Back
Presented by Fubo
All major sports have their iconic arenas. Madison Square Garden, the Molson Center, Yankee Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the All-England Tennis Club. But the world's greatest golfers interact with their venues in a way that no other sport can match.
A golf course is a main character in the drama of a tournament the way a city can be a major presence in a great film. Few golf courses can match the aggregate talent that sweeps across their tees, fairways and greens every year like Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters.
Back in 1933, even the grandest ambitions of founder Clifford Roberts and all-time great amateur Bobby Jones for their club could hardly have matched the iconic status it has achieved. So much was different: the current second nine was the first nine, the tournament name "Masters" was six years from being coined and six-time champion Jack Nicklaus would not be born for seven. The Great Depression scuttled plans for a second full course, although the Par Three Course would open in 1958, created not by MacKenzie (who had envisioned a different short course in his original plans) but by Roberts and architect George Cobb.
But however bumpy its beginnings, the club and its tournament grew in stature to embody golf's annual rite of spring.
How?
In short: the golf course. In terms of architecture, Augusta National is as far from an authentic expression of a single architect's vision as can be. Alister MacKenzie gets credit at the very beginning, but he had input from Roberts, Jones and even venerated amateur golfer and World Golf Hall of Famer Marion Hollins, who served as MacKenzie's eyes and ears during the construction process. With The Old Course at St. Andrews as inspiration, MacKenzie laid a brilliant foundation on property that was once a nursery of fruit trees. The individual holes and their names have become the stuff of legend.
AUGUSTA NATIONAL HOLE NAMES
- Hole 1: Tea Olive - Par 4, 445 yards
- Hole 2: Pink Dogwood - Par 5, 585 yards
- Hole 3: Flowering Peach - Par 4, 350 yards
- Hole 4: Flowering Crab Apple - Par 3, 240 yards
- Hole 5: Magnolia - Par 4, 495 yards
- Hole 6: Juniper - Par 3, 180 yards
- Hole 7: Pampas - Par 4, 450 yards
- Hole 8: Yellow Jasmine - Par 5, 570 yards
- Hole 9: Carolina Cherry - Par 4, 460 yards
- Hole 10: Camellia - Par 4, 495 yards
- Hole 11: White Dogwood - Par 4, 520 yards
- Hole 12: Golden Bell - Par 3, 155 yards
- Hole 13: Azalea - Par 5, 545 yards
- Hole 14: Chinese Fir - Par 4, 440 yards
- Hole 15: Firethorn - Par 5, 550 yards
- Hole 16: Redbud - Par 3, 170 yards
- Hole 17: Nandia - Par 4, 440 yards
- Hole 18: Holly - Par 4, 465 yards
The decades have welcomed a who's-who of noted architects to Augusta to nip, tuck and tinker with practically every aspect of every hole: Perry Maxwell, Robert Trent Jones, Sr., George Cobb, Joe Finger, Bob Cupp, George Fazio, Tom Fazio. One could assume the course would become something of a hodgepodge, but over the years it has become more and more its inimitable self. The broad, almost impossibly-green expanse of grass, the bright-white bunkers, the rich reddish pine straw and crisp blue water with splashes of flower hues forms a palette that thousands of golf courses strive for - often at great expense - but perpetually fail to achieve to the same extent that Augusta National has patented. The hyper-reality atmosphere of Augusta National is the platform on which the design of the golf course sits.
As at many great courses, it is the green complexes that set it apart. A former Augusta National caddie once told me that learning the subtle and overt breaks on the greens was as complicated as an upper-level college class.
The complexity of the greens makes local knowledge and experience invaluable, as knowing where to miss certain shots carries equal importance to having the ability to execute them correctly. These safe misses also change from one day to the next as pin positions migrate around the putting surfaces.
Augusta National rewards a cerebral approach and careful planning as much as physical prowess. At the same time, no championship golf course other than The Old Course at St. Andrews has illustrated the ways in which evolving golf equipment has forced many layouts to get longer and use more space. When adopted, the USGA and R&A's proposals to roll back the golf ball for "elite competitions" will only enhance the excitement and hole-to-hole volatility that makes Augusta National singularly thrilling to watch each year. It will also aid in the course's quest to remain a thorough challenge for the world's best.
How Augusta National Golf Club will set up for the 2025 Masters
The summer of 2024 dealt Augusta National one of its biggest challenges ever in the form of Hurricane Helene, which devastated large parts of the interior south. According to the National Hurricane Center, Helene wiped out almost 400 homes and dealt significant damage to more than 6,000 more. Augusta National was not spared, either, losing an unknown but reportedly significant amount of trees. Pros who have visited the course in the lead-up to the 2025 Masters have remarked on a slightly roomier feel in some places. After a March scouting trip, Rory McIlroy mentioned that four of Augusta National's greens have been resurfaced ahead of this year's tournament. One of them, the 16th, was described by 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed as "completely destroyed" by felled trees and flooding after Helene, but it has been rebuilt exactly as it was before.
The Masters: Heights of grass cut
Tees and green surrounds: 5/16"
Fairways: 3/8"
Second cut: 1 3/8"
Collars: 1/4"
Greens: 1/8"
Augusta National Golf Club
Par 72, 7,520 yards
Hole 1: Tea Olive - Par 4, 445 yards
No gentle handshake here. The opening hole at Augusta National is historically the sixth-toughest on the course, with an all-time scoring average of a quarter-shot over par. Players hit into an upslope, which tempers any chance of significant rollout, and the opposite positioning of the hole's two bunkers - fairway bunker on the right, greenside bunker on the left - make it something of a "switchback" hole, immediately testing a player's comfort with working the ball both ways. Like many greens on the course, the putting surface sheds marginal shots down into chipping areas and features distinct sections. It took Ernie Els seven putts - six of them within three feet - to hole out here in the first round of the 2016 Masters.
Hole 2: Pink Dogwood - Par 5, 585 yards
This downhill, sweeping dogleg-left offers a great chance for a birdie or eagle if players can skirt both the lone fairway bunker to the right and the forested ravine to the left. Two greenside bunkers pinch the opening of the angled, T-shaped green, which falls from short-left down to the back-right corner, where the traditional Sunday hole location sits. The tilt of the putting surface is such that well-calibrated approaches can drift down from the front corner of the green on a 30-yard journey toward the cup. In 2012, Louis Oosthuizen pulled this shot off to perfection, making a 2 en route to his runner-up finish to Bubba Watson in the year's memorable playoff.
Hole 3: Flowering Peach - Par 4, 350 yards
Although recent increases in driving distance have prompted changes to several holes at Augusta National and other great championship golf courses, there is a case to be made that this hole has become more intriguing as a result. Players can lay back next to a nest of four fairway bunkers and leave a full wedge, or they can elect to drive the ball close to the small, right-to-left-tilting green, but at the risk of leaving themselves an extremely delicate uphill pitch if they stray left. When the cup is located on the green's shallow front-left lobe, it is not uncommon to see players miss the green from as close as 30 yards. What the hole lacks in length, it makes up in guile and demands on every player's powers of precision.
Hole 4: Flowering Crab Apple - Par 3, 240 yards
The longest par 3 on the golf course plays downhill to an L-shaped green with two large bunkers lapping at its edges. When the hole is cut close over the right-front bunker, it can seem impossible to access, but a backstop exists that can gather the ball close if a player judges everything correctly. Phil Mickelson's bid to win the 2012 Masters ended here when he made a triple-bogey 6.
Hole 5: Magnolia - Par 4, 495 yards
Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie were both inspired by the Old Course at St. Andrews when they set out to create Augusta National. This hole's green complex invokes the famous Road Hole, the legendary 17th hole of the ancient links. It is long and difficult like its inspiration, with a green that is very difficult to hold because of a massive false front that rejects anything but a soaring approach. Merely having a chance to attack this green is far from certain, as two yawning fairway bunkers squeeze the fairway on the left off the tee.
Hole 6: Juniper - Par 3, 180 yards
Multifaceted greens are a major theme at Augusta National, and this downhill par 3's putting surface is eclectic, and can make the hole play dramatically different one day to the next. When the hole is located on the small back-left tier, it can seem like one must hit a mid-iron onto a car hood. When it is located in the lower-left portion of the green, holes-in-one are not out of the question, like the one Corey Conners made in the final round of the 2021 Masters.
Hole 7: Pampas - Par 4, 450 yards
In the several rounds of changes Augusta National has seen this century, few have been as significant as the lengthening of this hole by nearly 100 yards, turning it from a wood and a wedge to a drive (down a straight, narrow corridor) and a middle-iron uphill to a green surrounded by bunkers. In spite of its length, it can still provide thrills when players can use the pitch of the green to work the ball backwards toward a cup cut in a low area.
Hole 8: Yellow Jasmine - Par 5, 570 yards
Augusta National's par 5s separate the best drivers of the golf ball by rewarding great tee shots significantly more than mediocre ones. That is especially true here; avoiding the fairway bunker off the tee sets up a slinging right-to-left fairway wood up the hill to this unique green couched by mounds. The preferred side to miss changes with the pin position each day, underscoring the importance of course knowledge and experience.
Hole 9: Carolina Cherry - Par 4, 460 yards
Length off the tee is a big factor here due to the angle of this hole's famous stair-stepped green. Every year, it forces some players to have to putt with their backs to the cup when they are out of position. The farther - and farther right - a player can position a drive down this fairway, the less impetuous the bunkers that hug the left side of the putting surface become.
Hole 10: Camellia - Par 4, 495 yards
Players will need to calibrate both how far they plan to fly their tee shots and how much they will turn them from right to left here. Not enough sweep and they can lose out on as much as 50 or 60 yards of extra roll down the hill. The course's most expressively shaped bunker - which fronted the green in the early days - serves as a foreground to the approach to a severely tilted green from back-right to front left. The hardest hole over the course of Masters history, this is part of the reason for the famous adage about the tournament not truly beginning until the second nine on Sunday.
Hole 11: White Dogwood - Par 4, 520 yards
After a tee shot that must hug the right treeline for the best angle, players head into championship golf's grandest living room: Amen Corner. The green tilts toward the pond, but the two mounds that front the putting surface can be used by a clever and steel-nerved player to propel a long approach close to the day's hole location. In 2022, the Masters tees were moved 15 yards back and to the left, straightening the hole slightly. Some right-side trees were removed, rewarding a more aggressive tee shot with a better look at the green.
Hole 12: Golden Bell - Par 3, 155 yards
What more can be said about this hole that photos don't already communicate? What a contrast players face between the stadium-like atmosphere of the tee box and the quiet remove of the green complex tucked between Rae's Creek, three bunkers and the forested edge of the property! What perplexing swirling winds await them! What momentum-building birdies and round-killing double-bogeys await! What a special place in the game.
Hole 13: Azalea - Par 5, 545 yards
A testament to the advantages of using the natural contours of the land to fashion interesting golf, Alister MacKenzie did little to manipulate this hole, which has become known as one of the best three-shotters in the world. The tilt of the fairway makes the long approach over a tributary of Rae's Creek exciting due to the unavoidable hanging lies players will face. The two-level green reveals a diverse set of pin positions, all of which require players to approach it in subtly different ways. In 2023, a new back tee was built to add as much as 35 yards to this iconic hole. In order to add it, the club had to purchase several acres from neighboring Augusta Country Club in order to accommodate the change, prompting ACC to shift its 9th hole to the left.
Hole 14: Chinese Fir - Par 4, 440 yards
Augusta National's only bunkerless hole is a strong argument for why bunkers can be overrated and overused on many courses. Contour, like that found on and around this heaving green, provides plenty of challenge and day-to-day variety. The typical Sunday back-center hole location provides ample opportunity for hole-outs, while a middle-left pin needs to be approached very cautiously.
Hole 15: Firethorn - Par 5, 550 yards
The last of Augusta National's superlative par fives plays over a rise and down to one of the more intimidating greens in golf. The shallow putting surface shrugs balls off the front into a pond just as easily as the back can springboard approaches toward and even into the pond that fronts the 16th tee. Players who lay up are faced with one of the toughest wedge shots in the game, off a downslope to the crowned putting surface. That is what makes approaches like Jack Nicklaus' 4-iron in 1986 and Sergio Garcia's 8-iron in 2017 so heroic. Each led to eagles that propelled their authors to victory.
Hole 16: Redbud - Par 3, 170 yards
Once again, the large and sweeping contours of Augusta National's greens make this hole play drastically differently one day to the next. When the cup is cut on the elevated right half of the green, birdies can be scarce. But come Sunday, when the pin position sits on the lower left-hand portion of the green, holes-in-one are not uncommon, despite the cup's proximity to the water. It is a versatile, exciting hole that always plays a starring role in the late drama of any tense edition of the Masters.
Hole 17: Nandina - Par 4, 440 yards
Although the famed Eisenhower Tree has been gone for nine years, this hole still perplexes players every year. The contours of the green come courtesy of Perry Maxwell, who updated it from MacKenzie's original design in 1937. Those "Maxwell rolls" make approaches from even the ideal position off the tee tricky. Many golfers have had the green jacket slip through their fingers here.
Hole 18: Holly - Par 4, 465 yards
It is far from the flashiest hole at Augusta National, but it is a sturdy, solid test worthy of the dozens of major championships that have been settled on its two-level putting surface. First things first, though: the drive must get through the chute of trees at the bottom of the hill and come to rest short of the two fairway bunkers. As is the case throughout the course, the traditional Sunday pin position sits in a low area over the front greenside bunker, ripe for a heroic approach that either takes dead aim or uses the sideboard and backboard slopes to feed a ball close.
(UPDATED: April, 2025)
Step inside The Tavern
GolfPass' free, twice-weekly email newsletter is full of exclusive tips, in-depth course news reviews, the latest gear updates and much more.
Comments (1)
Augusta National checks every box next to a sizable series of bullet points that apply to great golf courses. Chief among those has to relate to strategic interest on all of its eighteen holes. Your commentary does a fine job of highlighting the key characteristics of each one, while adding interesting notes of historic significance from tournament play.
Calling Augusta merely “iconic” somehow still seems insufficient to what Augusta National signifies among the pantheon of top-notch venues around the world. During the Masters, the venerable layout typically generates as much suspense for three or four tournaments combined.