US Masters Course Guide

Hole-by-hole guide to Augusta National, with how the course played last year (key to rank: 1 = hardest, 18 = easiest):

1st (Tea Olive), 455 yards, par 4: No easy starter. The tee's been moved back 15-20 yards and more trees added down the left. The bunker on the right is now a 327-yard carry. Avoid long or left when playing to the testing green.

2005 average: 4.21 (Rank 6).

2nd (Pink Dogwood), 575 yards, par 5: Big-hitters come into their own here, but long or left are bad again. Nick Faldo once holed a 100-foot eagle putt on this treacherous green.

2005 average: 4.83 (Rank 15).

3rd (Flowering Peach), 350 yards, par 4: Shortest par four on the course and a real teaser. Ask Woods - a double bogey in 2003 put him out of the hunt. The pear-shaped green with steep slope in front allows for some wicked pin placings.

2005 average: 3.97 (Rank 14).

4th (Flowering Crab Apple), 240 yards, par 3: Unchanged since 1964 the back tee - not always used - now goes back 30-35 yards. Green, guarded by sand, slopes from back to front. Jeff Sluman achieved the only hole-in-one here in 1992.

2005 average: 3.27 (Rank 3).

5th (Magnolia), 455 yards, par 4: Jack Nicklaus twice holed his second shot in 1995. The fairway bunkers down the left have been enlarged, making it more of a dogleg. It's a 315-yard carry over them. Another devilishly difficult green.

2005 average: 4.17 (Rank 10).

6th (Juniper), 180 yards, par 3: From an elevated tee down to a vast green with a huge slope in it. Jose Maria Olazabal took seven in 1991 and lost by one to Ian Woosnam. Chris DiMarco achieved the fourth hole-in-one two years ago.

2005 average: 3.18 (Rank 8).

7th (Pampas), 450 yards, par 4: What used to be a real birdie chance has had a further 35-40 yards added and the green re-shaped to allow for a new rear right pin position. Trees have also been planted left and right.

2005 average: 4.13 (Rank 12).

8th (Yellow Jasmine), 570 yards, par 5: The right bunker, about 300 yards out, pushes players left and from there it's harder to make the green in two up the steep hill. Bruce Devlin scored an albatross two in 1967.

2005 average: 4.82 (Rank 16).

9th (Carolina Cherry), 460 yards, par 4: The tee was pushed back 30 yards in 2002, leaving a longer approach to a raised green which tilts sharply from the back. Anything rolling off the front can continue down for 50-60 yards.

2005 average: 4.17 (Rank 9).

10th (Camellia), 495 yards, par 4: A huge drop from tee to green and a big right-to-left shot required to get the maximum run. One of the tougher greens to hit and over all the years of the Masters the most difficult hole.

2005 average: 4.30 (Rank 2).

11th (White Dogwood), 505 yards, par 4: The toughest hole last year now made even more demanding with the tee moved back 10-15 yards, trees added down the right and the fairway shifted left. Water front and left makes for real drama.

2005 average: 4.35 (Rank 1).

12th (Golden Bell), 155 yards, par 3: Probably the most famous par three in golf. Narrow target, water in front, trouble at the back, it's seen everything from a one to Tom Weiskopf's 13. The wind plays all sorts of tricks.

2005 average: 3.14 (Rank 11).

13th (Azalea), 510 yards, par 5: Massive dogleg left where scores have ranged from Jeff Maggert's albatross two to Tommy Nakajima's 13. Rae's Creek runs down the left and then in front of the green.

2005 average: 4.81 (Rank 17).

14th (Chinese Fir), 440 yards, par 4: No bunkers, but three putts are common on a green which is one of the most testing in golf. Joint course record holder Nick Price once took eight here.

2005 average: 4.24 (Rank 5).

15th (Firethorn), 530 yards, par 5: The tee goes back 25-30 yards and is moved 20 yards left. It could make it a tougher decision whether to go for the green in two across the pond on the hole where Gene Sarazen sank his four-wood shot in 1935.

2005 average: 4.68 (Rank 18).

16th (Redbud), 170 yards, par 3: Hole always to be associated with Woods' chip-in last year, while Padraig Harrington is one of 10 players to have aced it. There was also Billy Casper's 14 a year ago - the 73-year-old put five balls in the lake.

2005 average: 3.08 (Rank 13).

17th (Nandina), 440 yards, par 4: A new tee adds 10-15 yards. The Eisenhower Tree is in front of the tee, but control of the second shot determines success or failure. No such thing as an easy putt by this stage.

2005 average: 4.19 (Rank 7).

18th (Holly), 465 yards, par 4: One of the toughest holes again after the tee was moved back 60 yards in 2002. Fairway bunker from which Sandy Lyle got up and down to win in 1988 is now 300 yards away. Plays steeply uphill.

2005 average: 4.25 (Rank 4).