Monday At The Masters: First Look At The Revamped 11th Hole
Plus Tiger's Monday practice session, the improved 9th fairway and Tuesday's weather forecast gets slightly better.
Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley has been asking players what they think of the 11th hole. That’s hardly a newsflash from the city. Except that the players and coaches who told me of his question noted the specificity in a year with many changes across the property, including at the 3rd, 13th, 16th and 17th greens.
It’s possible the Chairman is just curious. He might even be a bit nervous. For good reason. Given the par-4’s new 520-yard scorecard listing and a slew of alterations, the 11th has received an undue amount of surgical work Ridley is likely to elaborate explain in Wednesday’s annual press conference. Namely, why is a tough hole getting tougher?
The 11th has played as Augusta National’s second toughest hole with a 4.30 scoring average and ranked second in the 2021 edition (4.40).
Bobby Jones wrote of eleventh’s “puzzling difficulty” but also seemed to understand the combination of downhill stances, wind, and a “3-iron or more” into the green were culprits. Ben Hogan famously (and supposedly) missed the green to the right on purpose and since a swarm of trees were planted in 2002, the hole has shifted from stern to an awkward difficulty that contradicted the architect’s vision.
Here is the official yardage book’s depiction showing the expanded fairway and three trees left behind from the swarm planted twenty years ago:
And the view from the tee where players have the freedom to choose their shot shape:
