I spent four days on my couch bingeing The Masters. Here are my fairly unrefined thoughts.
The course and the tournament
Nothing proves the need to bifurcate the rules and roll back pro golf equipment more than The Masters. Out-of-control equpiment forced one of golf’s great layouts to pervert some of golf’s most exciting holes to keep them relevant. For example…
Massive fairway bunkers on the 2nd, 5th and 8th holes are Augusta National’s equivalent to US Open rough: Automatic pitchout. Where’s the chance for a brilliant recovery? The reward for driving past them doesn’t outweigh the risk, so too few golfers take them on. Playing away from trouble is boring content.
Length and ill-placed trees ruined the 11th hole. What should be an exciting, challenging second shot over water is too often a bail out to the right even from the middle of the fairway. I don’t care what Ben Hogan said or did, this makes for bad content in 2024.
More than any other hole in the world, 13 shows the damage wrought from the governing authorities’ failure to regulate distance. Pushing the tee box back at least made that shot longer, but it is not more challenging. In fact players can how it a straight ball to the middle of the fairway and have a non-momentous chance to reach the green in two. This isn’t how the hole was meant to be played. There’s no benefit to risking a draw close to the tributary on the inside of the dog leg. Distance and low-spin drivers have sadly taken that consideration completely out of play. The only real solution to restoring this hole’s excitement is to relocate the green 20 yards farther away. I doubt the Club is willing to do that.
What they’ve done to 15 is a crime. The trees on the left betray the Jones-Mackenzie design philosophy. Scheffler said he hit 3- and 4-irons into the green, that’s perfect. I want to see players hit long irons or hybrids over water to a shallow green, not punch out around the trees. But even when players hit the side of the fairway with an unobstructed shot to the green, they too often choose to lay up because keeping the course challenigng means the green is a concrete driveway unable to hold a shot from distance. It’s a shame and it’s ruining this tournament.
This is the future of men’s professional golf. Players hit the ball so far and so high with such expert spin control that the only way to defend a course is to make it so impossibly difficult as to suck the life out of competition. You could say that’s the proper way to identify the game’s greatest players. I’d grant you that. But I say it too often makes for uninteresting content.
We shouldn’t want this.
The beating heart of golf is people and places. Its most storied places are already locked away behind private gates, inaccessible to the vast majority of its people except once a year on television. If distance continues to advance unchecked, we risk losing even that as they become too short and too easy for the mens’ game. I don’t see any other way to save it than to bifurcate the rules for men’s professional golf, including drastic rollbacks in allowable equipment. Equipment companies will balk—loudly. But they need to stand down for the betterment of the game.
The broadcast and the broadcasters
The holes 4-5-6 coverage with Dave Flemming, Jeff Sluman and Scott Verplank is the most enjoyable coverage all week. Because they have fun. Dave keeps it light and they all understand about 19 people are watching. Errant drives still land in the second cut and patrons still sit in patron observation stands. But it’s fun. They’re not trying to impress anybody. They’re just three guys talking about golf. It’s wonderful.
There’s a short list of broadcasters I want to bottle and save forever. Verne Lundquist is on it. Jim Nantz game him a little send off after the final group finished 16, but I would have preferred they do that ahead of time and let Verne’s final commentary be simply sending the players to the 17th tee.
Speaking of Jim Nantz, I have a conspiracy theory: Augusta National forces Jim Nantz to script his call after the winner’s final putt. There’s no other reason why such a great announcer would say such cheesy things in such a cheesy way. “All his calls sound that way,” you might say. I disagree. He didn’t script “The Golden Bear has come out of hibernation” in 1986 and his sizzle reel from the NFL and NCAA basketball back me up. Augusta National made The Masters The Masters by insisting on tight control over how CBS presents the tournament. I believe they require him to present the winning moment that way to protect and enhance their brand.
I don’t get the Trevor Immelman adoration. I mean, he’s a likeable guy and does fine. But he’s not “18th tower memorable”. As a character he’s just flat. Johnny Miller was…aggressive at times. Nick Faldo has quirks and, oh, six major championships. Ken Venturi was dignified and connected to the game’s golden era. I don’t know what makes Immelman memorable. It’s too bad Phil Mickelson broke bad or else we’d have an all-timer in that chair.
Letting Dottie Pepper walk with the final group is the best broadcast decision since they switched to color pictures. She was okay in the 13th tower but her best work is following the leaders and it’s elevated the entire presentation.
I don’t know what CBS is going to do with 15-16 now. 15 hasn’t been the same since Feherty left (coinciding with the Club butchering the hole’s design). Without two greats anchoring those pivotal holes the broadcast is in danger of hollowing out. I can’t even think of who would be in line to take over. NBC’s struggle to replace Paul Azinger shows the lack of golf commentator talent right now, too.
Lastly, I’d like to see the Club allow CBS to use more ground cameras. Lower angles do a better job showing the slopes and undulations of Augusta National’s greens. I get that there’s brand consistency in having tower cams in the same place for 50 years, but there’s also value in showing viewers the contours players deal with shot after shot.
The Wandering Lostie 