And how I approach the toughest shots at Augusta National.
By Cameron Smith, 2020 Masters runner-up and Australian Golf Digest Player of the Year
I love the golf course, that’s a given.
There are so many courses we play where you feel like you’ve just got to hit a straight shot. But at Augusta National, with all the slopes and the tricky winds, you really have to hit a ‘shot’ rather than standing over the ball trying to hit a stock 8-iron. You’re always thinking about taking a bit off it, hitting a draw or a fade, hitting it a bit lower depending on what the course wants. That brings out a bit of creativity in me, which is what I want when I’m playing.
Finishing second last November makes me a better player purely because of the situation it put me in. Augusta is Augusta and it can be overwhelming, but I think I did a very good job of composing myself all week. One shot at a time and once the good or bad shot was done, have a chat with my caddie, have a laugh and try to hit your best shot next time.
There’s no question there are some shots at Augusta that are tough no matter how many times you’ve played there and for me, it starts on the opening hole.
Tee shot at the first
Usually it’s pretty hectic. The first tee is near the ninth green, the 18th green is also right there so there are normally a million people around. The clubhouse is right there too and then you’ve got to hit what I consider one of the hardest shots in golf: a little slider with the driver. When you’re nervous and the body generally doesn’t want to work, that low fade doesn’t come out a lot of times. The first year I played the Masters (2016), it was quite firm and fast and I was absolutely crapping myself over every shot. I was thinking of where not to hit it, rather than focusing on where to hit it. That was a learning process in itself.
Tee shot at the seventh
The drive on seven is a lot harder than what it looks on TV. That fairway slants pretty hard from left to right. You’ve probably got five to 10 yards down the left side where you can land it otherwise you’re blocked out by trees on the left or trees on the right. That’s a very tough tee shot.
Tee shot at the 12th
My caddie, Sam Pinfold, got lucky. Someone told him that on the second shot into 10, the second shot on 11 and the tee shot at 12, the wind is always the same way. We’ve just gone with that every time and I’d like to think it’s worked out pretty well so far. When you’re standing on the tee, all you’re thinking about is hitting the green. I’ve hit 8-iron in there so it’s a fairly small target for an 8-iron and I’ve hit pitching wedge to the front-left pin a couple of times. I don’t think people realise how far it is and how much the green runs on a diagonal. Front-left might be only 120 metres whereas back-right, to cover the ‘sauce’, is almost 140 metres. On TV the green tends to just look wide but it stretches quite a way from the front to the back edge on a pretty good angle, too.
Approach shot at the 15th
The second shot into 15 is definitely harder than the second shot into 13. If you hit a good drive on 13 some days you’ve only got 6 or 7-iron in, but 15 is usually a 3 or 4-iron or even a wood and you’ve got to land it on the green. If you land it on the back edge it goes into the water in front of the 16th and if you land it short it sticks in there and comes back into the water in front of the green. The wind is always swirling up the top of the hill too, so that shot is always a bit nervy.
Tee shot at the 16th
The pin at the front or the one top-right are the hardest pins at 16. If the pin is in one of those two spots you’ve got to hit a good shot to get it close. But, if the pin is back-left, you’re walking up to the tee licking your chops thinking you’ve got a chance of holing out. It’s amazing how that green can change so much depending on the hole location.
‘In my life…’
I was only watching on TV of course, but Tiger’s chip on 16 in 2005 is so much harder than how he made it look. It’s not a hard one to hit to 10 or 15 feet, but that’s a hard shot to get really close. That was ridiculously good.
This article first appeared in issue #606, April 2021
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