Augusta National: A history of course changes

Tom Fazio has designed golf courses all over the world, but his work at Augusta National goes under the microscope each spring.

Fazio has done work on all but four holes at the famous course co-designed by Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones.

His work includes:

• In 1999, a second cut of fairway was introduced and two holes were lengthened.

• In 2002, Fazio’s design company lengthened nine holes, adding 285 yards, and made numerous fairway and bunker changes.

• In 2006, Fazio came back to push back the tee boxes on six holes, including some that were altered in 2002.

Advances in technology necessitated the adjustments, and former chairman Hootie Johnson was proactive in having Fazio protect Augusta National.

Fazio also worked on the Tournament Practice Range, which tied together a plan started under Johnson that converted a patron parking lot into a state-of-the-art facility.

For this year, Fazio’s team did work on the fifth hole. The tee was shifted and pushed back 40 yards, and the fairway bunkers were repositioned. The green also was “softened.”

Fazio’s additions to the course were initially met with skepticism. The alteration to No. 5 was the first major change to the course in more than a decade.

“If you think about it, the way the program has always been is to keep integrity of golf shots,” Fazio once told The Augusta Chronicle. “Are the players today hitting the same types of shots that Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and that era, and the answer to that is based on fact. That’s not my opinion. The facts are that, yes, that’s happening.”

WHO: Tom Fazio

KEY CONTRIBUTION: Fazio is the “house” architect for Augusta National and has overseen much of the course work since the 1990s.

OTHER WORK: Wade Hampton, Sage Valley, Shadow Creek, Karsten Creek

COURSE CORRECTIONS: 

Since its inception, the Augusta National Golf Club layout has been evolving, and this year’s expansion of Hole No. 5 is just the latest alteration of the course that Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie built.

Some changes were dictated by the skill of the players and technology’s impact on the game. Others were to make the Masters a more pleasant experience for the patrons.

COURSE CHANGES: 

Adding length at Augusta National is nothing new. The course has constantly evolved, and in the last 20 years the course has gone from 6,985 yards to the current 7,475 yards.

“To be a worker at a place like this is a dream come true.”

— Tom Fazio

QUOTE OF THE DAY

You’re Tom Watson, and your reputation is that of a young guy who goes out for the last 18 holes of a tournament in a deep-sea diving helmet with a hara-kiri sword strapped to your waist. The wonderful old Masters. It always comes up with something different.

Dan Jenkins, on the final round of the 1977 Masters

THIS DATE AT THE MASTERS

Who knows what Raymond Floyd would have shot if April 11, 1976, hadn’t been so windy.

Still, he defied the gusts and tied the then-tournament record of 271 to claim an eight-stroke victory.

He had led easily the first three days of competition, then finished Sunday with 2-under 70.

Floyd knew Augusta. In the early 1960s, he had been stationed at Fort Gordon and even served as a military swimming lifeguard. His 1976 effort never needed saving.

1948: Claude Harmon scored his only professional tour victory with a five-shot triumph over Cary Middlecoff.

1965: Jack Nicklaus established marks for lowest 72-hole total (271), margin of victory (9) and youngest winner (23) in tournament history.

1966: Jack Nicklaus won a three-man playoff to become the tournament’s first back-to-back winner.

1971: Charles Coody shot 70 to hold off Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus.

1982: Craig Stadler stumbled coming in but defeated Dan Pohl in a sudden-death playoff.

1983: Seve Ballesteros used a fast start in the final round to beat Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite by four strokes.

1993: Bernhard Langer used an eagle at No. 13 to beat Chip Beck by four shots.

1999: Jose Maria Olazabal added his second green jacket with a two-shot win over Davis Love III.

2004: Phil Mickelson birdied five of his last seven holes, including No. 18, for his first Masters victory.

2010: Phil Mickelson closed with his second consecutive 67 to win his third green jacket.

THE GREEN JACKET: THE MASTERS

Everyone knows that the Masters winner receives the green jacket in a ceremony immediately following the end of the tournament.

Custom calls for the winner to keep the jacket for a year, then return it to Augusta National ►when he returns◄the following year.

Gary Player was the tournament’s first international champion. The South African won the 1961 Masters for the first of his three wins at Augusta National.

But Player didn’t know the rules about the jacket, or so he claimed. After losing a playoff in 1962 to Arnold Palmer, he packed the jacket and took it back overseas. That led to a call from Augusta National chairman Clifford Roberts, who was a stickler for club rules.

“I didn’t know you were supposed to leave it there,” Player said. “Next thing you know, there was a call from Mr. Roberts.”

According to Player, here’s how the exchange went:

“‘Gary, have you got the jacket?’

“I said, ‘Yes, I do.’

“He said, ‘Well, no one ever takes the jacket away from here.’

“And I said, ‘Well, Mr. Roberts, if you want it, why don’t you come and fetch it?’”

Roberts, who didn’t lose many arguments, agreed to a compromise.

“He kind of chuckled and said don’t wear it in public,” Player recounted.