19th Hole
GolfWRX members have plenty of ideas about how to improve Augusta National
From the reversal of the front and back nines in 1935, through the teebox adjustments of 2006, the Augusta National has been in a near-constant state of adjustment and improvement,
As the only course where a major championship is contested every year, and as the most popular/widely viewed and mythologized of the majors, even casual golf fans have an appreciation for the track.
And of course, keener observers have strong opinions about everything from the 1999 lengthening of the second cut to the 2002 and 2004 changes, as well as future adjustments.
In this spirit, forum stalwart cardoustie, has his list of potential improvements ready, should Charman Fred Ridley call.
“#3. Slightly forward tee – or extend current tee – so more guys would go for it. Use either Saturday or Sunday.
#6. Bring back the pond and/or creek that used to front the green, re-shape and shift the front trap to get the H2O closer to the putting surface
#10. Push the massive old greenside bunker closer to the green so short shots run back down the hill into it
#11. Massive pine or trap right middle of 11 green to make bail outs more difficult. Likely trap so the fans on hole #12 grandstands can see the action. Pond used to go more in front of this green
#12. Add 10 yards … sacrilege I know but get the big boys hitting one more iron here
#13. I understand they spent ~ $20mm for land to extend this tee back further. Personally, I don’t like the way the Rae’s Creek tributary ends in the middle of the fairway. That visual could be improved upon and dare I say another bridge perhaps
#14. Bring back the Alister MacKenzie bunkering on the right side of the fairway. Call it restoration work
#16. Find a way to add a tee 15-30 yards back
#17. Perhaps replace Ike’s tree but shift it a little left and farther off the tee”
One_putt_blunder says
“Get rid of the perfectly sculpted bunker edges and bring back the Alister Mackenzie jagged edge style.”
QMany says
“I liked the idea of shortening #7 and even making it driveable par four, even if just for one day.”
ChillyDipper says
“Take away the rough so the course plays as it intends. Move the Sunday pin on 16 to the upper tier. Agree with making #3 driveable again.”
Stu_man says
“Remove 80% of the trees and widen the corridors. Remove the first cut of rough to bring the pine straw back in play. Play it firm and fast as it was intended.”
Knock it close says
‘Widen 7, cut down the trees on the right on 11. Get rid of any rough and cut down a bunch of trees elsewhere. Get more run out of the fws. Make it so when guys hit it offline it keeps going so the angles at ANGC really come into play, this would encourage more aggressive play which would lead to more birdies and bogeys.”
“The Masters is at its peak when it favors the bold, nothing worse than a Masters with a bunch of pars. I want birdies, eagles, and others. That’s why I don’t like 11, with the trees right the approach is so long that everyone just bails short right because they are scared to chase anything on with the mounds.”
These are just a few of the excellent replies from the first page of this thread, which, only four days old, is already three pages long.
Check out the thread, or let us know what you think in the comments.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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