Fifty-one weeks ago, the 71st Masters Tournament, typically the most
eventful of the four majors come Sunday afternoon, was played out to a
sound not far removed from total silence. Instead of the whoopin’ and
hollerin’ that traditionally greet the multitude of eagles, birdies
and, sometimes, disasters dotted throughout the closing nine holes, the
charm-free victory of someone called Zach Johnson was greeted by an
on-site yawn that was surely echoed around the world by the millions
watching on television.
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“What made the Masters the tournament that it (usually) is, was all the drama, all the eagles and all the double bogeys and all the birdies and all the crazy stuff that happens, usually on Sunday,” confirms former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, who tied for twenty-fourth in ‘07. “If they lose that like they did last year they will have to look at what they are doing with the golf course. Last year the place was dead quiet; there were no roars at all. If that is repeated in better weather next week, they will surely have to take action.”
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“The changes made to the golf course, including the addition and subtraction of trees and the defined second cut have not eliminated preferable angles for the players. The state of golf today must be taken into consideration. Historically, bump-and-run shots, balls hit with low trajectory and Bermuda (grass) greens made playing the angles more prevalent. Today, the game is different. Ball flight, how it spins, its trajectory and grooves on clubs have changed how people play this golf course. Players don’t play the angles anymore to the same degree that was done in Jones’ day. It’s also important to remember that this course has always had some rough and that trees have been planted for a very long time.”
Tom Fazio, consulting architect to Augusta National, went even further: “Why would we redesign a course for a game nobody plays anymore?” he raved. “Nobody hits fades or draws to certain spots in a fairway. They bomb it. They hit it very long, they hit it very straight.”
Good grief. In other words, ‘no one plays the angles at Augusta National anymore so let’s capitulate completely and get rid of them by growing rough in the spots where ideal tee-shots used to finish.’ This is nothing short of a golfing tragedy, folks, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Ben Crenshaw, for one, has been similarly lamenting the changes.
“There was something regal about the place without rough,” contends the two-time Master golfer, himself a noted course architect, one responsible for some of the 21st century’s more interesting and fun designs. “It stood the test of time and separated itself from all others because it was different.”
Not any more. Quite apart from the fact that both Fazio’s and the club’s views inadvertently offer the most damning condemnations of the technological nightmare that has all but killed off shot making at the highest level of the game over the last dozen years or so – the modern ball does indeed go too far and too straight when struck by the leading professionals - it is hard to imagine a more depressing scenario than that described by each. After nearly three-quarters of a century spent wallowing in the legacy of Jones and Mackenzie’s novel and thought-provoking design, their admirable spirit of enjoyment is being consciously dismantled by those charged with its very preservation. Either that, or a new, very different book detailing the history of Augusta National has been conceived and written.
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“As things stand, the turf is too soft for the course to truly play ‘firm and fast.’ On holes like the 5th, where Jones wanted you to run the approach shot in, you can’t do it because the ground is too soft. So it isn’t just on the greens where too much water is applied. But if they cut back on that they would lose the ‘greenness’ of the place. If you look at the pictures of Augusta back in the 1970s, the course wasn’t green at all. It was a motley brown, just as it should be really.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of the course – especially the putting surfaces – and Augusta does look pretty special when it is as green as they like it to be, but that verdant colouring does compromise how it plays. It’s a shame. They are missing the point really. Surely what we shoot should not matter. But everyone seems to think it does these days. And what has been lost is the fun we should be having playing the course and, in turn, the fun the spectators should be having watching us. The original point of the Masters was that it should be fun to play and fun to watch.”
So what about this year? What, if anything, has changed from 12 months ago? Not much, according to Ogilvy, who played the course on the Monday before he won the CA World Golf Championship two weeks ago. The first tee has been extended so that, should the wind blow as it did last year, the hole can be shortened and a good drive might just make it to the brow of the hill. And the controversial trees on the right side of the 11th hole are largely as they were.
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“With that new pin position you can expect to see guys putting off the green. It’s at least a real possibility. Knowing what is possible, you’ll probably see guys playing safely to the right then leaving their first putts eight feet short. I’m sure that is the effect the officials want. Fear is their biggest weapon sometimes.
“The 11th hole is just the same. They claim to have removed some trees, but if they hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have known. What has changed is that there are pine needles rather than grass under the trees. That only makes things worse, as the needles are those big fluffy ones. They are horrible to play off when they are not raked and smooth. Again, I’m not sure what the motivation for that is; if you hit it over there you are going to have to chip out anyway, just like last year.”
Never mind. Look on the bright side as you watch the Masters this coming week. Whether inadvertently or misguidedly – you make the call - the tournament seems hell-bent on turning itself into a sure-fire cure for insomnia.
