AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | All the course architecture chatter this week at the Masters is about the long-threatened and now-implemented lengthening of the iconic par-5 13th hole. But the most extensive undertaking on the grounds will be on display at Wednesday’s annual Par 3 Contest.
Patrons and viewers on the ESPN broadcast will get their first glimpse of the major renovation of Augusta’s famous Par 3 course – a project that was completed in 150 days and is designed to greatly enhance the experience of patrons who attend one of the tournament’s most popular and cherished traditions.
Augusta’s short course – which Ben Crenshaw calls “a little piece of art” and Paul Azinger dubbed “the best golf course in the world” – received its biggest makeover in 44 years. While the last four holes remain unchanged, the first five have been totally redesigned to enhance the course and to open up views of multiple holes for the patrons.
The Masters media guide says the changes will allow “more golf holes to be adjacent to DeSoto Springs Pond and for the dam and pond to be reshaped and restored, while also increasing patron viewing options and capacity.”
The new layout will measure 1,055 yards, with the updated routing bringing the water more prominently into play on Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 and opening up views of the course to allow for a less claustrophobic experience for the patrons who crowd onto the short course. The first five holes were also completely “sandcapped,” which will make a big difference in enabling the course to drain after significant rain events compared to the previous clay subsurface.
The last major change to the Par 3 course was in 1978 when Tom Fazio was enlisted to build two additional holes around adjacent Ike’s Pond. Those two holes serve as the dramatic finishing eighth and ninth holes to the Par 3 Contest, replacing what were originally two non-descript half-wedge holes that served as holes 1 and 2.
The new first hole – built in the open area where the original abandoned first and second holes were – plays 115 yards toward the pond, as does the new 105-yard third. The new second hole (100 yards) plays uphill away from the pond toward a green set near where the previous first green was situated. The former second hole was eliminated and the new third plays from near where the former second tee was toward a green set closer to the pond than the previous third green.
The new fourth hole will play only 70 yards and to a green built on a new peninsula jutting into the pond. The fifth green was moved closer to the edge of the pond and will now play as the longest hole (155 yards) more over the water instead of adjacent to it.
The changes will make for an enhanced experience and easier traffic flow for the players and the patrons who attend the Par 3 Contest. The removal of trees and placement of greens close to the pond will open up views across the course and allow patrons to watch the play on multiple greens at once from many different vantage points. It will also make for a much cleaner look on the television broadcast.
The five new greens – grassed with an alternative variety of bentgrass to the traditional A-1 as a testing ground to be monitored year-round and under tournament conditions – were contoured “to promote excitement for well-played shots.”
The roots of the Par 3 course go all the way back to Alister MacKenzie’s original plans for Augusta National. MacKenzie first drew up routings for a nine-hole and later an 18-hole “approach and putt course” in his original concept for the club.
Patron circulation was also a major component of the renovation, creating wider corridors and increased capacity. Some of the steep grades have been reduced leading to the Par 3 course from the main course between the Butler and Eisenhower cabins.
Left of the new fifth hole, a patron services hub was constructed, combining a 3,000-square foot merchant building for merchandise and concessions under the same roof while also providing expanded and improved restrooms.
The Par 3 Contest water fountain, which was previously adjacent to the practice putting green, was relocated to a more central spot left of No. 7, providing chilled water to patrons for the first time.
The roots of the Par 3 course go all the way back to Alister MacKenzie’s original plans for Augusta National. MacKenzie first drew up routings for a nine-hole and later an 18-hole “approach and putt course” in his original concept for the club. Bobby Jones nixed the idea – presumably because of costs when the club was struggling during the Depression – and instead marked on the site plan, “Reserved for Park.”
It took 25 years before aging co-founder Clifford Roberts resurrected MacKenzie’s concept for a short course to augment the main attraction. In 1958, a nine-hole course was designed and built by George W. Cobb – “with help from Roberts.” The membership did not immediately embrace it, derisively referring to it as the “Tom Thumb course” according to David Owens’ book “The Making of the Masters.”
But it didn’t take long for the little beauty playing around and over Desoto Springs Pond to soften hearts. By 1960, the Par 3 Contest was created and evolved into one of the most beloved traditions in golf – a rare, light-hearted calm-before-the-storm event on the eve of the season’s first major championship. The “Par 3 jinx” began with it as no player presented the crystal given to the contest winner has ever gone on to win the Masters in the same year.
When Fazio made his changes in 1978, the Par 3 course also served as a significant test subject with its greens converted from a hybrid Bermudagrass to bentgrass. The experiment was deemed a success and the greens on the main course were converted to bent two years later before the 1980 Masters.
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