Augusta National, reimagined

[SteveOgulukian]

Interesting article where current architects discuss what changes they would make to Augusta National.


https://www.golfdigest.com/story/masters-2019-we-redesigned-augusta-national?mbid=nl_040319_golfworld_AM&CNDID=31010796&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_brand=gd&utm_mailing=gw_monday_news_newdb_ACT_20190403%20(1)&bxid=MTMyNjM4NzQ0MzU2S0&hasha=4dd49d023da2cce6b4cecd2bc4393a53&hashb=f1da2246b9fa016ac6725e65481d71fce4e3c306&spMailingID=15399229&spUserID=MTMyNjM4NzQ0MzU2S0&spJobID=1620158291&spReportId=MTYyMDE1ODI5MQS2


Enjoy.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for highlighting Steve. Whether pro or con worth a read.
Atb

[Jeff Schley]

Cliff notes version to me is: Too many trees, too many bunkers added (not MacKenzie), rough needs to go.

Also the most far fetched suggestion was Ron Whitten himself saying he doesn't want to move back the tee on 13th he wants to move the entire green and creek back 50 yards.  Using laser topography imaging and recreating it exactly.  This will make it 610 yards and players will have to hit long irons and woods again. Don't see that happening.

[jeffwarne]

Cliff notes version to me is: Too many trees, too many bunkers added (not MacKenzie), rough needs to go.

Also the most far fetched suggestion was Ron Whitten himself saying he doesn't want to move back the tee on 13th he wants to move the entire green and creek back 50 yards.  Using laser topography imaging and recreating it exactly.  This will make it 610 yards and players will have to hit long irons and woods again. Don't see that happening.

Well wouldn't that be just fitting for the most influential architectural critic of the burgeoning Fazio years.
Why not move recreate the entire property just south of Disney?-it'd be better weather for the winter members and good access to The Villages.
Though Whitten's suggestion may well be tongue in cheek and actually points out how simple many of the other suggestions are-(mowing rough, planted tree removal) he actually rightfully points out that the scale is so out of whack that merely moving a tee back doesn't restore the scale, in this case a turning point.


I like Fought and Vincent's restoration idea on #3 which is how the hole played in my early Masters viewing days-except the driver option was rarely used then (it already is driveable via technology-I don't like Kidd's idea which jumped the shark a few years ago-I think I'd ide if I saw a player chipping a 3 wood onto a par 4 at Augusta)
Amazing nobody suggested simply playing 7 from the members tees (or the 410 tee used for a couple years)
I also like Bergin's idea of allowing a run up on 7 with a bunker removal which I'd couple with the removal of a few more tree/limbing up to return creative recoveries to that hole.


Silva's thoughts on 12 are misguided(though I agree in general with his thoughts on adding length in the absence of a grownup USGA). Putting a 7 iron in player's hands because Jack and Arnie did denies the fact that today's 9 iron is at least an 8 iron in loft and shaft length, and maybe a 7. 155 yards is still 155 yards. Playing that hole at 190 to put a 7 iron in player's hands would severely tip the balance of risk and reward to the hole.


The multifaceted setup changes to 17 suggested by Schaupeter reek of Miike Davis overtinkering disease.


In short, a return to the strategic original bunkering, with a better Mackenzie aesthetic, resoring angles via tree removal and fairway mowing, all with modern lengths could easily be done in one summer and return it to glory.

[Kyle Harris]

After actually reading the article - not inferring from the Cliffs Notes version - I learned a bit.



The 3rd hole suggestion is educational.
Bill Bergin makes a case for the 7th that sort-of calls back to the original intent with a "Valley of Sin."
Tom Doak makes a great case and Ryan Farrow did the graphic.

Ron Whitten's example was strictly tongue-in-cheek.

[Jeff Schley]

The multifaceted setup changes to 17 suggested by Schaupeter reek of Miike Davis overtinkering disease.

OMG, could you even imagine Mike Davis setting up ANGC for The Masters?  That would be an entertaining article.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I've done one billionth what anyone quoted in the article has done - or less - but I thought most of the ideas were dumb. I liked TD's, but agree they probably won't do it. The suggestions about the 12th and 13th were the worst.


I wrote more on my site, but the short version of what I'd do:

• Keep the length, except a few holes… which I'd shorten a bit.
• A lot of trees would go away. A lot of "first cut" would go with them. Angles don't work with 40-yard wide corridors. They can with 75-yard wide fairways.
• I might add one or three trees: short left of the tee off 13. You can force Bubba out to the right in ways other than moving the tee.
• Make the bunker on 8 more of a centerline bunker like it used to be, slightly set to the right to make that side - a better angle, though a slightly longer shot in - a bit tighter. But not much, like 55/45 left fairway vs. right. (ratio)

But, hell, I've never even seen the place in person. That changes in a few days, though.

[BHoover]

I would like to see Brandel Chamblee set up the course for the tournament.

[Peter Pallotta]

Just an aside:
It's remarkable how dramatic 'unintended consequences' can be, engendered sometimes by the smallest of things: a butterfly flapping its wings, or in this case a golf ball that doesn't spin.

[Steve_Lovett]

Why not remove all the bunkers on #7 and go back to the elevated/perched green and let the short grass become a super-vexing hazard? That's how it was originally, I believe.

[Scott Weersing]

Are there any old photos of the boomerang green of No. 9 green?


Or was it no. 18 back then?


All I found was this shot from a video game, http://theaposition.com/anthonypioppi/golf/1531/the-augusta-of-today-bears-little-resemblence-to-the-mackenzie-jones-original

[Mike Hendren]

More molar than boomerang:



Also of interest in the photograph is the dense tree-line of young pines down the right side of what it now the 7th hole as well as the three pines in the fairway near the green that would pinch the approach.  Also, I'm not sure the front tongue at today's 18th could have been pinned or the front left tongue of the 4th in the upper right hand corner of the photograph. 

[Kalen Braley]

Mike,

Great photo, i just can't get enough of these. Looking at the old #16 (org.7) on the top left, was that such a bad hole?

Looking at Google Maps (at whats mostly current), what struck me is all the structures on the property.  Just mind boggling to see so much infrastructure lining the course in addition to the cabins tucked in between holes. They do a helluva job to hide that from view at least on the TV Broadcast.  Do the staff also live on site or is that for Masters week?

[Steve Kline]

More molar than boomerang:



Also of interest in the photograph is the dense tree-line of young pines down the right side of what it now the 7th hole as well as the three pines in the fairway near the green that would pinch the approach.  Also, I'm not sure the front tongue at today's 18th could have been pinned or the front left tongue of the 4th in the upper right hand corner of the photograph.

It doesn't look like either front tongue on #9 was pinnable either based on your comments about the other holes.

[Sven Nilsen]

Are there any old photos of the boomerang green of No. 9 green?


Or was it no. 18 back then?


All I found was this shot from a video game, http://theaposition.com/anthonypioppi/golf/1531/the-augusta-of-today-bears-little-resemblence-to-the-mackenzie-jones-original

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,61416.0.html