Club TFE Does Friday at the Masters

Welcome back to Augusta National. Let’s talk some golf.

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The GOAT

Forgive the digression, but if you haven’t yet seen Conan on Hot Ones, you need to see Conan on Hot Ones. Aspirational content. -Garrett Morrison

Out of the West

The wind is already looking frisky at The Masters this morning, and it’s coming out of the west. For a primer on the challenges of this particular wind at Augusta National, check out this article by Andy from a couple of years ago. -Garrett Morrison

Some Snaps from a Morning Walk Around ANGC

Happy patrons

Everyone loves an ice cream sandwich at 9 a.m.

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While the army of Augusta National staff cut the new pin on No. 13, a few of them walked over to the spot where Scottie Scheffler’s ball stopped on the hill yesterday. After a lengthy discussion, one of them even started patting the grass where his ball came to rest.

Jonah Naatz with his parents

I ran into Jonah Naatz, one of the stars of our Teaching Turf: Sand Valley series. If you watched, you know Jonah was going to work The Masters this year. Well, here he is, stationed at No. 7, where he’s tasked with blowing off the green between groups. His brother Mason, who also appeared in Teaching Turf, will be out there tomorrow as well, so hopefully I’ll see him, too.

Jason Day on Friday morning

No comment. -Cameron Hurdus

The Old Strategic Second Hole

In discussions of the most-changed holes at Augusta National, Nos. 7, 10, and 16 are usually mentioned first—as they should be. But the par-5 second hole has also undergone an extreme transformation since Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie designed it in the early 1930s. Here’s the old green, viewed from front left:

Research and colorization credit: Joshua Pettit

As you can see, the advantageous angle into this green was from the left side of the fairway, which was guarded by a large left-center bunker, a hillside, some trees, a maintenance road, and a dry creek. If you bailed out to the right, you’d have the MacKenzie-styled fronting bunker to contend with.

The initial iteration of today’s right-center fairway bunker was built by George Cobb in 1966. Cobb also reconstructed the green, installing bunkers front left and front right. These changes made the hole harder but muddled its strategic design.

No. 2 is still a fun, memorable hole, but it’s also one of the clearest examples of Augusta National’s evolution away from Jones and MacKenzie’s architectural principles. -Garrett Morrison