Augusta National Greens Fast and Firm.

This should make for a very interesting tournament.

Who do you think the fast and firm greens will benefit most?

The past two winners seem to have the same putting style and do really well on Augusta's greens. They are both lefties as well! Look for Phil and Weir to drain some long putts and put on a putting clinic this week!

I think too much is made of the greens at Augusta. The winning player is usually the one that lands the ball in the right place on the greens, thats why there are so few first time winners. Lucky putters rather than great putters tend to do well at Augusta. If you look at the roll call of winners there are very few of them that you would class as 'great' putters.

Nicklaus 6 time champ, good but not great putter
Faldo 3 time champ, good clutch putter but never really went insane on the greens
Langer twice champ and lets face it, not the best putter ever.

exceptions:

Ballesteros twice champ and sheer magic with the putter
Palmer 4 times champ acknowledged by his peers as one of the best putters ever
Crenshaw twice champ another great putter

I think that most of the players at The Masters accept that of they get round in under 2 putts per gir for 72 holes they are in with a chance

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T Graf Blue X

Taylor Made R7 TP 13* EI-70 X

Zero Tolerance Maximiser 19* Aldila NV 75 S

Srixon TCI-201 3-PW Rifle 6.0

MacGregor Tourney 52*

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59* Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Bridgestone B330

[quote=Mizunoman]I think too much is made of the greens at Augusta.[quote]

I was just referring to what the newspapers and tournament people were saying down here in Georgia. From what they're saying the greens may be even faster then normal.

We will see, but I think some rain moves in later in the week so that may change things a bit also.

And I was just saying that the putting rarely decides The Masters. I can't distinctly remember the Masters ever being won or lost because the greens were punishing someone.

I'm hoping theres a bit of rain cos I quite like watching the good players go at Augusta and damper conditions allow that.

D.

All this talk about fast greens, rain or shine check out the yardages....

http://www.masters.org/en_US/course/index.html


Your having a laugh..............

Watch the interviews Harrington has that twinkle in his eye......

http://www.masters.org/en_US/news/in...693687601.html


Ian.

I dunno Ian, only three of those holes really worry me yardage wise, 5,9 and 18.

Sure it looks long but most of that length is made up from the fact that they only have 1 par 4 under 400 yards (most courses I play have 4 or 5 so theres anything up to 500 yards difference) and all the par 5's are over 500 (another minimum 200 yards) couple that with the 2 par 4's 20 yards over the limit and theres almost 750 yards. That would take it down to 6500 ish, hardly a monster. My course off its back tees is 6300 ish and the longest local course is about 6600.

None of the guys playing it this week are gonna struggle distance wise with the par 4's driver mid to high iron in and a couple of the 5's are reachable in 2. It would be a challenge however if they threw some hazards in at 280yards and took the big driving out of the equation. Never gonna happen of course.

10 and 11 you tee off from the top of a cliff. I'm surprised they havent thrown an extra 50 yards at 13 or 15. For the top boys in reasonable weather only the 8th is a three shotter and even then Ernie etc could probably blast on with driver and a 3 wood.

I would be more worried about the size of the targets. From what you see on the TV a lot of the landing areas and greens are fraught with sneaky bounces.

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T Graf Blue X

Taylor Made R7 TP 13* EI-70 X

Zero Tolerance Maximiser 19* Aldila NV 75 S

Srixon TCI-201 3-PW Rifle 6.0

MacGregor Tourney 52*

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59* Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Bridgestone B330

I look forward to soft greens and some serious sticks. The course i played in Herington yesterday, the greens were hard as a rock. There is no way you can hit on the green and stay on and that is wrong: plus a 30 mph stiff wind and that makes a tough round