Pins and needles
Subtle changes could have big effect this year
The biggest course change to Augusta National Golf Club probably won't be noticed by many until the 72nd Masters Tournament starts.
Sometime between the first round Thursday and the final one Sunday, a new pin position on No. 7 will be unveiled.
To make room for it, Augusta National added six feet to the left side of the green this year. Unlike the rest of the green, which slopes sideways, the extension is relatively flat.
That means balls tracking down the slope to the left pin, if hit too hard, could roll off the green.
"Is it possible? Probably," Larry Mize said. "The edge there is pretty subtle, so you have to be careful."
The first player to putt off the green "will be the answer to a trivia question," Todd Hamilton said.
Mize doesn't think the new pin on No. 7 will affect scores too much on what was the 10th toughest hole in 2007 (4.295 average).
Par 4, 450 yards
Six feet were added to the left side of green to allow more pin placements. The left-rear bunker was moved back several feet.
"But watch me be the one that putts it off the green," he said.
Mize and Vaughn Taylor, who played a practice round together Monday, said they would not have noticed the extension if they hadn't been told.
"It's very little," Taylor said. "Just enough to get a pin back there."
"They're so good at making changes and so subtle that a lot of times you don't see it unless somebody tells you," Mize said.
Taylor thinks the new pin will make the hole play easier -- as long as golfers don't put their approach shots well right of it.
"It will be easier than a front pin," he said. "Hitting uphill to that green, when they tuck the pin close to the front bunkers, there is not much there. You have three yards to cover the bunker, and it usually releases.
Par 4, 460 yards
The green was altered, and the right slope was softened to make pin placements less severe.
"I think a back pin is actually easier because you have some room for the ball to release."
It's also easier to save par from a left pin because you're chipping to a fairly flat surface.
"It changes the hole because now long is OK," Phil Mickelson said. "You can go over the green and get up and down possibly, whereas before that wasn't really realistic."
Nothing short of a redesign of the seventh hole would change Stephen Ames' opinion of it.
"It's the only hole on the golf course that's really bad," Ames said.
There are two other changes to the course that will definitely come into play this year:
- The right pin position on the ninth hole has been softened on the first and middle plateaus.
- Some trees were removed from the right side of No. 11, and the fairway was widened.
The other change is on No. 1, where the tee box was extended 10 yards forward. It isn't expected to be used unless the northwest wind blows, which makes the hole play into the wind. It would have come in handy in the third round of the 2007 Masters, when the northwest wind was blowing at 12-17 mph with gusts of 23 mph.
"I don't think the changes are going to affect scores one way or another," Mize said. "It's going to give them a few more pin placements. It gives them more options, and sometimes I think that's what they're looking for."
The change on No. 11 comes four years after 36 trees were added to the right side of the fairway. The official wording from the club on the trees taken out before this year's tournament is that "several" were removed.
"They supposedly removed a few trees right on 11," said Hamilton, who played the hole Monday. "Now, their few and my few are different. When you hear somebody say, 'We've removed a few trees,' you think you're going to have a shot through those spaces they supposedly created, but there are still a lot of trees over there. It's still not a spot you want to miss your drive."
In the area where the trees were removed, the second cut (rough) has been replaced by pine straw, which players say is a good thing.
"I would say it's easier to punch out from pine straw than grass," Taylor said.
Hamilton agreed.
"You can maneuver a little bit more than the rough," he said.
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
Six feet were added to left side of green to allow more pin placements. The left-rear bunker was moved back several feet.[CAPTION]
CHANGES EXPECTED TO COME INTO PLAY
The green was altered, and the right slope was softened to make pin placements less severe.
Trees were removed on the right of the fairway, which was widened.
