MASTERS 2026
THE NEW LOOK Curiously, Roberts was reluctant to give any credit for the hole to Trent Jones. At the time he told reporters that the hole was entirely the vision of Bobby Jones, suggesting Trent Jones was merely a contractor. But everything about the 16th points to Trent Jones. The runway tees (the hole would later be shortened to 170 yards), the man- made water feature, the massive green, 45 yards front to back, one of the largest on the course, with the dividing tier and formulaic hole locations – these would all become RTJ design signatures in the
type of water feature in their arsenal of tools. The most important aspect of the new 16th was the green. The original green was wide and shallow; the mod- ern green was deep, curving towards the back left with a distinct high back section and a lower front-left level cre- ating diverse hole locations, protected on the left by water and the right by two bunkers. It was put into play for the 1948 Mas- ters. The following year, Trent Jones re- built the green, accentuating the high/ low levels, and added a bunker in the crook between the putting surface and the water. Small modifications would continue through the years including extending the putting surface back left, deepening the bunkers and grad- ing the area behind the green. Cliff Roberts began adding copper sulphate to the water in 1950 to turn it blue. But the fundamentals of the hole were set from the beginning.
American golf course design, and Bob Jones had recently hired him to de- sign and build Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta. Given the limitations of the 16th green site between the creek and the hill, the two considered rotating the hole by relocating a new green to the right, or to the east, of the creek, and shifting the tees even further to the left of the 15th green, at a distance of 190 yards. Construction crews excavated a large basin between the tee and the new green, then dammed the creek and filled the area with water, giving the hole a distinctive water fairway that ran up to the front of the green and around the left side. Prior to World War II, architects were happy to incorpo- rate naturally occurring water hazards in their designs, but it wasn’t common practice to create artificial ponds and lakes. After the success of Peachtree and Augusta National, Trent Jones and every architect after him included this
The green design at Augusta National’s 16th hole is nearly scientific in the way that it can control scoring.
OLD POSITION The first version of the 16th hole was built against the hillside to the left of the current green.
T HE ONLY HOLE AT Augusta National that was not designed by Alister MacKenzie and founder Bobby Jones, who created the course in 1932, is the par-3 16th. As we know it, the 16th is one of golf’s most recogni- sable holes, displayed vividly each year during the Masters in a colourful glade of pines across a beautiful reflection pond. However, this version wasn’t put into play until 1948, 14 years after the first Masters in 1934 and three years af- ter the tournament resumed following a three-year hiatus during World War II. MacKenzie and Jones’ original 16th, also a par 3, was shorter, continuing in the same direction as the previous hole, the par-5 15th. The tee was to the right of the 15th green and the 145-yard shot was hit over a small creek (the same Rae’s Creek tributary that crosses in front of the 13th green) fronting a green banked against a hillside behind it and cocked significantly so that the left side
was closer to the tee than the right side. Any shot that came up short, to any part of the green, would be in the creek. THE ORIGINAL 16TH HOLE Members who played the hole from about 120 yards enjoyed the 16th and thought it one of the most attractive on the course. Jones and Augusta Na- tional chairman Clifford Roberts, how- ever, worried that it wasn’t sufficiently challenging for Masters competitors, and indeed the 16th surrendered the first holes-in-one, three of them in fact, in 1934 (Ross Somerville), 1935 (Willie Goggin) and 1940 (Ray Billows). Jones also thought it was too similar to the more respected par-3 12th. Both had similar-length shots over water to angled greens, with right-hand hole lo- cations more challenging than those on the left or middle, with the 16th lacking the intimidation and infuriating winds of the former. The club tried to give the 16th more
teeth in 1937 by building a new Masters tee to the left of the 15th green, extend- ing the hole to 170 yards. This altered its character by shifting the angle of at- tack, so golfers were hitting more into the deeper axis of the green and placing the creek hazard to the right than direc- tionally in front. That tee was extended to 190 yards in the early 1940s – it would have been located somewhere close to the current concession stand off the 14th tee. A JONES COLLABORATION The wartime pause gave Jones and Roberts a chance to reassess the hole, and Jones brought in Robert Trent Jones to consult on a possible remodel. Trent Jones, incidentally, also went by Bob Jones at that time but began using his middle name when the two began working together out of deference and to avoid confusion. He had emerged from the Great Depression and war years as the commanding figure in
TRANSFORMATIVE TIME The new green had a major influence on course design.
62 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 63
MARCH/APRIL 2026
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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