Deep Dive
The changes at Augusta National's 16th hole, explained
The entire Augusta National property resonates aesthetically, especially during the Masters when everything is in bloom, but the par-3 16th is a focal point. Just steps off the 15th green, it sits in a kind of amphitheater with the hillside under the neighboring sixth hole (which is not visible) providing bleacher-like seating for patrons and the long pond between the tee and green reflecting pines and the surrounding activity.
The par 3 comes at a crucial point in the round, either as the fourth consecutive scoring opportunity if the hole is cut in certain accessible sections of the green, or as the first of a difficult three-hole closing stretch if it isn’t. As we’ll see, everything depends on where the flag is.
The origins of the 16th hole
The 16th hole that Alister MacKenzie designed no longer exists. His original 16th was also a par 3, but it played from tees just off the right edge of the 15th green over a small creek to a shallow green set at the base of the hill below the sixth tee.
It was an attractive, sporty little hole with some tough hole locations near the creek (that steam, now covered, is the same one that crosses the 13th green and feeds into Rae’s Creek), but eventually the club thought it too similar in length and concept to the 12th without the same level of challenge.
A radical post-War departure
After World War II, the club hired Robert Trent Jones to implement some greens and bunker renovations, beginning a relationship that lasted several years. In 1947, the old 16th hole was scrapped for a new longer par 3 turned roughly 45 degrees to the right, playing 190 yards from a tee now left and behind the 15th green to a newly constructed green angled against a lake that was created by damming the stream.
It’s uncertain who’s idea the new hole was. For decades, longtime chairman Cliff Roberts insisted it was Bobby Jones alone who had the idea of building a par 3 over water, while Trent Jones wrote it was his idea. Architecturally it bore the earmarks of a Trent Jones hole with the fairway of water, risk/reward hole locations and a bi-level green separated into distinct hi and low levels.
Minor modifications happen, but the concept holds
There have only been a few significant tweaks to No. 16 since 1947. The following year, Trent Jones added a bunker on the inside crescent of the green near the water and extended the back left section to create a new hole location. The old creek that crossed the original green and fed the new pond still was present on the left of the new green, but that was piped underground a decade later.
The extreme back left finger of the green was removed in 1966 and replaced with the short grass chipping area that still exists. And like all the holes, the green has been rebuilt several times, including during the conversion to bent grass (from overseeded Bermuda) in 1981 and 1982, and later to install the subsurface air circulation system. The tees also moved forward, and the hole today plays 170 yards (though this can be adjusted), 20 yards shorter than in 1948.
How the 16th plays today
Though the slopes have been softened, the green remains distinctive for the ridge that runs diagonally across it. This creates four individual hole locations, two on the upper tier and two on the lower, each with forward and back sections.
These hole locations thoroughly control the scoring. The two upper hole positions are demanding, protected on the right by the two bunkers sitting just off the edge of the green and on the left by the long ridge. The landing areas around each flag are small, and its common to see tee shots drift down the slope and leave 45-foot putts back up to the hole. Missing to the right leaves almost no room to work with, and the chips and pitches back toward the slope are among the most ticklish on the course.
However, when the hole is cut on the lower level, players can use the ridge to steer their tee shots toward the flag. The front hole location is a little tougher, but the traditional Sunday rear-left hole is a birdie magnet, and often yields an ace or two each year if the correct yardage can be dialed in. The concept of the 16th, little changed since 1947, makes players hit different shots (high cut; flat draw), use the green contours, and also think differently day to day alternating between a defensive posture and flag hunting.