My, what has happened to L'enfant terrible who started penning the CG back in the 80’s? The post-50 TD is actually quite respectful of his elders and their intent and motivation for tweaking ANGC for the Masters. Not a trace of cop-out, in my view; just an honest, fair assessment of the evolution of the course and how that differs from his own evolved body of work during his career. As usual, one of the more reasoned and thoughtful voices in the treehouse. Lends credibility and perspective, I thought, to his views about changes to TOC and the tournament held there every five years or so.
Not to speak for Tom, but I was reminded of something said a few days ago (by Jeff Ware?) that ANGC is unique in providing a stern test for the best golfers on the planet while remaining enjoyable for the 28 capper. I hope this viewpoint goes beyond all the exclusivity and miraculous conditioning of the course and is an inspirational example of brilliant architecture as both a work of art and a pleasure to experience.
Of course, I’ve never been near the place and know next to nothing about places like ANGC. As a really OT personal aside, no, irrelevant threadjack, I have a confession. I have one friend and one relative who have played there and have chatted with them about what it was like. A few years ago the friend caught up with me on the first tee and asked me if I wanted to play Augusta. He’d been offered the chance to play it again and wanted to know if I’d like to take his place in the group. Of course he knew my passion for seeing a few great courses. He’s a teacher and said that he just couldn’t afford the trip. He explained the details, the timing (decide right now, buy a ticket), and the probable cost. I thought about it for maybe ten seconds, then said “pay $XXXX just to play golf? Naw, I’m with you, too rich for the likes of me.” I’ve never regretted the decision. About as close to regret as I get is reading about some poor soul’s quest to play some holy grail list of wonderful courses and has played them all except the holiest of holy (access wise), and I said “no thanks” just because of a few dollars. What an ungrateful, cheap bastard I must be. It just wasn’t that important to me. I admit that since then, if the offer were for a couple of other masterpieces, even with a similar price tag, I might decide otherwise. Just one of those choices we make.