Golf, Augusta Masters, the course: every hole is a story

by our correspondent Matteo Dore

April 6
– AUGUSTA (Usa)

A poem drawn in the trees. This is Augusta National, the field invented in 1932 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Brown, where every year the miracle of the Masters is repeated, the only one among the 4 Majors that is always held on the same course. Whoever enters the National takes a leap in time, as in certain fairy tales one changes dimension by entering a closet or opening a forbidden door, whoever is lucky enough to have a ticket becomes part of a timeless postcard. Here the spectators are called Patrons and have the right to attend one of the greatest shows in the world, but they cannot run, they cannot use their cell phones – and if someone urgently needs to call home they can use one of the telephone booths scattered along the route. – they can’t make noise. However, they can enter the shop that sells all the material with the Masters logo: a privilege, because there is no official online sale. All like ten, twenty, seventy years ago.

WORLD SEPARATELY

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The holes are named after a flower. The bright green of the grass is interrupted only by the brown of the pine needles at the base of the trees and the lilac of the azaleas that decorate the entire path. As the players who have tried it explain, the Masters cannot be prepared elsewhere. The undulations of the course, the differences in height, the speed of the green, are all things that are only found here, not elsewhere. Those who arrive for the first time have a couple of days to get used to and then rely on luck, so much from ’79 to today no one has ever won as a rookie. Everything at the Masters is a tradition: even the sandwiches have their own peculiarity that cannot be found elsewhere. They say the flavor of the pimento cheese sandwich is inimitable. And each hole has a thousand stories to tell. But there are three that are more special than the others. 11, 12 and 13. Official names: white dogwood, golden bell, azalea. Together they form the Amen Corner, a corner where you may not win the tournament, but you can certainly lose it. For information ask Tiger Woods that at his last appearance in 2020, he finished 12, which is a par 3, in 10 strokes. The Amen Corner is a place where the ghosts of golf float, where you can still hear the rumble of screams towards the sky, the curses for the balls that have landed in the water, the echo of disappointed hopes. It owes its name to an American Sports Illustrated journalist, Warren Wind, who in 1958 called it this saying that he was inspired by a jazz song in vogue in those years, “Shouting at Amen Corner”.

THE DECISIVE HOLES

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A reference that makes the concept of prayer launched towards heaven well, hoping that things go the right way. Hole 11 is a downhill par 4. The fairway is narrow, it is easy to end up right under the trees. Many players do not take the risk of hitting the green in two shots and prefer to stay short for a safer shot. But for any professional, prudence is against nature. They are always looking for the best, every shot must create the possibility of earning. But 11 is like that, the risk is only for the bravest. The green – hard, fast, undulating like all the greens in Augusta – is bordered by a stream, Rae’s Creek, which becomes the protagonist of hole 12. Short, difficult, beautiful. They are about 140 meters, but between the tee and the green there is the Rae’s Creek where it is very easy to finish. Francesco Molinari also did it in 2019, who until then was in the lead but who for that mistake had to say goodbye to the hopes of winning the Masters. The 12 is a treacherous hole because the green runs horizontally. There is very little space after the stream and there is always the risk of going long. You need precision and coolness, not always easy to have when there is a Green Jacket up for grabs. In addition, the wind takes place, difficult to interpret because the green is protected by plants and azaleas, but the presence of water creates mini air currents that move the ball in flight. Even shots that look perfect end badly. Then there is 13, a long climb where players have plenty of time to think about the disaster just made or to congratulate themselves on coming out alive from Amen Corner. The perfect trap in a corner of Paradise. The Augusta National.