Masters Hole-by-Hole Guide

By Mike Anthony

Written by my buddy, the great sports journalist Mike Anthony! Who has just started his own Substack @MikeAndHisRants

Enjoy and remember at 3pm EST I will be LIVESTREAMING My commentary on the Final Round of the Masters on All Of My Socials Until its conclusion!

If you’re a normal, weekend warrior golfer, you probably fit into a very comfortable mold. While you can rattle off all the most famous courses and routinely manipulate friends and loved ones to leave you with open weekends during majors, you likely suck out loud when actually trying to play the game. And there’s no shame in that.

In fact, your appreciation of the elite world of golf can mix with your real-life helplessness when trying to actually play the game to create a Jekyll and Hyde view of a course that most casual golfers think they could play in their sleep.

I’ve been lucky enough to be credentialed as a media member to cover the Masters a few times. That means I had free reign to walk the entire course (usually 2-3 times per day) from the first practice rounds on Monday until the pressure-packed second nine on Sunday. This has given me plenty of information on how actual professionals attack the course while also offering me time to consider how I - a 15-HCP on my best day - would fare.

Being the diligent journalist I am, I also dug deeper. I have never been lucky enough to win the media lottery which awards a tee time to lottery winners the day after the Masters, but I do know some people who have hit that jackpot and have considered their firsthand accounts of playing this magical course while being very aware of how unqualified you are to play it.

So ditch the yardage books and save money on hiring a caddie. Here’s a best-case, worst-case for Augusta National. Take a very serious assessment of your actual ability, and use the instructions accordingly.

Hole No. 1

“Tea Olive”

Par 4 - 445 yards

Professional Golfer

There’s little doubt that the nerves will be on edge as you step up to begin you round at one of the most iconic tournaments and courses in the world. The tee shot isn’t the toughest in the world, but any miss could be severely punished, which is a trend that will keep up with you all day. A drive just left - or just over - the prominent fairway bunker on the right is optimal, but the work isn’t even half done as an uphill approach to a severely sloped green awaits. There are several ways to attack this hole, but simply getting it near the green in two and getting down in two more is more than enough to be thankful for.

You

So, let’s just get this over with real quick. Augusta National is insanely intimidating. No matter how good you are, the average weekend warrior is going to piss himself and swing and miss or make embarrassing contact half a dozen times while playing this course. So let’s just assume all of that with one mighty whiff on the tee here and move on … The cruel joke is that your average ass will likely be in the fairway at No. 1. After all, the fairway is nearly 100 yards wide short of the bunker. It’s your physical and mental side that will take the biggest hit here as that acceptable drive will be followed by a walk down an impossibly steep slope, followed immediately by climbing an equally steep slope on the way up to your ball. You’ll be gassed as hell by the time you have to focus hard on your approach to a green that might be large, but is nothing but trouble if you don’t put it in the right spot.

Hole No. 2

“Pink Dogwood”

Par 5 - 585 yards

Professional Golfer

The ingenious design of Augusta National is that it doesn’t try to be an impossibly tough U.S. Open layout or a British Open track that is entirely at the mercy of the elements. The course offers and even welcomes opportunities to make great shots that lead to low scores - but always at the cost of taking a risk just outside of your comfort area. A long, sweeping, downhill dogleg left offers nearly any decent tee shot with the opportunity to get home in two. But a small, shallow green with three distinct arms and a significant ridge in the middle can turn promising second shots into a bad bounce and a very tight lie or short-side bunker shot to try and scramble for a birdie.

You

This tee shot is the hack golfer’s dream. You’re on an elevated tee box with a pretty wide fairway. The fairway bunkers might be too far away to pose a threat and the shape of the hole is designed to maximize drive length while steering your ball towards the green. Problem is, the math says that you’re probably in the 80 percent group of average dipshits who love hitting weak, right-handed slices. So you won’t even make it to the crest of that fairway hill that wants to help you. You’ll still be 350+ yards from the green. It’s entirely possible to scorch one most of the way down to the green from there, but how confident are you going to be after choking on that tee shot?

Hole No. 3

“Flowering Peach”

Par 4 - 350 yards

Professional Golfer

This one looks like a fun challenge from the tee. With a big drive and a helping wind, it’s entirely possible to run a good shot all the way up the fairway that steadily gains elevation and all the way to the front of the green. Even irons off the tee should easily fly the fairway bunker. The play off the tee is likely dictated by pin placement as another tricky green puts a premium on having the right attack angle on your second shot.

You

This is the first hole where you could hit a decent shot and feel like a pro. Many guys playing in the Masters will lay up off the tee, so it’s entirely possible that you could comb through the records and see plenty of major winners with a longer second shot than you. Now you’re about to be introduced to the impossible nature of the short game at Augusta. You’ll have an extreme uphill pitch that might roll right back to your feet a few times. Once you finally get one to rest on the green, congratulations on your ensuing 3,4, or 5-putt.

Hole No. 4

“Flowering Crab Apple”

240 yards

Professional Golfer

After several good scoring opportunities to start your day, Augusta may have lulled you into a false sense of security … Now buckle the fuck up. The fourth hole is the first par-3 of the day and is about as long of one as you’ll find, routinely playing over 240 yards. Anything left of the green is dead. Anything long is trouble. Challenging a back right flag and trying to clear the fronting bunker is an incredibly risky endeavor. While the course offers many chances to score under par, there are other spots where simply aiming for large, flat spots of green and two-putting for a par is the smartest thing you can do.

You

It’s probably best to view this as a very short par-4 you might get lucky on. Many shitty golfers have the length to get to this green without much of an issue, but holding the green and keeping it anywhere near the stick requires massive amounts of loft, spin and touch that simply are not within the galaxy of your abilities. This is a truly massive green and you’ll have a much greater appreciation of both its expanse and complexities once you ping-pong your way across it a few times, never able to get the ball to stop. If you end up in the deep greenside bunker, pray that you had the foresight to stuff a few sandwiches in your bag back at the clubhouse. You’ll be there for a minute.

Hole No. 5

“Magnolia”

495 yards

Professional Golfer

Following a lengthening in 2023, the fifth hole has turned into the older, longer, nearly as impossible par-4 brother of the fourth hole. An uphill drive stares at large fairway bunkers on the left that are basically an automatic bogey or worse if your tee shot ends up in one. Even perfect tee shots will likely need a high, soft-landing from a mid or long iron to hold a green with a big false front that eliminates most run-up shots. A perennial contender for the hole that plays toughest to par each year, you’ll likely see live coverage cut-ins anytime someone manages a birdie here.

You

At this point, you’ve undoubtedly been sufficiently humbled already. All those years of rattling off mid-50s rounds on EA video games maybe weren’t a completely accurate depiction of how to get your ball around this course. This hole is where it dawns on you that - if what all the pros do here is “golf” - you are playing some entirely different sport. Don’t bother worrying about the fairway bunkers off the tee because you can’t reach them. You have barely any shot of sniffing this green in two. If you lose any shot left of the green, it will take you half an hour to get back. The ideal score for you on this hole will not be expressed in a number, but rather the will to ever take another swing at a golf ball.

Hole No. 6

“Juniper”

180 yards

Professional Golfer

The second par-3 of the day is nearly a polar opposite of hole No. 4, but dangerous in its own right. A comfortable distance, elevated tee and large green all look inviting as you walk up, but you’re still in for a big challenge. Pins on the left side take some of the teeth away from this hole as a huge ridge cuts the green in half on a diagonal and sends most shots funneling to the lower left basin in back of a fronting bunker. But for pins on the right - especially in the back right - safer tee shots will funnel away from the hole and leave a putt of at least 50 feet while tee shots that go right or long will face a perilous chip shot to try and save par.

You

If you’ve performed as expected so far, this might be your first chance to hit a green in regulation. Consulting some average distances from high handicap players, you can probably use the elevation to your advantage and take no more than maybe a 6-iron off the tee. If you simply land it somewhere near the middle, your ball will definitely stop somewhere on the green. If you miss, it’s probably best to grab the putter anyways. There are so many steep hills and ridges in and around the green that you’re going to need your ball tied to gravity and the sweet, sweet earth as closely as possible to mitigate the damage while eventually coaxing your way towards the hole.

Hole No. 7

“Pampas”

450 yards

Professional Golfer

This is where the course can start to play mind games and weed out talented young players from the grizzled vets who have been to this particular rodeo before. No. 7 is very straightforward - one of the flattest fairways on the course with medium length and no real dogleg to speak of. But you had better hit that fairway as a shallow green is guarded by three bunkers in front and two more in the back. Any tee shot that doesn’t leave you with a good angle at a comfortable distance for a soft landing brings a bogey into play in a hurry.

You

If it isn’t clear by now, you aren’t recreating any legendary shots of yore today. You probably haven’t even sniffed a bogey yet. You’re probably better off double-crossing yourself and taking a cut from your caddie on the bets he’s almost certainly making with others about just how pathetic this will get. The good news is that Augusta famously has very affordable beers and concessions and Hole No. 7 brushes near several such establishments. Restock on sandwiches and beers and try to ignore the fact that it might take you four attempts just to land a ball on this green and get it to stick.

Hole No. 8

“Yellow Jasmine”

570 yards

Professional Golfer

Augusta was designed with the intention of making all of its par-5s reachable in two shots if they are well-executed. That’s still true for the only uphill par-5, but requires more precision than the others. A large bunker guards the right side of the fairway and anything played too far left of it will likely see overhanging limbs from the left treeline impeding a direct shot at the green. Whether it’s your second or third shot aimed at a long and narrow green, landing spot is crucial as mounds to the right of the green and a large ridge in the middle of it can make the difference between a kick-in birdie or scrambling for par.

You

For many golfers east of the Mississippi, the overall sights of a course don’t change much. Some courses have more hills or water than others and tree types can vary, but the vast majority of holes are tree-lined amongst a gently rolling landscape and it’s rare to be able to see more than a couple thousand feet into the distance before more trees block the horizon. After the previous 90 minutes or so have beaten your opinion of your golf game into submission, the tee at No. 8 can cause a further existential crisis encompassing your meaninglessness in the grand scope of the universe. You might not be able to carry it to the beginning of the fairway. You’ll never reach the fairway bunker and you’ll cower at the fact that its top lip looms 10 feet above you as you walk up to it. The first couple hundred yards of this hole are the most wide open on the property, which only serves to accentuate just how broad and towering all the pines are that have and will continue to swat your shots wherever they please. You’ll make it onto the green in five if you’re lucky, and the long climb as the path of the hole consistently rises from tee to green might have you considering tagging in your caddie to handle the putting while you catch your breath.

Hole No. 9

“Carolina Cherry”

460 yards

Professional Golfer

No drives at Augusta are all that easy, but this is likely the first since hole No. 2 where any number of options off the tee can leave you with similar odds of going for birdie. The fairway immediately ahead of the tee box begins as a bit of a tight chute, but opens up as balls sail above the treetops due to a severe downhill slope to the ideal landing zone. The approach shot goes 50 feet back up a hill, and must attack a three-tiered green at an uncomfortable diagonal angle. Just a few inches short or long can easily be the difference between a beautiful creeping rollout to a few inches or a pitch shot that isn’t guaranteed to stay within 20 feet.

You

A big downhill clearing off the tee provides a chance for even the most average golfer to move one more than 300 yards. Then again, remember that weak slice off the second tee? Wouldn’t ya know, there it is again. Any shot that doesn’t make it all the way down the hill won’t give you any chance at getting a second shot near the green. And the huge false front that feeds into an even more severe fairway slope likely means you’ll get a handful of attempts to really dial in your strategy on 70-yard uphill pitch shots. Don’t worry. It happens to a lot of people. But if you put your ball past the hole when you finally do find the green, don’t overcook your putt, because the insane slopes on this green could easily send you back down the fairway to start the process again.

Hole No. 10

“Camelia”

495 yards

Professional Golfer

The tee shot off of No. 10 is another opportunity to blast off. Once again, you’ll fire straight off a cliff to a wide fairway. With good carry and a favorable kick off of the myriad fairway mounds, drives of 350+ are definitely possible. However, this green is so tricky that it really doesn’t matter. Playing it safe off the tee will bring about a very challenging mid-iron while a bomb off the tee could leave a short approach that will come in with enough spin to land within a few feet of the pin while ending up off the green entirely. As with so many of the par-4s at Augusta, a great approach can lead to birdie, but one bad shot at any point can cause bogey or worse.

You

For a second consecutive hole, feel free to let loose with everything you have off the tee. Here’s another wide open fairway with a downhill slope that will put video game numbers on your driving average. But that’s where the fun stops. The green at No. 10 is larger and has less severe fall lines, but everything around it spells absolute death for a hack golfer who can’t stop one on the putting surface. As a rule of thumb, if you see the world’s best golfers taking five minutes and having an existential crisis while trying to figure out a pitch shot into this green, you should follow suit. Legend has it that a portion of Rory’s soul is still bound by the average golfer gods about 150 yards and waaaaaay left of the tee at No. 10.

Hole No. 11

“White Dogwood”

520 yards

Professional Golfer

Here begins the vaunted Amen Corner. If you’re anywhere within a handful of shots of the lead on Sunday when reaching this tee, I’d wager that you couldn’t pinch one off for $1 million right now. And the fun/danger is only beginning. The last 20 years or so of tinkering with this long par-4 have taken some of the strategy out of this hole, but left all the teeth. A drive up the right side still provides the best angle for a downhill approach into a peninsula green. That said, unless you absolutely need a birdie, it’s often best to bail out right of the green rather than taking on the pond fronting the green where anything on the left of the end of the fairway or the first few feet of green will send your ball underwater.

You

Much of this portion of the guide has been dedicated to shitting on your less-than-mediocre golfing skills. And that’s for good reason. None of us would ever break 90 (or probably more like 100) if given the chance to take on Augusta. However, a strange twist of irony could make the hole that traditionally plays hardest for pros in the tournament possibly not be all that terrible for a hack. To be sure, this is an impossibly long par-4 and you’re dead if you push or pull a tee shot straight into either tree line. Ignoring that, any decently straight drive will get you well up the fairway and any well-struck second shot that stays far right of the pond is liable to use the downhill fairway and greenside mounds to get you close to most bailout second shots of plenty of the greatest players in the world. That will be a great thought to soak in before chipping through the green and into the pond twice and eventually carding double-digits.

Hole No. 12

“Golden Bell”

155 yards

Professional Golfer

To provide a gameplan to take on No. 12 is akin to formulating a hand-to-hand combat strategy for a run-in with a grizzly bear. It’s entirely possible that - if you’re very safe and mind your own business - you can quietly walk through and take a par with you. If you feel like a fight, just hope that you’re also feeling like a lottery winner, because it’s possible to create a highlight that will last generations, but much more likely that you will end up dead at the bottom of a creek. Swirling winds, a shallow and partially-obscured green and very few playable lies from a non-putting approach are just begging to wreck your entire tournament in about five minutes. Choose a line, choose your preferred deity, and pray that both hold up.

You

It’s important to embrace the silver linings in life. When standing on the tee at No. 12, you should consider the fact that only the greatest golfers to have lived - along with several hundred obscenely wealthy titans of industry - have ever been afforded the opportunity to fire at this iconic pin. If, by some minor miracle, you manage to stick a tee shot on the green, the right move would be to storm off the tee box and quit this game forever. The only real reason not to do this is that you still have so many more memories and possibly humiliating emotional scars to take a swing at before the day is done. When you inevitably chunk it into Rae’s Creek, who cares? None of your friends have a golf ball living at Augusta.

Hole No. 13

“Azalea”

545 yards

Professional Golfer

Possibly the best risk/reward hole in all of major golf championships. Backing the tee box up nearly 50 yards in 2024 gives this hole more of a traditional par-5 footprint, but this is still a hole that invites gutsy eagles while threatening a bogey that shatters any hope of slipping on a green jacket. Bending a tee shot around the dogleg left still offers a relatively short approach as far as under-GIRs go, but the main goal is to avoid the trees and Rae’s Creek on the left. Anything through the dogleg and into the pine straw can still produce a birdie with some luck. Many title chasers will play it safe and not go for a heroic second shot, but the pressure is definitely on to score under par here if you want to win it all.

You

The most common swing malady of the average hack golfer is the typical flared, right-handed slice. How fitting that one of the most iconic holes in the world will serve as the backdrop - and worst possible setup - for your achilles heel to strike once more. This par-5 is still reachable even after the recent lengthening. Pros routinely clip a branch on the left side or drive through the fairway into the pine straw, only to still reach the green under regulation. But your pathetic slice will put you somewhere back near the tee on No. 12, leaving a blind shot and an unreachable 300 yards or so to the green. It’s not like it would make a difference if you hit a good drive. Most fairway lies are too severe for you to handle. One way or another, you’re going to find the pond in front of the green … and probably five-putt once you get on the dance floor and see the contours that range from horrifyingly drastic to totally imperceptible.

Hole No. 14

“Chinese Fir”

440 yards

Professional Golfer

Fun Fact: This is the only hole at Augusta that doesn’t feature a bunker. Less Fun Fact: How do you feel about hitting mid-irons off of extreme above/below your feet angles? Hole No. 14 is a mostly straight and moderately long par-4 whose main defense is in the drastic slope of its fairway and a huge green complex with a drastic ridge that makes any misplaced approach an iffy proposition for a two-putt. A good tee shot and ensuing approach from a clean (if uneven) lie is crucial as landing high and soft on the green is your best chance at keeping it anywhere close to the pin.

You

It’s hard to find a single bad thing to say about Augusta National. This isn’t even a criticism, but serves as the least amount of praise to be given: No. 14 might be the only hole you see that might look like some other hole you’ve played before. It isn’t too long, it plays on a slope from left-to-right, but without much elevation change from tee to green, and it’s mostly undefended if you hit the ball well to set up a good angle. Every other hole on this course could be hung in the Lourve. This is the one that seems gettable because it looks just like your favorite par-4 at Mediocre Country Club Links. Keep that in mind as bad bounces, tough lies, and a menacing green hand you a 10 and thank you for visiting.

Hole No. 15

“Firethorn”

550 yards

Professional Golfer

Similar to No. 13 in its risk/reward nature, Hole No. 15 is a bit more traditional looking, but possibly more menacing as it’s one of the last best opportunities to put up a low number for anyone in contention on Sunday. The tee shot is deceptively easy as you look out at a slowly rising, 80-yard wide fairway with hardly any rough in sight. And while hitting the fairway is about as easy as it looks, those looking to get to the green in two should focus on the right side as overhanging trees beyond the crest of the fairway hill make left-leaning tee shots much more complicated on the next swing. Nearly every player in the field hitting a decent tee shot has the power to reach the green in two, but the green is very shallow, sloping heavily from right to left and with a false front on the left side that can see your approach land softly 30 feet onto the green, only to slowly and tragically put it in reverse and roll into a pond. This is another Sunday staple as eagles are possible, birdies might be required for contenders, and double bogeys aren’t out of the question.

You

Yet another piece of historic golf lore you’ll never be able to look at again once you have to actually play it. Feel free to swing away off the tee. You can hit the drive of your life, and we all hope you do, because it’s all downhill - both literally and figuratively - from there. You can’t get to the green in two. If you skull your layup, it’s bouncing into the pond. If you chunk your layup, you’ll chunk the next one into the pound. If you somehow lay up perfectly and leave yourself an ideal number for a wedge into the green, you’re going to spin it right back into the pond. When you finally get settled on the green, there’s a very real chance you might putt it right back into the pond. This is a birdie hole for prospective Masters champions, but for you, it’s likely to claim about $32 worth of ProV-1s.

Hole No. 16

“Redbud”

170 yards

Professional Golfer

The final par-3 on the course is another that is best defined by drastic elevation changes on the green and presenting very different challenges depending on where the pin is located. The huge pond running nearly from tee to green up the left side looks intimidating, but shouldn’t be a real threat to any well-executed shot. The same goes for the small bunker wedged between the pond and the back-left portion of the green. On this hole, it’s all about the second shot you leave for yourself. There are plenty of tap-in birdies to be had, but terrifying chips and potential three-putts are also a very real possibility.

You

We’re getting late in the day, so let’s take stock of everything that will be taken away from this magical experience. You suck at golf. It’s impossible to figure out the minute details of this course that can make or break an entire hole. You have managed to perfectly visualize every iconic shot before making terrible contact with an awkward swing… Tough lessons for the day, but now is your time to shine! No one is expecting you to carry the water or perfectly drop a low iron onto the slope in the green to give thousands of patrons a thrill. But what you CAN do is overswing and skull the shit out of your 7-iron. If the golf gods and proper top-spin are in your favor, perhaps you’ll skip one all the way across the hazard. Anyone can be a champion at Augusta. It takes someone special to be the people’s champion at Augusta.

Hole No. 17

“Nandina”

440 yards

Professional Golfer

The penultimate hole is very similar to No. 7. It’s a straightaway par-4 with a relatively narrow fairway that gets even more dangerous with plenty of thick branches on loblolly pines lazily extending well into the line of many otherwise good driving lines. This green is larger than most and doesn’t feature the drastic fall lines of other holes, but there are enough small knobs and subtle breaks to force a lot of consideration on just about any putt. This isn’t the hardest hole in the world if you are playing a casual round, but if you need a birdie on Sunday to give yourself a chance, you’ll need three nearly perfect shots.

You

This is it. It’s the end. No matter how many blatant lies have won you a charity scramble or how much honest-to-god great play has put you on top of your club, you are undoubtedly a wounded and broken soul by this point. But you signed up for 18 and Augusta is nothing if not accommodating to all guests. The tee shot seems open enough, but anything other than a laser beam down the center line seems to get snagged on an overhanging branch that definitely wasn’t there five seconds ago. At least you’re dry as the water that has plagued you for the last two hours is now behind you. Yet, in another fit of irony, Augusta overcompensates for the lack of water with two fronting bunkers that manage to coax in (checks math) 83 percent of approaches to a green seemingly too big to invite that many misses. If the tournament stands aren’t up, the view just short of the green at No. 17 is the perfect place to take it all in. It’s one of the most exposed spots on the grounds, offering a view all the way down to Amen Corner where most of your golf balls and all of your dignity will remain for years. And the view pans to the par-5s at Nos. 2 and 8, where maybe you managed a score you can brag about forever. And you can also peer all the way up the hill to the clubhouse, home and curator of this magical place. Feel good about these sights, because the course is about to kick you in the dick repeatedly for about another quarter mile.

Hole No. 18

“Holly”

465 yards

Professional Golfer

Augusta knew exactly what it was doing when it designed its final hole. The drive is a terrifying chute - like running through a smoke-filled tunnel into a stadium of 50,000. And if you’re in the final group on Sunday, those 50,000 are already conveniently placed all around you. The narrow lane and fairway bunkers don’t allow you to power your way through or over any danger. The uphill approach and two distinct tiers on the green demand that you hit it high and to an exact number if you want a makeable look at birdie. In short, No. 18 is a great microcosm of Augusta as a whole. That birdie is out there if you really want it - but you need to have the talent and the balls to actually go for it.

You

Look… It doesn’t matter that your caddie stopped counting every stroke somewhere around your bathroom break on the tee at No. 13. You’re playing Augusta and your parting gift is one final tee shot, enabling you to see yourself making one last birdie to claim a green jacket. You step up to the final tee and - FUCK. What is going on? Surely the CBS cameras and Sports Illustrated covers were using tricks to make this tee shot look like a tunnel? Nope. You need to put one at least 275 or so down the fairway to have a good look at an approach that could be put close, and you’ll have to take one of your best swings of the day while keeping your fade or draw within the width of a backwoods two-lane road. Left is dead. Right is somehow worse. The sheer slope of the uphill approach once you hack into the fairway will make you audibly weep. The teeth of this entire course comes from how every obstacle and opportunity forms a surreal balance. Cause and effect. Risk and reward. Living even the most professionally hit shots on a razor’s edge between miraculous and tournament-ending. You’ll be taught that lesson one more time as the pin placement, two large bunkers, and another tiered green with a false front perfectly interact to provide the look of an inviting green from approach distance. But the reality is that there is about a 5-foot circle that will result in a great look at the hole, while nearly anything else will put you in a bunker, with a short-sided chip, or putting nearly 10 feet downhill. But who gives a shit? You just played Augusta. Every golfer in your life now loves and hates you forever.

Hole No. 19

Post-tournament reception

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Professional Journalist and Haver of Good Times

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Holy fucking shit. I’m pretty sure I just drank a bottle of wine that costs more than my house.

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In conclusion, this is a great tournament and a classy joint. 10/10. Would recommend.