Opinion & Analysis
Should Augusta National lengthen the 13th hole, or leave it alone?
It’s perhaps the most iconic par 5 in all of championship golf. It’s short and deceptively simple by professional standards, yet it remains the epitome of “risk/reward” golf due to the sharp dogleg to the left around Rae’s Creek (Jeff Maggert once made a 2, Tommy Nakajima once made a 13). Even casual Masters viewers know we’re talking about Azalea, the 13th hole at Augusta National. It is the first of two “must-birdie” holes on the back nine at the Masters. It is perhaps the most beautiful hole in golf, and one that has caused as much heartache as joy over the years as any.
But as mentioned, at only 510 yards, it is short… very short by modern professional standards; even shorter than some championship par 4s. Bubba hit a wedge in there a few years ago, and every player in the field can reach it easy in two with their average drive. Or, if you’re Phil, you can hit a 6 iron from the pine straw and knock it stiff en route to victory. But if you miss, the infamous “tributary” of Rae’s Creek awaits your slightest error.
The problem now is it seems that after even marginal drives and from not-the-best-lies can reach the green in two. So the Augusta National is thinking about making the hole longer. At Augusta, that is like saying they are GOING TO make the hole longer. Recently purchased property adjacent to that part of the course allows them to do it, too.
So our question for GolfWRX viewers is this: Good idea or bad idea?
- On the good side: “it needs to be longer to keep up with the modern equipment and golf ball.”
- On the bad side: “why mess with perfection and history? It is fine (exciting) the way it is.”
Before you weigh in, a point to consider: forget any bifurcation arguments, the Augusta National is just not going to butt heads with the USGA in creating a “Masters” ball. So let’s assume the equipment stays as is. In my opinion, here are a few possibilities:
- Make the penalty for going over the trees (the Bubba Route, but who knows how many more might soon consider it) more severe; perhaps OB?
- Add a little length to force them to use driver. Many of them now use three woods to turn it easier like they do on No. 10.
- Leave it alone. It’s the best short par-5 in major championship golf!
Do you think Augusta should lengthen the par-5 13th, or leave it alone? And why?
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The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.
TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.
Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.
However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.
Past Winners at TPC Louisiana
- 2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
- 2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
- 2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
- 2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
- 2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
- 2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)
2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks
Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)
Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.
This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.
McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.
Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)
Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.
Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.
Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)
Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.
NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.
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After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.
For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.
The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.
The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.
*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*
Past Winners at LIV Adelaide
- 2023: Talor Gooch (-19)
Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami
Green in Regulation
- Richard Bland
- Jon Rahm
- Paul Casey
Fairways Hit
- Abraham Ancer
- Graeme McDowell
- Henrik Stenson
Driving Distance
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dean Burmester
Putting
- Cameron Smith
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Matt Jones
2024 LIV Adelaide Picks
Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)
When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.
At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.
The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.
Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)
Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.
In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.
For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.
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Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.
Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.
But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.
To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.
Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.
If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.
In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.
Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.
While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.
So, what about grooves and face texture?
Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.
Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.
But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?
The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.
So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.
And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.
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19th Hole2 weeks agoDave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
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19th Hole1 week agoTwo star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
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Mat
Apr 6, 2018 at 8:04 am
It’s just “par”. Last I checked, these guys aren’t counting Stableford off of 14 caps. If you must, just call it a Par 4 and move on.
kourt
Apr 5, 2018 at 6:35 pm
I say leave it alone. Its not like one hole is ruining the tournament. Who cares if people are making birdies there. The rest of the course is punishing enough. The trees you got to carry will continue to grow which will make cutting the corner even more difficult. After battling amen corner Its nice to have a few holes where the guys can play aggressive and make a big push for birdie and eagle. I mean 15 is fairly easy, sergio eagled it last year in the final round, and this year made 13!
Don O
Apr 5, 2018 at 12:41 am
The “point” of lengthening the hole is to make it harder for the bombers. Well, it will just separate the shorter players even more. If DJ is using a GW and KJ is using a 8I, but then DJ is using a 9I and now KJ is now using a 6I. How hard is it to control a 6I onto a tight spot? It’s not how far but how accurate should make a difference. Set up the courses tighter, put more penalty on drivers over 3 hundred. Move bunkers to match the length. Bunkers at 285 are a joke. DJ will fly, the average pro will be hurt more. This time, Jack is wrong. Look at Erin Hills at 7800. It just took the shorter guys out of the equation. Put deep bunkers where they cut the corner. or add a stand of trees on 13. How well did Tiger-proofing the course work out? He did and can still win because he is still longer than Charlie Hoffman and Pat Perez.
BD57
Apr 4, 2018 at 9:36 pm
Rather than simply “Lengthen it,” why not move the tee 10 -15 yards further to the let of where it is now (and, perhaps, add 10-15 yards)?
I looked on Google Earth – it looks like they have the land available to make it work, separate from the land purchased from Augusta Country Club (with the ACC land, they should have land to go left & add length).
Going left would put more stress on the tee shot, especially if they add 10-15 yards to the carry distance required to go over the top, without completely changing the nature of the hole.
John Kerry
Apr 4, 2018 at 6:39 pm
Do what some including Augusta is thinking/suggesting and that is change rhe ball. Get over your male ego and 400 yrd drives. You will make several golf courses because they can’t afford length. This prime example of the 13th hole of Augusta, was meant to have a drive and a 2nd shot the player had to decide…go or lay up…..NOT a wedge onto the green. You can’t keep lengthening courses…it has to stop and now is as good a time as any.
David Owen
Apr 4, 2018 at 6:30 pm
Leave it alone….lengthening it only makes it harder for the shorter hitters…the bombers won’t care
Tom54
Apr 4, 2018 at 5:42 pm
I believe if they have purchased land for a new tee then it is a done deal. If they do make a new tee hopefully it can be adjusted to see how it plays. If 15-20 yds longer makes it still reachable then fine. As long as they have it where a well placed drive affords the chance to go for it in too then please always let it play that way. The back nine roars for eagles at 13&15 are what makes the Masters exciting. As long as they still keep them that way then the Masters will have not messed with perfection
Dennis Clark
Apr 4, 2018 at 4:32 pm
When we talk about longer, we are actually doing it because of the athlete, not the equipment, right? The ball and club have not changed in a while now as Greg said. What has improved is the athlete and optimized launch conditions. In that case if they add 30/40 yards, should we change the hoop in b-ball to 11 feet?
Greg V
Apr 5, 2018 at 9:12 am
The problem with the distance and its effect on this hole goes back to the change in equipment from 1993 to 2003. It has taken from 2003 to now to recognize that there is a problem.
I am happy that Fred Ridley has addressed the issue.
They do one of two things – address the equipment or length of the holes to address the problem, or agree to play on what have become “executive length” courses.
Man
Apr 4, 2018 at 4:18 pm
Just narrow the angle on the right by raising the rough and make it almost a hack-out,
and then shave the left side completely and slick it up by cutting away the rough completely so that any any errant balls to the left will spill the ball into the creek.
Everybody knows there’s hardly any rough on the whole course.
Sean
Apr 4, 2018 at 3:56 pm
Make it OB and longer – but get Ben Crenshaw to shape it in such a way that it retains its flavor.
Greg V
Apr 4, 2018 at 3:55 pm
Fred Ridley quoted Bobby Jones today. Jones said that the decision to go for the green in two on 13 should be a “momentous decision.” Ridley added that the decision these days is hardly momentous.
You can expect a lengthening of 13 to start in about 2 weeks.
Gumbo
Apr 4, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Don’t touch it
mark
Apr 4, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Shorten it a little, and turn it into a Par 4, it’s the approach shot, and location of the pin, that will create the birdies. With today’s technology, and the strength (swing speed) of most players, it really is not a Par 5 hole. If you shorten the tee box, everyone can still get to the corner, and hit the green it 2. On most courses, to make a Par 5 difficult for everyone, you need to place hazards at the 310-340 yd landing area, then it becomes position, shot making, risk-reward, for all players, long and short.
Jeff
Apr 4, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Does Par matter? It’s a number, whoever shots the lowest number wins
golfbum
Apr 4, 2018 at 3:37 pm
I agree with this! Worse thing in golf is to compare your game to a arbitrary number on a scorecard. I play a course in the SF Bay Area that is a Robert Trent Jones design and is par 63. From the tips you use every club in your bag.
At 13 it is not whether you make EAGLE or BIRDIE that wins the Masters, but whether you can make 3 or 4….but EAGLE or BIRDIE sounds better or perhaps in this case sounds worse.
Now, if you wan to make longer? Then stretch it out so that no player can hit the green in two shots. Therefore, making the strategy for a third shot a more important decision. With that the 4th shot is where the crowd will really roar!
Low score wins the Masters. Leave the course alone. Everything about the Masters is elegant: no player has ever said that Augusta National is too easy.
Greg
Apr 4, 2018 at 2:15 pm
On the good side: “it needs to be longer to keep up with the modern equipment and golf ball.”
You guys have been telling me for weeks there is no issues with the modern ball and equipment, but you just put it in print! That’s funny
dr. freud
Apr 4, 2018 at 2:01 pm
Azalea, she has a short hole… (ø)
Hawkeye77
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:33 pm
Of course, lengthen it and I’m sure they can figure out how to do that and preserve the integrity of the hole and still have reasonable risk/reward.
Art Williams
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:15 pm
They bought the land so go ahead and lengthen it. This should bring it back to shot values of years ago for most of the field.
Soonerslim
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:11 pm
Leave it alone. It’s time that these club designers stop lengthening golf holes because of the inflated ball and technology. The 13th is an iconic risk/reward hole. Lengthening it will cause a lot more golfers to lay up and not take that risk for a potential eagle. This hole has always been very pivot-able in the Master’s winner outcome. This hole has wound up penalizing a lot more golfers than it has ever rewarded. Leave it alone!
J
Dennis clark
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:08 pm
Just don’t make it a par 3…I Don’t want to see so much length added that it takes the exciting risk out of it.
Bob Sarvis
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:05 pm
Add 15-20 yards and lower the tee box which will make the trees on the left “play” taller. Adding length to the tee box will allow the hole to be lengthened or shortened daily depending on the conditions.
Ronald Montesano
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:02 pm
Lengthen it. The sharp dogleg was part of the original design, and it should come into play. The landing area for the distance freaks is conducive to taking the risk. Get the drives back into the layUP/go? area for more drama.
Artie
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Add 20-30 yards so a longer, more adventuresome 2nd shot by adding 2 clubs off the uneven lie. But still make it play that most to go for it vs just a boring layup.
Deacon Blues
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:50 pm
Now that they’ve bought the adjoining land from the Augusta Country Club, I think it’s obvious that they will move the tee back and make the 13th hole longer. They can also make the green smaller (while maintaining the difficulty of its contours), making it a more challenging target.
AB
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:44 pm
lower the tee box
tom Horonzy
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:37 pm
Is everyone missing the most obvious change should be to make it a Par 4?
Or a novel idea would be to play the tees as they are as a Par 5 Thursday and Friday but once the cut is determined slash it to a Par 4. Now that would show who has the donuts to play it for the championship under pressure.
Mike
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:55 pm
You don’t play a hole differently due to the par posted on the card….
Buzz
Apr 4, 2018 at 2:04 pm
EXACTLY!! Wouldnt be the only 500 yard par 4 on tour. Leave the damn ball and hole alone. Nicklaus was hitting his driver 300+ and could hit it high/low/left or right. So lets also assume he could FLY his 4-5 iron 200 and get it to stop. OR drastic idea… Make every hole a par 3 on the card and who ever shoots the lowest score after 4 rounds wins. Relation to par has always and will always be irrelevant in tournaments.
Duke Keiser
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:35 pm
As even the shorter hitters still have only a 5 iron or less to reach the green, Azalea is no longer the challenging hole it has been in the past. The purchase of the property from ACC should be seen as a clear indication that the decision has been made to lengthen the hole. I must say that I would not have been surprised to see #13 played as a 4 par this year, but perhaps tradition made that consideration a non-starter.
Rob
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:26 pm
Penalties for going over the trees?!? This is Golf right? Not some drone? They bought the land so, it will be lengthened. When people are hitting 9, pw into that green it’s time to move the tee box back.
Wayne
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:23 pm
With the amount of power the Masters have this is my suggestion? They should make a deflighted ball to be used only at Augusta? This means everyone will use the same ball with the masters logo on it and this will let this coarse survive for years to come? With technology today the great golf coarses of the past are becoming obsolete due to this issue? The cost of golf keeps excalating due to the cost of property to build and the amount of money it cost to maintain our great golf courses? It’s time to make the game enjoyable and realistic to all who want to play the game.? This isn’t the first time this has been brought up but here’s another thought. With all factions of golf getting more expensive and jobs being lost, the only people who will be able to play this game will be the rich. So it’s time the golf industry make this drastic decision to keep this game alive and well into the future!!!
Mike
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:54 pm
Dude, what’s with all the question marks??? lol…. very well spoken but it’s “course” btw…
Robert Mummery
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:21 pm
When I took up golf, bunkers were raked with a hay rake which left surfaces corrugated, why are bunker rakes now designed to leave a flat surface?
Secondly, why rather than increase length of holes, create deeper rough, so driving accuracy becomes a consideration?
Tiemco
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:17 pm
I would like to see the tee moved back and pushed to the left so that righties will have to hit a draw with the driver and lefty’s will not be able to fade it over the corner. The definition of a par five in my opinion is a hole that requires a long iron or higher into the green. With the length the pros have today this hole plays more like a par four.
Michael
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:33 pm
So my answer to this question in general would be, where are they going to move the tee box? If you have ever been there, you can see that there is nowhere else to go back. I’d say currently players to have to hit a draw especially if they want that good rollout, but there is not much of a penalty for missing one right. Pitch out and then have an easy wedge into the green.
Greg V
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:13 pm
Why did ANGC buy the 10th hole at Augusta Country Club?
Obviously, because they want to lengthen 13. It’s a done deal, all $20M of it.
Should they? OF course they should. At about 540 or 550 it will restore the risk/reward of this iconic par 4.5.
David Bloom
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:11 pm
Add the length as they have have some of the other holes in the past.
sj
Apr 4, 2018 at 12:10 pm
Make the banks slick again. Anything that spins or rolls off the green is always in the water. I’ve seen plenty of balls held up lately.
kevin
Apr 4, 2018 at 11:37 am
Maybe leave the length alone and instead add some subtle “whoop-de whoops” or mounds where they are landing their drivers. That way if they choose to go over trees to a short iron 2nd shot they run high risk of a very awkward stance into green. I cant imagine an awkward stance would be very reassuring into that green. Or have rae’s creek feed a pond where they are landing driver in middle of fairway making it one of those split fairways that wont allow going over trees
ogo
Apr 4, 2018 at 11:11 am
Azalea she is quite the short hole… 😮
Scott Freeman
Apr 4, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Option 4: Go back to counting strokes rather than scoring in relation to par.