19th Hole
Photo shows iconic 13th hole at Augusta National with all-new tee box
Four majors but only one with the je ne sais quoi that the others might lack.
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Whilst the US Open, PGA Championship and The Open move around their respective circuits, the appeal of The Masters comes not only with the tradition, Butler Cabin and the green jacket, but with the fact that for 88 years, it has (of course) been held at the same course.
Viewers have become familiar with the likes of Tea Olive, Magnolia, White Dogwood and Firethorn, just four of the holes all named after trees or shrubs referencing the site’s former life as a plant nursery.
Slight changes have appeared throughout history, though. Like most courses, Augusta slowly added some length. They renovated the bunkers, filled them with white sand, and in the early 1980, relaid the greens with bentgrass.
The Masters media guide, produced a few weeks before the annual event, is the standard way of transmitting the amendments and improvements, and in February we reported on significant changes to two of the most famous holes – 11 and 15.
These days, though, we don’t need to wait for the guide to work out what might be going on behind the closed doors of Magnolia Lane.
Eureka Earth yesterday released their overhead view of work currently being carried out on another of Augusta’s infamous holes – the 13th, or Azalea – and it certainly looks interesting, especially to those that are used to seeing shots like this infamous play from Lefty.
@eurekaearthplus
From the photo, it looks as if the tee is being moved back several yards to form a much narrower drive, a bit like the player’s view from the 18th, although it is impossible to know by just how much.
As always, the reaction is very mixed.
Referring to the rumors of work being carried out, one reply suggested it isn’t enough of a change – “I’ll be honest I thought they were going to move the tee back a little further,” whilst another on the same lines suggested Augusta were, “Playing into the hands of the long hitters.”
It wasn’t all about the cynics, though.
Ken Brown, former European Tour player and now a well-known commentator and analyst, re-tweeted the photo with the introduction, “Hot @TheMasters news. After years of talk and land purchases. This looks like a new tee at the 13th …”
Hot @TheMasters news. After years of talk, and land purchases. This looks like a new tee at the 13th … https://t.co/EDDRlb2wbq
— Ken Brown… ?? (@KenBrownGolf) August 2, 2022
Responses were slightly more positive to Brown’s tweet.
“Won’t be going over the top of the corner off that tee,” was one, supported with the idea that the refurb was, “Good news if it brings back in that hanging lie for the second.”
However, not everyone was enamoured with the news of the change.
One opinion was that, “Masters doesn’t realize that moving this tee back, they will be putting a sand wedge into their hands for a short 3rd shot and more birdies will be made and no one will be falling into Rae’s Creek,” whilst the final response at least made a few think about the future.
“Before I die that course Will be 8500 yards Ken, kinda sad really.”
The suspicion is this will certainly not be the last revealing photo of amendments to the major that ‘never’ changes.
More from the 19th Hole
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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