2024 Masters Course Preview: Augusta National Golf Club
The golf world descends upon Augusta, Georgia for this week’s 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.
Augusta National is a long 7,555-yard par-72 designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones in 1933 that features Bentgrass greens. The collars also have Bentgrass, while the approaches, tees, fairways and second cut (at 1.375 inches this week) all feature Ryegrass overseed. Among the courses on the PGA Tour so far this season, only Torrey Pines (South) and Kapalua (Plantation) have been longer than Augusta.
The average green size at Augusta National is about average at 6,486 square feet. Water is only in play on five holes, but there are 44 bunkers in play, and trees line the majority of the fairways.
The average fairway width at Augusta National last year was over 51 yards, which makes this just over 17 yards wider than an average course on the PGA Tour. Consequently, 74.9% of drives found the fairway here last year, which is 16.5% more than the average Driving Accuracy on the PGA Tour. Because of the length of the course and wide fairways, which are mown back toward the tee boxes to minimize rollout on drives, distance off the tee is a major advantage at Augusta.
Compared to an average PGA Tour course, Strokes Gained (SG): Off the Tee and SG: Around the Green have had an increase in their correlation to SG: Total in each of the three Masters Tournaments with tracking data. However, SG: Approach is still the highest correlated SG metric with SG: Total, and it has been about the same correlation to SG: Total as at an average PGA Tour course each of the last three years.
SG: Putting is the only metric with a lesser correlation to SG: Total than at an average PGA Tour course.
Augusta National Historical Approach Distances
The course features a full set of four par-5s with only the newly-extended par-5 second hole (585 yards) playing over 575 yards. The hole only added 10 yards, but the tee was also moved back and to the left, which brings the trees left of the fairway more into play as a right to left shot is now more needed off the tee to set up going for the green.
Augusta National also has four par-3s and 10 par-4s. Nine of the 10 par-4s have a scorecard yardage of at least 440 yards, with the 350-yard third hole being the only relatively short par-4. It's a big ballpark, but it's still a second-shot golf course that demands precision on approach.
Here are the percentage of approaches from each 25-yard range from the 2023 Masters Tournament via DataGolf.
| Approach Yardage | Percent of Approaches in 2023 |
|---|---|
| 50-75 | 5.0% |
| 75-100 | 5.0% |
| 100-125 | 4.9% |
| 125-150 | 11.6% |
| 150-175 | 21.4% |
| 175-200 | 18.8% |
| 200-225 | 9.9% |
| 225-250 | 11.7% |
| 250+ | 11.6% |
Key Metrics for Augusta National Golf Club
- Weighted SG: Approach (with emphasis on 150+ yards)
- SG: Around the Green
- SG: Total on Difficult/Long Courses
- Par 5 Birdie or Better %
- Bogey Avoidance
- Total Driving (With an Emphasis on Driving Distance)
- SG: Putting
- Putting from 5-10 Feet
- 3-Putt Avoidance
If you want to learn more about Hole No. 3 (Flowering Peach), Hole No. 5 (Magnolia), Hole No. 11 (White Dogwood) and Hole No. 15 (Firethorn), Michael Kim also shared some insights on these four holes via X.
3. You’ll have a plan for each pin location before you play the round. I think many go for it for the right pins, much less for the left pins. The reason is that, if you’re laying up, you have to go right side of the fairway, and with the entire green sloping right to left, it’s… pic.twitter.com/yBx1EvVrzC
— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) April 10, 2024
