Never been lucky enough to go there. Still, as hilly as the course is and undulating as the greens are, the players hit the ball so damned far now that even a 7500 yard Augusta plays like a 6800 yard Augusta from 16 years ago.
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They do hit it, but it's still a monster. It just doesn't have the teeth when the greens aren't slick.


The thing you really can't see on tv, is that they hardly ever have an even lie. It's always some undulation somewhere, sidehill downhill etc.

It you've never been, I would highly recommend it. They have the drawing every year, which is worth it.

I've been 3 times. It's remarkable. And really cheap once you get inside the gates.
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:-)

That's the worst shot you can hit at Augusta. A high cut is always the preferred shot because it clears the slopes and lands on the greens much softer.

That draw will give him length on 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 15, but it won't help him on any approach shot.

Thirteen is the only tee shot on the course that demands a right-to-left ball flight. The greens on 1, 2, 3 (lesser extent due to its length), 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17, and 18 don't hold a draw very well.
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Would love to see Mickelson blow another. His meltdowns have been classics
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A high fade is a soft shot, but the preferred shot at Augusta is a high draw of the tee.

You can't draw it off 11 anymore, they added more trees down the left to keep from cutting the corner, you have to fade it off that tee, draw it to the green.

Alot of the par 4's you don't really have to work it, with the hills you get length either way and their somewhat straight away.

But the greens there are so receptive, because they are infact perfect, that you can hold them working it either way. It's pretty nuts actually, we watched some guys fade it to a left pin because of the slope, which is bassakwards, but there are so many side boards and slopes that it's mostly coarse knowledge.
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Augusta is a second shot golf course. It always has been, because you can spray it anywhere off the tee and usually be in play.

As good as those guys are, most cannot hit high draws all day with their driver and change to a cut swing for their irons and have it be repeatable.

It's not a coincidence that the guys with the most sustained success at Augusta have hit a high cut.

Look at the guys who challenge there year after year now:

Tiger: High cut
Phil: High cut
Freddy: High cut

That's not to mention the most successful of all, Jack Nicklaus.
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Eh, you can't attack pins from anywhere. In play? Sure. Attack? No, not there.

Most of the guys now, with new style technology, don't work the ball. At all. Mostly because you can't curve newer golf balls like you used to be able too. They mostly have a preferred shape and stay the course with it.

But they can work it. The guys with sustained success at Augusta are great players. They'd contend anywhere. Save Freddy who actually draws the ball more often.

Phil's high cut fits the coarse pretty perfectly, but he's to sloppy on the greens. He should have more success there, but he's a headcase.

Augusta has always been and will always be about the putter.
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You're overlooking a few crucial pieces of evidence: Putts/GIR and Total Putts are also a function of ball striking, especially at a course like Augusta. If you're above the hole on 9 or 4, good luck. Same thing if you hit it in the wrong swale on 14 or 16. You may have a putt at it, but it's not going anywhere close. Do that enough and it will look like your putting is shit even though it's your ball striking that is fucking you over.

Yeah you have to execute putts and you don't get a lot of kick-ins, but the targets for the greens are incredibly small.

As far as Phil is concerned, he's won three of his four majors there, and finished in the top 10 14/18 times since '95, including ten top 3s. Only two golfers have ever had more sustained success at Augusta: Tiger and Jack (Palmer won one more, but he didn't put up T3s almost every other year).
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Yeah, you have to get it there to make putts. But at that level, in a major, ball striking wise there isn't a whole lot of difference at the top of the leader board. You dont get there hitting it like an ass.

There just aren't straight putts at Augusta, anywhere. No 3 footers, nothing. Even if you hit the landing areas that are about the size of a Queen bed or smaller (hole 4 with a front pin, or 16's middle right) and are within 15 feet you, it's still an extremely hard put.

The hardest green there, IMO, is 14 or 17. There video game looking.

I was talking more of Phils inability to close the deal there. He always contends, it's a given.

It's all a chicken and egg story, in regards to GIR, putts, fairways. Better position off the tee, easier shot to green, easier shot to green easier chacne to have easier putt. Easier putt, less putts.

It's really hard to say a guy is putting bad without looking at the whole picture.

I also think the length there has increased the need to hit fairways. Like you said, you can't really come out of the longer fairway, (there is no rough at Augusta, it's perfect) and control your ball on those greens.
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And Hamas, if you ever get a chance to go, drive down. Play the Robert Trent Jones trail on your way down and back.

It's awesoem.
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I hope Tiger loses. Sick of CBS pimping him in every commercial.
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Gary Player's record at Augusta isn't too shabby.
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This. Today will be different I think, but who knows how it will work for them.
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Dustin Johnson is my pick. Pulling for Sergio.
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My son has taken up golf competitively so I built this in our back yard. It all comes down to chipping and putting for the scores. Makes me sick how hard he can swing. Averages 260 on his drives with some 300 yard wind-assisted ones.

But the scoring is around the greens where 70% of the shots are hit.
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