[Kevin_D]

Curious if any of the experts here can shed light on a few questions:

1) why were the 9s reversed?
2) why were the streams on 15 and 16 replaced by ponds?
3) why (and when) did they go from a more natural bunker style to the current, more manicured look?

I know, I know..."stupid newbie, use the $#!&*$! search function!!!"

But if anyone cared to take a shot at the answers to these I'd be interested to hear (and would guess some others would as well).

Cheers,
Kevin

[Garland Bayley]

Curious if any of the experts here can shed light on a few questions:

1) why were the 9s reversed?
2) why were the streams on 15 and 16 replaced by ponds?
3) why (and when) did they go from a more natural bunker style to the current, more manicured look?

I know, I know..."stupid newbie, use the $#!&*$! search function!!!"

But if anyone cared to take a shot at the answers to these I'd be interested to hear (and would guess some others would as well).

Cheers,
Kevin

1) The back nine (old front nine) is wetter and took longer to dry out some in the mornings.
2) Because they let RTJ on the property.
3) ?

[Keith Grande]

I can answer #1.  The issue with #12 as the third hole, was that as the lowest spot on the property, and lack of sun, it tended to be affected by frost the most.  By reversing the nines, it allowed tee times to be less affected by frost delay.  As far as the effect of the tournament, there was an issue about having the final green (now #9) in an inoppurtune place for galleries.  Cliff Roberts was highly cogniaznt of  spectator viewing angles, which is why for some time the mounds surrounding 8th green were neutered for many years, to enable viewing of the hole.

As far as the streams turned to ponds, it could have been because of damage caused due to flood surges.  #11 was dammed up when it was severely damaged by a flood.

There were many people who had an impact on changes to the course...previous players, Maxwell, George Cobb, Byron Nelson/Joe Finger,RTJ, Nicklaus, Fazio, not sure about the speciifc rounding of bunkers vs the original freeform style.

[Kevin_D]

Thanks.

I am basing question 3 in part by how the sketches look here:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58239.0.html

I realize this probably happened gradually (as opposed to 1 and 2 which were point in time decisions), but wondering if there was some year that a deliberate change was noticable.

[Keith Grande]

Here's a great interactive  comparison of changes to each hole, by year...

Many holes did not have bunkers to begin with!

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/georgia/augusta-changes

I also highly recommend reading The Making of the Masters, by David Owens, for more background.

[Kevin_D]

Thanks Keith!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Kevin,

The answers above might be incomplete to wrong .

The nines were reversed ............ Twice

[Keith Grande]

Pat, please reread The Making of The Masters, pages 109-110.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Pat, please reread The Making of The Masters, pages 109-110.

Keith,

I'm familiar with "The Making of the Masters"

Pages 109-110 confirm that which I stated, namely that the nines were reversed twice.

[Keith Grande]

Pat, yes they were, for both of the reasons I provided.  So what is  "incomplete to wrong"?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Pat, yes they were, for both of the reasons I provided. 

So what is  "incomplete to wrong"?

That the nines were ONLY reversed once, not twice.

[Matthew Rose]

Don't know about the pond at 15, but the original 16th (or 7th) was a dinky little 100 yard shot over a ditch on nearly a right angle to the current hole. There were a few pros who thought it was too easy and one player in particular (Sarazen?) thought it was a terrible hole. So out came RTJ.

I am always fascinated with the 6th hole once having a pond on it. It was well before my time and seems very hard to fathom when I think of that hole now.

[Mark Chaplin]

In 1934 the first hole was number 10, now it's number 1 it can only have been reversed an odd number of times 

[Keith Grande]

In 1934 the first hole was number 10, now it's number 1 it can only have been reversed an odd number of times 

Mark, what Pat failed to mention, is that the original drafted holes were in the original configuration, then switched to reverse nines when they actually played it, then reversed back to the orginal plans in 1935. 

[Howard Riefs]

Was the 14th hole always without any bunkers?

[Sven Nilsen]

Howard:

There used to be a massive fairway bunker, I'll try to find a photo.

Sven

Here it is -

[Howard Riefs]

Howard:

There used to be a massive fairway bunker, I'll try to find a photo.

Sven

Thanks, Sven. I just grabbed my David Owen book. Apparently the bunker was there through 1952.

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