Bob Jones on Augusta

(Image: masters.com)
More from the 1959 Sports Illustrated article – in which Bobby Jones describes his philosophy behind the design of Augusta National and offers a hole-by-hole strategy for playing it:

We are quite willing to have low scores made during the tournament. It is not our intention to rig the golf course so as to make it tricky. It is our feeling that there is something wrong with a golf course which will not yield a score in the 60s to a player who has played well enough to deserve it.

On the other hand, we do not believe that birdies should be made too easily. We think that to play two good shots to a par-4 hole and then to hole a 10-foot putt on a dead-level green is not enough. If the player is to beat par, we should like to ask him to hit a truly fine second shot right up against the flag or to hole a putt of more than a little difficulty. We therefore place the holes on tournament days in such locations on the greens as to require a really fine shot in order to get close. With the greens fast and undulating, the putts from medium distances are difficult, and the player who leaves his ball on the outer reaches has a real problem to get down in par figures.

The contours of the greens at Augusta have been very carefully designed. We have tried to provide each green with at least four areas which we describe as pin locations. This does not mean that the pin is always placed in one very definite spot within these areas, but each area provides an opportunity for cutting the hole where the contours are very gentle for a radius of four or five feet all around.

Again, a few things stand out, such as: "We are quite willing to have low score made during the tournament." Yet it seems the current overlords lost sight of this, at least temporarily, in the years (in particular, 2007 and 2008) when they were making the Masters feel a little too much like a U.S. Open.


The whole article is fascinating. Yet, I've never heard anyone reference it in an article or on TV when discussing the changes made to the course in recent years. No one referred me to it, I simply stumbled upon it while looking for something else. In that way, I feel like I've discovered a hidden treasure.

In particular, the hole-by-hole analysis offers some fascinating glimpses into how the game has changed. Here are just a few bits, along with my own observations:

Bobby Jones: "I believe it is true that with modern equipment and modern players*, we cannot make a golf course more difficult or more testing for the expert simply by adding length. The players of today are about as accurate with a medium or long iron as with their pitching clubs. The only way to stir them up is by the introduction of subtleties around the greens."
The Whiffler: At first blush, this seems to fly in the face of the massive additional yardage that has been added to the course since Jones's day. But I think Jones was thinking in terms of Jack Nicklaus length, not Tiger Woods length. I think additional length is necessary, but it's also fair to say that not only length is required to make the course a fair and challenging test.

* In 1959, Jack Nicklaus was a 17-year-old amateur, and I believe Jones was already aware of him by then (I'll need to confirm). So it's interesting to think that Jones may have been thinking of young Jack when he wrote those words. Perhaps not, but either way, it's fascinating to realize that the age of Nicklaus – who was every bit as long, relatively speaking, as the young Tiger was – was just around the corner. There were probably those who would eventually think that the course might need to be "Jack-proofed."

Jones: "The finishes of the Masters Tournament have almost always been dramatic and exciting. It is my conviction that this has been the case because of the make-or-break quality of the second nine of the golf course. This nine, with its abundant water hazards, each creating a perilous situation, can provide excruciating torture for the front runner trying to hang on. Yet it can yield a very low score to the player making a closing rush. It has been played in 30 during the tournament and in the medium 40s by players still in contention at the time."
Whiffler: Exactly. The ultimate risk-reward golf course. The best finish in golf.

Jones [on the 555-yard par-5 2nd]: "Although this is the longest hole of the course, a well-hit tee shot will take a good run down the fairway as it slopes over the hill. It was one of our guiding principles in building the Augusta National that even our par 5s should be reachable by two excellent shots."

Whiffler: This hole was still 555 yards in 1997, when Tiger blitzed the field by 12 shots. Here's how Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte reported Tiger's play on the hole that year: "The second, all 555 years of it, the longest hole on the course, was driver, 9-iron for Tiger on Saturday. Let's go over that again, just in case you weren't paying attention. Five hundred and fifty-five yards. Driver, 9-iron. By the way, he hit that 9-iron over the green." Somehow, I don't think that's what Jones had in mind by "two excellent shots." (Today the hole plays at 575 yards.)

Jones [on the 475-yard par-5 13th]: "We call 13 a par 5 because under certain conditions of wind and ground few players will risk trying for the green with a second shot. In my opinion this 13th hole is one of the finest holes for competitive play I have ever seen. The player is first tempted to dare the creek on his tee shot by playing in close to the corner, because if he attains this position he has not only shortened the hole but obtained a more level lie for his second shot. Driving out to the right not only increases the length of the second but encounters an annoying sidehill lie."

Whiffler: Outstanding. My favorite hole in all of golf, a brilliant design for all the reasons cited above. I also find it interesting that Jones feels it necessary to point out that why this hole is called a par-5, when by length alone it could easily be considered a par-4. Today the hole plays at 510 yards, still a very modest length for a par-5. And because of the vagaries of the fairways, and how well the green is guarded, it still takes "two excellent shots" to hit the green in two.

Jones [on the 520-yard par-5 15th]: "The fairway of this hole is quite wide. The short rough on the left is far removed from the line of play, and there is no demarcation on the right between the fairway of the 15th and that of the 17th. The tee shot may be hit almost anywhere with safety."

Whiffler: This is not quite the same hole it used to be, as trees have been added on the left and right sides of the fairway, making an accurate tee shot more important. In 1997, Tiger played the hole with impunity, as described by Rick Reilly in his Sports Illustrated write-up:

"On each of the first two days he hit a wedge into the 500-yard par-5 15th hole—for his second shot. Honey, he shrunk the course. Last Saturday his seven birdies were set up by his nine-iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge, putter, nine-iron, putter and sand wedge. Meanwhile, the rest of the field was trying to catch him with five-irons and three-woods and rosary beads."

 And a closing thought from Jones:

"In over-all design the Augusta National is not intended to be a punishing golf course. It is, however, a course which under tournament conditions—that is, with the green surfaces firm, and keen—severely tests the competing player's temperament. The difficult greens demand exceptionally fierce and unremitting concentration and determination. When weather conditions are such that the golf course is wet and the wind quiet, it is much easier to play. We always hope it will not be that way during the first week in April."