Augusta National: A history of course changes, Part 2

Rae’s Creek and its tributaries get top billing at the Masters Tournament as the prime water hazards, but the ponds at Nos. 11 and 16 aren’t far behind.

Robert Trent Jones deserves the credit for those holes and some of the great drama they have produced.

The prolific golf course architect had his hand in designing or renovating more than 500 courses, and both of his sons (Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Rees Jones) are prominent golf architects today. Though he was more linked with the U.S. Open – more than 20 of his courses have been associated with the national championship – his influence at Augusta remains.

Jones was retained by Bobby Jones – the two were no relation – to help him build Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta. That led to work at Augusta National Golf Club.

Up first was the 16th hole. For the first few Masters, it played 145 yards and was protected only by a small stream that ran in front of the green. The tee was to the right of the 15th green.

In 1947, Robert Trent Jones altered the hole with the approval of Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. He moved the tee well to the left, built a pond from tee to green and positioned the green diagonally. The hole was lengthened by 25 yards, and the severe contours of the green make getting down in two putts a challenge.

“Sixteen is one of his great pieces of golf art, the highest accolade you can pay in our business,” Robert Trent Jones Jr. once said. “There are lots of wonderful golf courses, but only a few that when you walk in, like a Monet painting, you feel like you’re in the garden.”

In 1950, Bobby Jones and Roberts decided No. 11 needed to be strengthened. Its original tee was right of the 10th green, and it played only 415 yards.

Robert Trent Jones built a new tee well to the left and pushed the hole back about 40 yards. The key change was the creation of a pond that hugged the left side of the green.

The new tee and pond added a strategic element to the hole. Rae’s Creek ran behind the hole, as it does today, and historians point out that it also branched off and came up near the left of the green. But the new pond was much more penal and visually intimidating.

“Ben Hogan played it with a 2-iron in those days, and he said, ‘If you see me on the green, you know I missed (the shot),’” Rees Jones said.

WHO: Robert Trent Jones

KEY CONTRIBUTION: Strengthened Nos. 11 and 16 by lengthening them and adding ponds.

OTHER WORK: Peachtree, Hazeltine, Spyglass Hill, Firestone (South), The Dunes Golf and Beach Club

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.

Water hazards are an integral part of Augusta National, and they come into play on five holes on the course’s second nine.

“The shattering of par without a proper challenge is a fraud. I make them play par.”

— Robert Trent Jones

MASTERS QUOTE OF THE DAY

Going into the last 18 on Sunday, the nearest thing to Tiger on scoreboard was Costantino Rocca, which, contrary to reports, was not a forbidden dance. It was a man from Italy nine strokes back.

— Dan Jenkins, on Woods’ record-setting Masters victory in 1997

THIS DATE AT THE MASTERS

While Fred Couples and David Duval seemed to be trying to figure out who would win the 1998 Masters, 41-year-old Mark O’Meara settled the matter by knocking in a 20-foot right-to-left breaking putt on the final hole. He not only won a green jacket, but he also did so after 15 failed attempts at Augusta, a record.

“When I was over the putt, I said to myself, ‘This is what it’s all about,’” O’Meara told reporters afterward.

It was and still is.

1953: Ben Hogan strolled to a five-shot win as he began his Triple Crown season in style.

1954: Sam Snead defeated Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff, 70-71, after the highest-scoring Masters ever.

1964: Arnold Palmer became the first four-time Masters champion, cruising to a 6-shot win.

1981: Tom Watson held off Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus to win the first Masters played on bentgrass greens.

1987: Larry Mize, an Augusta native, holed a 140-foot pitch shot to win a sudden-death playoff over Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.

1992: Fred Couples’ tee shot at the 12th stayed on the bank and out of Rae’s Creek, spurring him to win his green jacket.

2009: Angel Cabrera survived a three-man playoff with Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry to become the first South American champion.

2015: Jordan Spieth tied the tournament’s 72-hole scoring record of 270 with his four-shot win.

The Green Jacket

Green jackets are the property of Augusta National Golf Club and are supposed to remain on the club’s premises at all times.

The exception, of course, is that the Masters winner gets to keep his jacket for a year and then bring it back the following spring.

From time to time, however, the iconic garments wind up on the secondary market. Augusta National fights vigorously to keep them from going up for sale.

Earlier this year, Augusta National and the auction company that was going to sell three of the club’s green jackets agreed to drop their legal battle.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randal Hall signed an order Jan. 16 that closed the federal lawsuit filed by Augusta National in 2017 against Green Jacket Auctions Inc. The club was granted a temporary injunction in 2017 that prevented the company from continuing an auction to sell three green jackets, including one worn by Masters champion Byron Nelson in 1966. Nelson won the Masters in 1937 and 1942.

Augusta National contended the Nelson jacket was at the club during a 2009 inventory, so it must have been stolen. The club discovered in 2012 that two employees had stolen several green jackets, according to court documents.

The Nelson jacket was in the possession of Greg Waunford-Brown of London. Augusta National’s attorneys failed in two attempts to convince the federal judge that he could assert jurisdiction over Waunford-Brown, who, according to the club’s legal documents, has been to the Masters and played golf at the club.

While Augusta National was unable to get the Nelson jacket back, another green jacket owned by club member John R. Butler Jr. was returned, according to court records.

The third jacket, which belonged to club member George King, was relinquished to King’s family, which had possession of the jacket for decades.

According to earlier reports, Green Jacket Auctions sold a green jacket belonging to Horton Smith, the first winner of the Masters, for $682,000 in 2013.