generally far right or left) would be rewarded with an ideal angle from which to attack. A demanding two-shotter then, a demanding two-shotter now. If it is a tee box being constructed behind a row of trees that currently grows behind the longtime back tee, the hole could be stretched some 40-60 yards. Remove the bunkers from what is presently a patently mundane hole. But the original version was considerably more strategic and, for anyone above a single-digit handicap, surely more fun. Just working on the new road, he wrote on Twitter. The failings of this concept were trumpeted far and wide (including, we are told, by Bobby Jones just as the project was getting started), ultimately resulting in the hiring of Byron Nelson and Joe Finger to rebuild the original green complex, complete with restored mounds and a back left quadrant nearly invisible from the front edge, in 1979. The only exception is No. Well, it appears the club is now doing something about it. Empty black bunkers. A great question. Hole No.12 Could it hurt to once again have the right half of the green just slightly smaller than the left, and perhaps just a little bit elevated? To begin with, though a set of published drawings showed both this and the thirteenth greens as having been planned bunker-free (It will be noted there is not a single bunker at either of these holes MacKenzie), the evidence is clear that the front bunker was indeed included during initial construction. However, despite Bobby Jones citing them in his 1959 book Golf Is My Game as central to the holes challenge (The proper line here is, as closely as possible, past the bunker on the left side of the fairway), they served primarily as little more than directional aids, for better players had little trouble carrying drives comfortably past them. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (IATA: DCA, ICAO: KDCA, FAA LID: DCA), sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The idea was revived 25 years later, this time under the direction of architect George W. Cobb, one that met Jones' liking. To accomplish this, they built Augusta with uniquely wide fairways so wide, in fact, that for the great majority of its history, the club was devoid of appreciable rough altogether. They became far more significant in 2003, however, when, as a part of a Tom Fazio project to enhance the fairways dogleg, they were reconstructed far downrange (they are now a 310-yard carry) and placed at a more invasive angle. There is no reason to take driver out of the bag, especially with the trees and pine straw out in the distance. How about somewhere in between? Rumors about the hole being lengthened have been circulating for years now. Augusta National's greens are the only hint of green on the entire property (except for the apparently overseeded tee box on No. The bigger deal with the 13th hole is, of course, a potential new tee box. Augusta National Golf Club is the most famous golf course in the world and hardly needs an introduction. While members might well enjoy the subtle challenges of the seventh hole circa 1933, with modern technology it would scarcely even be considered a par 4 for Masters competitors, who would drive indiscriminately towards the green and, at worst, hope for two-putt birdies from the Valley of Sin. MacKenzie wanted to utilize each green and tee box twice, with the holes skirting a small pond. Garuda Diverts Yogyakarta Flights. The third green was the first of the seven altered by Perry Maxwell, the sum of his work apparently being the shaving of some front-right putting surface and, perhaps, some reduction in overall contour. The bentgrass greens at Augusta really pop next to the dormant bermuda. Augusta National has finally extended the 13th hole. 4 tee. Its likely that nobody except the members will know for sure until after the work is done. Additionally, as suggested in MacKenzies green sketch, this smaller right side was elevated significantly above the left a substantial difference from the relatively flat surface in play today. Hole No.2 Rebuild the deceased left-side fairway bunker, far enough downrange (and positioned invasively enough into the dogleg corner) to make airmailing it something less than a given. By 1966, the left-hand fairway bunker long since obsolete for better players was filled in, but not replaced by a new left-side bunker further downrange. Top 100 Courses in the U.S.: GOLFs all-new 2022-23 ranking is here! 2. In July we were given evidence it was finally . It may be U.S. Open week, but Augusta National is making its own noise in the golf circle as new aerial images show that the course is undergoing some serious course renovations. 2, instead of playing west-to-east, points northwest. Hole No. (Note the very tight routing), For whom? Of course, the seventeenths most famous feature lies considerably closer to the tee in the form of the Eisenhower tree, a now-massive loblolly pine sitting some 210 yards off the tips and occupying the left third of the fairway. Connor Lindeman. Clearly, MacKenzie didnt always envisage it as such. But in this case, such relative consistency may be unfortunate, because while 72nd-green birdies to win The Masters have never been common, the difficulty of todays hole minimizes such prospects tremendously. It appears the par-4 11th has lost many of the trees to the right side of the downhill fairway. City leaders say our downtown is . They include: A new tee location for the 13th hole. November 22, 2022 9:02 am ET. The club has not commented on what work is underway. The National did not immediately respond to queries Tuesday from The Augusta Chronicle about the changes. "I agree completely that the construction of this golf course will be an important contribution to the beauty of the place," Jones wrote to Roberts. Still, the slightly modified Redan concept is alive and well in the putting surfaces front-left section, and the elevated right side represents a completely different strategic element so if nothing else, its hard to seriously argue that the hole has gotten worse. In a useful explainer from the knowledgable Michaux, who has covered all things Masters for decades, he points back to chairman Fred Ridleys press conference before the 2019 Masters. The resort has been dubbed by some to be a 17-Mile Drive for the southern hemisphere. These pictures are pretty breathtaking. The demanding par-4 fifth was, by MacKenzies own explanation, a similar type of hole to the famous seventeenth, the Road Hole at St. Andrews this despite the absence of a road, railroad sheds, an Old Course Hotel, or any sort of fronting bunker whatsoever. Thanks to the flyover folks at Eureka Earth, we have new photos of the 13th, taken earlier this week, that show dirt being moved in the fairway and the shaping of a potential new tee box much farther back. Theres the putting green behind the first tee (19). And while we still have those, the fact that players are hitting middle to short irons into that hole, you know, is not really how it was designed.. Everything is changing in the world of golf these days, and it seems that even extends to Augusta National, where the 13th hole is under major construction. Check out these pictures, courtesy of Eureka Earth, of a construction project underway at the Augusta National. Further, two rear bunkers were added to the green complex in 1953, though only one of the pair survives today. Theres plenty to take in from the new Augusta National Golf Club overhead imagery posted by Google this week. Hole No. Arguably the most famous par 3 in golf (and surely the most consistently dramatic) the 155-yard 12th has undergone several significant changes over the decades, most of which seem largely forgotten today. Put the ball on the wrong part of the green, however, and a three-putt is likely. As dramatic a par 5 as has ever been built, Augustas legendary thirteenth has retained its general configuration fairly well but a number of smaller, less-obvious changes have taken place. So, if Augusta National wanted to push the 13th tee back it would have to purchase land from its neighboring club. One certainly sympathizes with Masters officials whove grown weary of watching longer hitters reach the fifteenth green with short-iron seconds, so the holes recent lengthening to 530 yards certainly makes sense. That pond surely will be refilled, but it begs a fun question: Who got to keep all the balls they found in there? Not too terribly different, really. In recent years, powerful players have been able to blast balls over the trees that protect the dogleg-left hole, sometimes hitting it far enough around the corner to leave a short iron or even a wedge for the second shot to the green. But in the end, perhaps the biggest difference between Augusta then and now is simply the role of Bobby Jones. Thus while Augusta may not be able or wish to restore most holes to their original configurations, and its altered putting surfaces must retain their modern contouring as a nod to contemporary green speeds, wouldnt it be nice if the club re-established at least. Thats where we were first introduced to a lengthened 15th hole, which made its debut this April. T3. AUGUSTA, Ga. The long-awaited change to one of the most famous holes at Augusta National Golf Club is not yet on the schedule. In 2002, Tom Fazio built a new tee situated so far back as to nearly impede play on the neighboring 15th hole, while also planting several trees on the outside of the dogleg to minimize the option of deliberately busting a big drive into the relative safety of the clubs practice fairway. 9, which appears to be in the midst of some major top-dressing (you can see the contrast with No. Its Valentines Day, which means one thing: The Masters is only 50 days away. Remove the rough and trees, however, and once again allow the players to actually do a bit of thinking, and we just might have something, Hole No. A new concession and bathroom hub between the 8th and . The cabins locations would change the Par 3s first four holes, according to the plans. In this light, the tinkering with the bunkers size and position though anathema to purists has certainly served to strengthen the hole as well. Augusta National announced plans for the seven-room cabin before the 1953 Masters. Indeed, the longer approach which must carry the fronting hillside, yet stop below the hole, and not be missed right (sand) or left (another steep hillside) might be considered inspirational simply in its challenge. Consider the games two most famous layouts, the Old Course at St. Andrews and the Augusta National Golf Club. Well see if you need a green jacket to take advantage of this place. Of primary importance to Dr. MacKenzie was the shape and bunkering of the putting surface, for its angling against/behind the deep front-left bunker was intended to favor a drive played to the far right side of the fairway which, in turn, mandated flirting with the forest of pine trees that has long filled the dogleg corner. Last fall word spread that the Par 3 Course was in line for serious changes, and photos emerged in the spring that those changes were no joke.