when groves of mature pines were planted on holes like seven, 11, 15, 17 and 18 in areas that were formerly fairway. The right-side driving op- tion on 11, for instance, was entirely removed, eliminating an angle into the green that some players preferred. No matter how effective the measures have been in protecting the perceived sanctity of the course, the narrowing was a blow to the founding MacKen- zie-Jones-St Andrews philosophy of Augusta National, where the greens and hole locations were expected to extract punishment for wayward play, not trees and longer grass. “You’ve just got to plod along,” Tiger Woods said in 2008. “It’s playing more of a US Open than it is a Masters.”
“We felt that we could no longer let them swing from the heels,” said then Masters chairman Hootie Johnson. The second cut did little to affect scor- ing. “You could argue it wasn’t what Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie had in mind,” says Ernie Els, “but it didn’t bother me as much as it both- ered some people.” “I still say the golf course is harder when it was mowed wall to wall be- cause the errant shot went down in creeks and down into the trees and into the pine straw,” says Floyd. “The rough stops the ball going into bad places. You don’t make 8s and 9s after that like you could in the past.” The efforts to enforce accuracy intensified between 2002 and 2011
driving the ball much longer. After the hole was lengthened to 530 yards in 2006, drives continued to yield approach shots in the 200- to 210-yard range, often just 5- and 6-irons. By the late 2010s longer hitters were look- ing at second shots well under 200 yards, notably Sergio Garcia’s Sunday 176-yard 8-iron in 2017. To counteract the driving distances, Augusta National added 520 yards between 1999 and 2006. It has since extended the course an additional 100 yards, bringing the official total to 7 545 (6 899m). More consequen- tially the club began to place a greater premium on accuracy off the tee by narrowing the holes, initially by add- ing a “second cut” of rough in 1999.
70 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2024
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