the masters 2008 course guide

Published:

As part of Today’s Golfer anf Golf World’s Masters 2008 build up special we want to kicks things off with the inside track on how the pros will be attempting to conquer Augusta National from April 10th.

And for the first time ever the caddie of current Masters champion Zach Johnson has opened up their personal course notes used to help Zach win it last year. Can you afford to miss this never-seen-before level of insight? Read on below to find out how the very best approach the most difficult course in golf to win The Masters 2008.

The guide will give you a personal insight too into how you can improve your golf course strategy and show you how to think like a Tour Pro around the golf course. All in all it will not only give you the inside line on Augusta itself, but it will also help you play better golf…

 

 Augusta National 2008 Tournament Guide

 

 

 

 

 

Augusta National Clubhouse
Augusta National ClubHouse

Augusta National Entrance
Augusta National Entrance

Augusta National Entrance and ClubHouse
Augusta National Entrance and ClubHouse 

Augusta National
Augusta National

Augusta National Par 3 Course
Augusta National Par 3 Course

GOLF WORLD’S HOLE-BY-HOLE GUIDE:

1 – PAR FOUR

It’s 286 to reach the bunker on the right, and we can’t reach that. I actually have 294 from the back of the tee, so we don’t need to worry too much about going in there. The second shot you basically have to carry it nine or 10 on, and if you don’t it comes right back at you. If you do that it’s going to funnel into the middle of the green. That’s basically all there is to that hole – just get it past nine or 10 to the front. We had 204 yards on Thursday, and it rolled 11 yards once it got on the green. On day two we had 197, and hit a 4-iron 187 and it rolled 7 yards. How do I know? Once I’m on the green I’m looking for his ball mark. I start to count the yards as I get on the green and start looking for his ball mark. Par is really good. I mean, really good. It’s a very difficult starting hole. You’re happy as a lark to walk off there with a par.
Augusta National - 1st Hole

2 – PAR FIVE

If you can hit it down the left side, you can pick up an extra 20 to 30 yards because it hits the slope and rolls out. It’s 3.5 per cent downhill, which equals about 10 yards. It’s 300 yards to the bunker on the right. Don’t go left or it will run and run down into that creek on the left. (A lot of people don’t even know this is here.) We basically hit it at the bunker, and if it turns over, fine. Last year we had 273 to the front, then 282, 233 and 251 front; so Saturday was the only day we could have got there. The pin was left of the bunker, so instead we hit the second shot right so we could chip over that bunker.
Augusta National - 2nd Hole
Augusta National - 2nd Hole
Augusta National - 2nd Hole

3 – SHORT PAR FOUR 
You can play this hole many different ways. We played driver every day. You don’t want to hit it more than 280 yards to stay on the flat part of the fairway. Once you get over that, it will run away, and if you get too close to the green, the right-hand pins are very tricky to get at. The green is the biggest defence on this hole. It’s real shallow on the left, and the ball can just scoot on and release. It’s usually a wedge into here. On the first day we had 111 to the pin, then 87, 83 and 63. If you hit it short it will roll back 30 yards from the front. You’re just trying to hit the green – just getting it on this green, even with a wedge, you’re happy. DON’T leave it short.
Augusta National - 3rd Hole
Augusta National - 3rd Hole

4 – PAR THREE
The new tee they’ve built makes it very, very, difficult to hit this green. It’s 219 to the front from the very back, and it’s five per cent downhill, which equates to 10-12 yards to the front. We hit 2-iron, 4-iron, 5-iron (when they pulled the tee forward) and 3-wood on the last day. When the pin is at the front, the left trap is OK, and the front fringe is OK, but you don’t want to be in the right trap. When it’s back left, long is OK and the front bunker is OK because it will feed back down off the slope. Par is another good score.
Augusta National - 4th Hole

5 – PAR FOUR
This is a brute. You can’t hit it in the bunkers on the left – you can’t even get to the green from there. So you have to favour the right side. Zach tends to draw it a little bit, so we always shoot down the right side and try to bring it back into the middle. And then once you hit a great drive, this hole just gets harder. The mounding around the green is just incredible, and you just can’t get that from TV. Those mounds must be five-feet tall. If you’re the least bit short it rolls all the way off the green. We try to carry it 18 on, to cover all those mounds – that’s all we want to do. You’ve just got to get over the mounds.
Unfortunately they put a pin on here about 15 on, that’s a real tricky pin. You’re better long on here, putting back to the pins. The bunker isn’t a bad place to be. Zach bogeyed it three out of the four days last year because we couldn’t get it up and down – that’s how hard it is. Club selection is tough. It’s a really difficult hole, because the green is so busy.
Augusta National - 5th Hole
Augusta National - 5th Hole

6 – PAR THREE

The 6th green is basically as undulating as the 5th, and when the pin is over there on the right you’ve got a 10-yard square to land it in, or the ball rolls back and you’ve got an uphill 40-footer coming back. Zach hit three 6-irons in there and one 7-iron, and when that pin is right, it’s a frightening shot. If you go long, it’s no good. Go right it runs down the hill. Short, it runs down the hill. The easiest pin is when it’s front left, so you can shoot long and right and use the hill to feed it down.
Augusta National - 6th Hole
Augusta National - 6th Hole 

7 – PAR FOUR

The hardest driving hole I’ve ever seen, and the green is not made for the length they’ve got the hole now. It was made for wedges and sand wedges. It’s 19 yards deep. Last year we went in with 8 and 7-irons, but that’s because the wind was helping. In 2006, we were hitting 4-irons and 5-irons. We were aiming for the front bunker and trying to get it up and down. You have no chance stopping a ball on that green with those clubs. It’s one of the narrowest fairways on the course and tree-lined. It’s probably 20-25 yards wide at its narrowest. Zach made par all four days, and that was really good.
Augusta National - 7th Hole
Augusta National - 7th Hole

8 – PAR FIVE

It’s hard for us to get close to the bunkers, so we hit driver down the middle and hit a 3-wood over the big humps on the right side of the fairway and it opens up the long and slopey green. On the last day we had 78 yards to the hole and he wanted to hit a 54 degree wedge and I said it was a good 60. “Don’t you think it will spin too much,” he said, and I told him it would come back and be OK. So he hit it and it went past the pin by about 10 yards and then spun right back off the green. He got kind of pissy, so I said don’t worry about it, it’s an easy chip from there. So he goes up and holes the chip, and I said “I told you, don’t ever second guess me!”
There’s a ridge across the middle of this green – down which Rory Sabbatini holed an unbelievable putt last year. It’s another hole on which par is brilliant. The green is so tough to play. When the flag is back, the putt is fast as lightening and if you go two yards past it, it rolls right back off the green. The long guys like Tiger can knock it on in two, but they really have to draw it around the big pines on the left.
Augusta National - 8th Hole

9 – PAR FOUR

A good driving hole again. You can’t miss it left or you’re in the trees. You’ve got to favour the right side and try to catch the slope. Just hit a driver 260 and it will roll all the way down the hill. Last year we had 123, 129, 105 and 104 to the front on each day. Basically it’s a second shot hole, and it all sets up for the putt. I remember Ben Crenshaw putting up in the fringe, and seeing it come back down to the pin. Carry the front 10 yards and take whatever it gives you. The big sin is spinning it back off the front, and we did it one day. Zach was mad as can be. Just make sure you carry it so it can’t suck back down the slope, where you’re dead. You don’t get the size of the slope in front of this green on TV. It’s 2.5 per cent uphill, so six or seven yards.
Augusta National - 9th Hole
Augusta National - 9th Hole
Augusta National - 9th Hole 

10 – PAR FOUR

Hit a high hook as hard as you can and it will roll down this hill forever. I’ve never been skiing, but it sure looks like it should be a ski slope to me – just put a little snow on there and you could have a ball! It’s very severe. It’s all downhill to the green, but it looks as if it goes uphill. Left is OK, because you’re chipping back into the slope.  The bunker is a really bad place to be, so you want to hit to middle of the green and if it rolls left it’s an easy up and down. On the last day last year Zach had to go to the rest room after his tee shot here. Usually he’s hyper and real quick, and I looked back and watched him strolling down the hill, very relaxed. He got to the ball, asked how far it was, and I told him it was a perfect 7-iron. He had 178 to the hole, he carried it 177 and hit it to eight feet. That’s when I knew something was kind of different about him that day. To watch him walk slowly down that hill, and then hit that shot, I was thinking: “Man, this could be good.”
Augusta National - 10th Hole
Augusta National - 10th Hole
Augusta National - 10th Hole

11 – PAR FOUR

This is probably the hardest hole on the course. Since they planted more trees down the right side it’s just brutal. We were hitting 220, 190, 209 and 232 into the green with all that water left. You can bail out right, but it’s no bargain getting up and down from there – unless you’re Larry Mize. The water is staring you right in the face, so you always try to favour the right edge of the green because there’s some big slopes over there that feed the ball down. Use the slopes to your advantage again. The drop zone is 40 yards from the front of the green, coming in over the water again. This is the second hardest hole after the 7th in my view. Take your par on here and run.
Augusta National - 11th Hole
Augusta National - 11th Hole

12 – PAR THREE

You start thinking about 12 after you’ve hit your second shot dry on 11. You start looking around trying to get a feel for the wind. Basically, we came to the strategy that no matter where the pin is, we just hit over the middle of the bunker. No matter where the pin is, we try to get it on that skinny-ass green and take our chances. We hit three 8-irons and one 9 last year. If you just shoot for the middle of the green, you’ve got a lot of room for error. The only place you cannot hit it is right, because it can hit that bank and go in the water – unless you’re Fred Couples. That bank is probably as fast as your greens back home, and once it gets going it’s “see you later”. It’s weird because on the tee you can’t hear anything down there, or on the 13th tee because the crowds are so far back. It’s like you are playing your country club, it’s that quiet.
Augusta National - 12th Hole
Augusta National - 12th Hole
Augusta National - 12th Hole
Augusta National - 12th Hole
Augusta National - 12th Hole

13 – PAR FIVE

This hole kind of got me sparked a bit last year. It’s a pretty good fit for Zach’s eye as he turns the ball over a bit. There’s some pine trees out there, and we just shoot at those and bring it back. We hit it into the pine straw on a couple of days, so just laid up, but he hit a really good drive on the last day and had 203 to the front, with the pin on 22. It was very, very accessible club-wise, but you’re standing on your head trying to hit a 3-iron. It’s another hole where TV doesn’t do the second shot justice – the slope is steep so the ball is way above your feet usually. If you block it a little you’re in Rae’s Creek. If you turn it over too much, you’re either in the bunker or chipping back down towards the creek. It’s just a great hole. When the pin’s on the back left, I don’t know what to do! We had that on Saturday and that’s the most brutal pin. It’s so hard to get it in that quadrant – it’s about 10 yards wide and it’s hard to keep the ball there, even with a wedge. This is the green where Tiger putted it in the water.
Augusta National - 13th Hole
Augusta National - 13th Hole
Augusta National - 13th Hole

14 – PAR FOUR

A brilliant, brilliant hole. There’s really no trouble on this hole other than the green. It’s another one – like the 5th – where there’s a big slope on the front of the green. So basically the front of the green is 16 yards on, and everything feeds to the right. We pretty much hit it at a TV tower back there, unless the pin is left.
We always make sure we’re long here, because it’s a much easier chip. For us, we’re hitting it right into a slope off the tee, so the ball is not going anywhere. Longer hitters can carry that and run down the hill, hitting 9-irons and wedges in there, while we’re hitting 5s and 6-irons. We favour the right side of the fairway, because if you draw it too much, you can be blocked out by the trees. Zach’s birdie on here was one of my favourite shots of the week. He carried his 7-iron 163 yards, and the ball rolled and rolled to 12-15 feet.
Augusta National - 14th Hole

15 – PAR FIVE

There are different strategies on laying up here. Some people favour the left hand side of the fairway for a right pin, and the right side for a left pin, but we felt like it was better to lay up left on all the pins, because it gives you a good angle to the back right pin, and for the back left pin there’s a ridge that you can feed the ball off. Also, it’s a little flatter on the left side of the fairway. Going for it in two wasn’t a consideration for us – we had 266, 248, 279 and 235 on each day. If we were chasing on Sunday, we could have had a go with a 3-wood. We were walking to the green when we heard the roar for Tiger’s birdie on the 13th – and I think Zach might have peaked at the leaderboard here, just to see.
Augusta National - 15th Hole
Augusta National - 15th Hole
Augusta National - 15th Green and 16th Hole

16 – PAR THREE

This is a very accessible pin on Sunday as long as you use the bank to bring the ball back down to the hole. If you get unlucky and the ball stays up on the top, you’re kind of screwed. When Zach hit the 6-iron on Sunday, I knew it was perfect. It was 176 yards, and he carried it 171 and rolled up to a few feet. I said “great shot” right when he hit it. We knew the putt was very similar to the one he’d just made on 14, and he just stood up and drained it. It was a great putt. At this point it was very important for me to keep him calm and cool – even though he was like a duck. There were so many people there it was crazy, You’re trying to block it all out, but you can’t help hearing the roar. It was deafening. The hardest pin on 16 is the one we almost made a hole in one on, at the top of the ridge. It’s so tight up there that we’d never go for that – he basically pushed his shot, then three-putted. We made bogey on 16 every day apart from Sunday, and Zach showed great mental strength to put all that behind him and make a two when it mattered.
Augusta National - 16th Hole
Augusta National - 16th Hole
Augusta National - 16th Hole

17 – PAR FOUR

This was a wild hole in 2007. We can’t carry the Eisenhower Tree on the left; it’s 260-something from the tee, but as it’s so high it’s really more like 280 to get over it. Most of the long hitters can bomb it right over there, but we’ve got to fit it in the fairway and place it down the right side so it’s a really difficult drive for us. And then you’ve got an equally hard shot to get it to the right part of the green. The wind was howling into our faces, and we nuked a 7-iron 180 and it only got to the front. Tiger hit a sand wedge and came up short, too. The three-putt was disappointing for us on Sunday. It looked as though it went to the left, but it drifted a bit right and he missed the four-footer coming back. I knew if we two-putted it would have closed the door on a lot of guys.
Augusta National - 17th Hole

18 – PAR FOUR

After the bogey on 17, I’m thinking we’ve just let a lot more guys into the tournament. We can’t reach the bunker on 18, so I said just hit it straight and if it draws a little, it’s in the fairway. But even then he’d be left with a really long second shot. The 18th plays seven per cent up hill, which is about 10 yards. He hit a 6-iron, and it was just leaking right. We were very lucky it didn’t go in the trap. From there it’s a really hard shot, so when that ball just came up short of the bunker, I took a big deep breath. You can’t miss it left. When the pin is in its Sunday position, that’s just brutal, so he did the right thing in keeping it out to the right. It was the sort of chip you dream to have to win your first Major – just release it down the hill, and it works its way to the hole.
Augusta National - 18th Hole
Augusta National - 18th Hole
Augusta National - 18th Hole

 Augusta National 2008 Tournament Guide

- Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us.