by CHRIS LANG
ASSOCIIATED PRESS
Over the years, Augusta National Golf Club has undergone a series of tweaks and alterations, all in hopes of making the layout tougher for the world’ s best players to navigate. The club added trees along the right side of the par-5 No. 2 and narrowed the green. The tee box on the iconic 13th has been pushed back as far as possible, and there are reports that Augusta National is trying to purchase land from neighbor Augusta Country Club to facilitate further lengthening of the hole.
Additional trees planted along the par-4 17th hole punish drives that stray to the left. The par-5 15th, which used to be a driver-and-short-iron hole for the world’ s longest hitters, now plays at 530 yards after the tee was moved back about 30 yards in 2006. Though Fire Thorn remains the easiest hole on the course, it no longer yields eagles at an astonishing rate.
Of the 18 holes at Augusta National, only one has remained essentially the same since the course first hosted the Masters in 1934, and avid followers of the season’ s first major championship know it by name: Golden Bell.
So in an era in which major-championship courses have been lengthened to more than 7,500 yards on a regular basis, how has a seemingly innocuous 155-yard hole stood the test of time? In a word: Unpredictability.
vsga. org M ARCH / A PRIL 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 21