A First Look Around Augusta National

It's pouring, so I neglected to get into how dry and immaculate the course appears (Nick Masuda on the 10 am closure).

Instead, reports of shredding and other dire descriptions (Jim McCabe talked to past champs Sunday) had me expecting the worst when taking a Monday morning tour of Augusta National. It turns out that yes, a lot of trees suffered damage but in general, the place still looks beautiful and dare I say the damage did some good on  the 7th and 17th holes?

I did.

Here's the full report (including flora and fauna), with images of the 17th and the 12th.

Video: CNN Retracing Alister MacKenzie's Footsteps

One of the segments from this weekend's CNN International's Living Golf. Great scenes of Alwoodley with historian Nick Leefe in this, and more with host Shane O'Donoghue.

Thanks to reader Mark for this:

The segment following features Ben Crenshaw talking on the 30th anniversary of his first Masters win, but it's the stuff on 1995 that's really good. If not, you can view it here.