Jack, Arnold and Bobby
/Now posted is my latest Golfobserver.com column on the recent comments by Palmer and Nicklaus.
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Don't Blame Hootie For This
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John Hawkins reports in Golf World that CBS is keeping Gary McCord from working the Masters, not Hootie Johnson. And McCord is grateful.
The link also includes Stu Schneider's TV column and the other fun Bunker stuff.
And miracle of all miracles, I actually got to read this issue. It arrived Thursday. Two days after the Feb. 10 issue with coverboy J.B. Holmes!
Hawkins: Wait and See
/John Hawkins's latest blog entry says we should wait until after the Masters to analyze the latest lengthening.
Okay...but in the meantime, can we continue to complain about the rough and tacky pines?
Masters.org Up and Running
/The official site of the Masters has been updated for 2006 and is ready to go for the big week. Nick Faldo handles the hole-by-hole descriptions this year.
Every Past Champion Is Entitled To His Point Of View...
/The Golf Channel asked Hootie Johnson to comment on the April Golf Digest story that includes Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer criticizing course changes.
A "club spokesman" responded:
"Mr. Johnson has no opinion about their comments. Every past champion is entitled to his point of view."
A Crack In The Code
/Oh the 2006 Masters just got even more interesting.
In the coming days this will be analyzed a bunch more, but for now, here's Ron Whitten in the April, 2006 Golf Digest. Thanks Taylor for the heads up:
Past champions are on shaky ground when they privately gripe about the new length of Augusta National. No one is forcing them to play the course with persimmon woods and balata balls. If their games can't take advantage of modern technology, and Augusta is just too long for them these days, then their beef is with Father Time, not the Masters chairman.
With the exception of a couple of holes, the yardage added to Augusta National makes perfect sense, given how far many competitive players hit the ball these days. Whether the proper holes have been lengthened is another matter.
But sheer yardage is not what has gotten Jack, Arnie and others of the Old Guard riled up. They're mostly upset about the tightening of many holes, through the use of expanded bunkering, transplanted trees and the introduction of rough, what Augusta National calls, in delusional parlance, "a second cut of fairway."
This is where Jack and Arnie are absolutely right. Far from maintaining the integrity of the design that Jones and Mackenzie envisioned, the changes undertaken since 1998 have abandoned their philosophy of multiple options and different lines of attack.
"They've totally eliminated what Bobby Jones tried to do in the game of golf," Nicklaus says. "Bobby Jones believed golf was primarily a second-shot game. He believed that you should have enough room to drive the ball onto the fairway, but if you put it on the correct side of the fairway, you had an advantage to put the ball toward the hole. He wanted to give you a chance to do that shot."
Gone are Augusta's wide corridors that allowed every competitor to play his own game off the tee, to pick the spot he thought provided the best angle of approach for his trajectory and shot shape. Squeezed-in fairways now dictate the manner of play on every hole. It's as if the Masters Committee thinks it's now running the U.S. Open.
And...
The best course designs challenge different golfers on different holes. Augusta National used to do that. It no longer does.
Last summer, the club also eliminated the old backstop slope on the right side of the seventh green, the one players could rely upon to spin a shot back down toward front-right pin positions. Shots hit to that area will bounce over, into the bunker. The seventh was never that easy. Statistically, it played around par during every Masters. That could go up a half stroke this year.
Palmer found the new trees an irritation when he recently played the 11th.
The older pines at Augusta traditionally had a bed of pine needles beneath them, which allowed players to attempt all sorts of recovery shots. The newer pines have rough underneath, deeper than the "second cut," and are planted so close together that the only recovery available is usually a pitch out. It's one more example of how Augusta has stifled some playing options.
What's worse, members and their guests can't try their skills at that old classic length. There are just the 7,445-yard championship tees, overwhelming for average player, and the member tees, at 6,365 yards.
No Masters For Jack
/Scott Michaux in the Augusta Chronicle puts to rest the rumors that Jack Nicklaus might tee it up in the Masters again.
"I received a letter of invitation in early January and have already declined," Nicklaus said Thursday in a statement. "(Masters and Augusta National Golf Club chairman) Hootie (Johnson) has not pressured me at all and, in fact, other than the letter of invitation, I have not heard from Hootie."
Tiger Press Conference at Torrey Pines
/The assembled inkslingers got plenty of time with Tiger Woods before the Buick, yielding a few interesting comments in spite of the questions.
Q. (Inaudible).
TIGER WOODS: You never know. I haven't started designing yet. No one has presented me any opportunities yet as far as that, but maybe one day."
I'm guessing he was asked about designing a course? If so, it's hard to believe no one has presented an opportunity.
Q. What are your latest thoughts about the lengthening of Augusta almost in the context of what you just said? And do you think it's going to be a better test of skill that's going to require a better player to win now?
TIGER WOODS: The only way I think it would be a better test is if it remained dry because then every player can hit a good drive and have a reasonable iron to the green.
But if it's soaked I hit driver and a 3-iron to 11 one year when it was wet, and all the guys that were in front of me and in my group and behind me were all hitting lumber in there. That hole is not meant to hit 3-wood or 5-wood or something into that green.
Same thing with No. 7. That hole was not designed for a 5-iron. If it was, it was not at that green speed.
If the fairways are firm and they're running, then I can see it being a great test. But if they're soft, then I think it eliminates a lot of guys that have the skill to play but they just don't hit the ball far enough.
Q. (Inaudible).
TIGER WOODS: I think you need to move it around, depending on the conditions. If it's soft, why play a 500 plus par 4 all the way back when it's soft? Give the guys a chance a little bit. But now give the guys a chance a little bit and make it 480 (laughing). I think the staff needs to understand moving around. The prerequisite now is almost you have to hit the ball long. Length has always been an advantage in this sport, always has been and always will be. You just need to make it fair for all the rest of the competitors, as well.
Tour Winners, Tour Losers
/Scott Michaux takes a detailed look at the TV deal winners and losers and makes this (sad) point for some hoping to see a return of an old Masters tradition:
LOSER: Tour winners. With opposite events and even more diluted fall finish events, Hootie Johnson might be even less inclined to re-implement automatic Masters invites to tournament winners.
Augusta Turns 73
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Augusta National opened seventy-three years ago today. And the Masters is just 83 days away.
To the left is a postcard that announced the opening (available through Golf Links To The Past for $850).
Below are a couple of early images picked up recently from the old American Golfer magazine. The first is Bobby Jones during his first Masters appearance en route to a 76. He is putting on the (then boomerang) ninth green, with the first fairway in the background. Note the beautiful fairway bunker lines.
The second image is of today's 18th, showing the old cross bunker whose outline remains visible today. Thanks to Tommy in the GS.com art department for touching these up.
Augusta National : Torrey Pines
/I bet when Hootie Johnson and Tom Fazio started tinkering with Augusta National they never thought they'd be lumped in with Torrey Pines...and actually have someone be complimenting them at the same time:
"Now, I like these changes," [Charles] Howell said. "The reason I do is because if you look at other golf courses we play, like Torrey Pines, golf courses that are 74- or 75-hundred yards are becoming fairly customary and normal. I don't think you want to play a major championship on a golf course that is not in keeping with other courses we play on tour in terms of length."
"Any time you take a golf course and completely overhaul it, you're going to get some mixed feelings," Howell said of the evolution of his opinions. "But now I think it's fine. I really do. There isn't one thing I saw at Augusta National that I haven't seen done everywhere else."
But aren't we drawn to Augusta/The Masters because they didn't do things like everywhere else? Sorry, I interrupted again. Looks like Scott Michaux--author of the story where Howell's comments appeared--was thinking the same thing:
Purists will argue that Augusta National isn't everywhere else and should be above trying to keep up with the Joneses or Woodses or whoever. Being held to a different standard is part of the unique fascination with Augusta's evolution.
"It's a change for Augusta National," Howell said, "but if you forget how the golf course used to be, it's fine. If this is your first year coming and playing the Masters, you won't think any big deal of it. The problem is that everybody has watched the Masters since they were old enough to watch TV and everybody knows that golf course better than they know any other golf course in the world."
Michaux also writes:
And the eye-popping new measurement for the par-4 No. 11 (505 yards) only begins to tell how much harder that hole has become.
"The shortest 11 can play is 505," Howell said, saying the yardage marker is situated at the extreme front of the tee box instead of the customary center. "I walked it to the back and it was 513, which puts it longer than No. 13."
Now that's more like the old time-Clifford Roberts run Augusta we all love and know.
The biggest impact of all the recent changes might be forcing many of the older champions to give up playing in the Masters much sooner than expected. The latest changes almost guarantee that Jack Nicklaus will not change his mind and return to play one more Masters on the 20th anniversary of his epic 1986 victory.
Other past champions like Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw might be forced to retire far sooner than their predecessors or risk embarrassing themselves on a course now built for younger players.
"I think it will keep a lot of guys from coming back," Howell said, lamenting the potential loss of a unique aspect of the tournament which allowed him to play in his first Masters with Gary Player.
Now that's less like the old time-Clifford Roberts run Augusta we all love and know.
"Hitting It Straight Will Be Key"
/That was the jump header in Sunday's LA Times. The Thomas Bonk story in question offered an extensive look at Augusta National's recent changes. It's a nice summary of the new look course, with some of the recent comments from Tiger and Couples. And thankfully, it lacks the excessive glorification we've read recently.
If nothing else, the club has helped Augusta's moribund non-Masters tourism industry by having all of these writers down for a looksy (ah, but do they get to bring their clubs?!).
On this "hitting it straight" thing. I'm thinking that within a decade, maybe they'll paint a straight line down the center of what's left of the fairways, and deduct a stroke for those who toe the line, and maybe add strokes for those who dare to non-conform by playing to sides of fairways to gain approach better approach angles, etc...
Nice metaphoric quality to this, don't you think?
And Yet Another Augusta Story
/Glenn, my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail!
Oh well, looks like Bob Harig is on the preferred list at Augusta and he returns a favorable albeit lukewarm verdict on the course changes. It's lacking the gushing superlatives we've read elsewhere (and thankfully, there's no mention of restoring the rhythm).
Augusta Photos
/GolfDigest.com has posted a photo sequence of the key holes changed at Augusta National. Naturally, the 7th looks silly (big architectural insight of the day: when standing in the middle of the fairway and your view of the greenside bunkers is choked out by trees, it's time to call in the Oakmont tree-removal squad).
But the new 15th tee looks good at least (now about those pines down the right...).
More interesting are Ron Whitten's photo descriptions. I've read a similar tone in the past from various publications, mostly from the club. I think it's a troubling tone if you respect the vision of Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie.
For example, on the changes to the 7th green:
The green has been redesigned to create a possible right-rear pin position; the right-rear portion has been lowered one foot, so that players will no longer be able to fly it past front-right flag locations and let the slope spin the ball back to the hole.
Design flaw repaired! Players hitting balls to spots and letting them feed down? Just so wrong. Wait, that same thing allowed for Tiger's 2005 chip-in on 16, which was what, maybe one of the ten greatest moments in sports television history? Top 5 Masters moments? Unforgettable. Goose bump stuff when you see it now shotmaking? No, those kinds of feeding slopes must go!
In fact, the more I think about it, the more that such feeding slopes are the essence of Augusta and exciting tournament golf. (You know, the crowd cheering a slowly rolling ball down the slope.)
This accompanied the photos of No. 11:
Several clusters of dogwoods are to be planted in the left-hand rough to eliminate the possibility of bailing out to the left and having a relatively easy second shot from the "rough" or pine straw.
See, those Jones and MacKenzie guys didn't close all the gaps. They opened the door for someone to bail out and have a "relatively easy second shot from rough or pine straw." (Because of course it's so easy to hit a ball out of a flyer lie or off of pine straw, over water, with 15 million people watching...oh, and the Masters possibly on the line!).
You see, today's master designers and course setup gurus plant scrawny Christmas trees to plug these design leaks. They close all the gaps. That's why they're masters.
