At long last, Masters Thursday is finally here.
For lots of golf fans, the opening round of the Masters is a national holiday. They’ll be locked in on the action from sun up to sun down watching as the best golfers in the world jockey for position to make a run at the green jacket over the weekend.
Those who make this an annual ritual are quite familiar with the shots the pros will need to be competitive at Augusta National, but which of those are the most difficult to execute? GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood ranked the 10 toughest shots below.
The tee shot at Augusta National’s opener — named Tea Olive — might not look to be overly difficult at first glance, but when you add in the setting and the stakes, the shot makes even the pros sweat.
“I’ve had players admit to me that they couldn’t put the ball on the tee because their hands were shaking so much,” Yarwood says. “It’s not technically a difficult drive, but the pressure of it and the expectation of it makes it really hard to execute.”
Players typically do not have much more than a wedge or short iron into the par-4 9th hole, but the shot is trickier than it seems. The approach comes from well below the level of the green, and players are hitting straight up the hill to one of the slickest greens on the entire course.
“It’s very deceptive,” Yarwood says. “You literally can only see the top of the flag and then the green pitches sharply towards you. It’s very difficult to control your spin and get it close. If you spin it too much, you can easily rip it back off the green. it’s a very technically demanding shot where you have to control your spin hitting to a blind target.”
The 4th hole always plays as one of the hardest holes on the course, and much of that difficulty comes from the tee shot. Measuring 240 yards from the tournament tees, players have to hit long irons and woods to hit the tricky sloping green.
“When you’ve got a long par-3, it’s hard for anybody,” Yarwood says. “There’s out of bounds on the right and that bunker short. You’ll often see players just hit to the middle of the green and take their par. Relative to the field, that’s going to gain them strokes each day.”
After navigating the tricky 4th hole, players don’t have much time to catch their breath because the par-4 5th is also one of the toughest holes on the course. The approach shot is particularly difficult as players typically have a mid or long iron into another sloping green.
“The green on No. 5 is an absolute brute,” Yarwood says. “There’s not many birdies there because it’s so incredibly undulating and it’s really difficult to get close to the pin. It’s as Augusta-esque as they come.”
The hardest shots at Augusta National, according to amateur golfers
The 15th is typically a birdie hole, but it’s not a given that every player will make 4. The wedge shot from the fairway is always tricky as players hit off a downslope to a shallow green that slopes back to front toward the water.
“If you hit it short, you suck it into the water, if you hit it long you go down the slope and have a nightmare chip,” Yarwood says. “It’s such a precise shot on an unusual lie that makes it so tough.”
The approach into the 7th hole is one that TV does not do justice. Watching from the couch, it looks like a pretty standard short iron, but when you see the green in person, you start to understand why this shot is so tough.
“It’s such a severely sloped green,” Yarwood says. “Anything other than that front-right pin is so tough. That left pin is brutal. On TV, it doesn’t do it justice.”
This tee shot varies in difficulty depending on hole location, but there are certainly some spots on this green that make for a tricky tee shot — particularly when the pin is front right.
“It’s like a tiny little green within the green,” Yarwood says. “If you miss it, you’re gonna suck it down the slope and can’t get it anywhere close.
The first shot on Amen Corner is as tough as they come. With the winds swirling above the pines and water short of the green, many players have watched their green jacket dreams go to their death on this hole.
“You see most players bail out right,” Yarwood says. “If you hit it in the drink there, that shot from the drop zone is brutal. If you can get through 11 with par, you’re doing pretty good.”
Golden Bell may very well be the most famous par-3 in the world. Measuring at just over 150 yards from the tournament tees, players typically hit wedge or short iron, but even then hitting the green is no guarantee. And with Rae’s Creek guarding the green, finding the drink is a common occurence.
“There’s a variable that you can’t control — and that’s the wind,” Yarwood says. “The wind just swirls in that area, and it just has to swirl at the wrong time and you’ll hit it in the water and look stupid. It’s probably the hardest shot on Sunday when you’re under pressure.”
For players that do find the water on 12, things get no easier. Although the shot after making a drop is little more than a half wedge, judging your spin and controlling the distance to the shallow green makes for a brutally difficult little shot.
“The shot after your drop is probably harder than the tee shot,” Yarwood says. “You can really make a big number on a 150-yard hole simply because of all the ways you can throw away shots with the wind and the water in play.”
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