Historical Masters Footage and Architecture and Strategy

[James Brown]

i was elated when Augusta put all of the Masters past final rounds on YouTube recently:


https://m.youtube.com/user/masters


I am especially interested in pre 1994, because that was the first Masters I watched after I took up the game at 18.  Anyway.


I am a lot more sympathetic to the course changes in recent years after watching some of the 70s and 80s footage.   If you look at the shots into some of the greens, like 9 and 10 and 11, the lengthening does really get us back to the same clubs and shots of 30-40 years ago.    Same on 18.  Until the mid 90s no one could carry the fairway bunkers and they had to choose to take them on.  Same today.

[/size][size=78%]What impressed me the most was that the challenges that the players focus on today are pretty much the same as in 1990.  This was not true in 1997. [/size]

[jeffwarne]

spot on, and was especially not true in 2001 with the new tech...


Post 2002 there were complaints that the roars were gone for a few years, which had everything to do with unseasonably cold wet weather and wind being in the face on 13 and 15.


This year I noticed the same thing(players hitting it in similar pre lengthening places) but with clubhead speed via technique, player evolution, and fitness and tech ever evolving, it's already a matter of time before more lengthening is coming as further equipment rollback/bifurcation probably isn't coming because I'd say the powers that be have waited too long to react and become "distance normalized" , and even those that have dug their heads out of the sand are too commercially compromised.


Augusta with its purpose built major venue will widen the gap between it and other major venues, as The US Open and PGA(and horrifyingly maybe even the R&A) will simply revert to modern monstrocity courses that are automatically devoid of the tradition and history that makes the Masters so special and memorable-and the wanna be "play the major courses" player will begin to normalize the 6 hour experience so often had at Big scale modern major venues.


I'll be at Palmetto if anyone needs me...

[Mike Bodo]

I'm watching the 1975 Masters now. What a great duel that was between Nicklaus, Weiskopf and Miller. I keep hoping either Miller or Weiskopf made their putts on 18 to send it to extra holes. That would have been great drama and great golf to see who won. Still one of the best ever Masters without a playoff.

[Matthew Rose]

Obviously the maintenance of the course changes through the years, but I also find it interesting how few flowers there were for a long time. Even up until maybe about 1982-83 or thereabouts, you hardly see much "eye-candy". There are a couple shots of players teeing off on #13 and behind them is nothing but some air and you can even see Augusta CC in the background.


It's also interesting to go through the years and you forget how the front nine was never seen for so long.... there's a few tournaments in the 70s where you see the ninth briefly but then you don't again for awhile. I don't think you see the 6th, 7th, and 8th holes until 1986.