The Masters: Rich Beem on the dos and don'ts for this week's Augusta debutants
Thursday 11 April 2019 07:56, UK
Of the 87 starters in this week's Masters, 15 of them are ready for their first experience of Augusta National in competition. Rich Beem looks back to his debut in 2003 and offers his tips to this year's debutants ...
One of the standout memories from my first Masters, unfortunately, was the weather. We had some insane downpours that week and there was no play at all on the Thursday.
But I remember the excitement of just being at Augusta National Golf Club, getting to meet some of the members, attending the Chairman's party on the Wednesday - all Masters debutants are invited to that - so I was just soaking it all in and enjoying being a part of the tournament.
Having won the PGA the previous year, I knew I had at least five years of being able to play the Masters, so I was able to take advantage of that where most rookies don't have that luxury.
Looking back, it was nice how inviting everything seemed to be both on and off the golf course. Anything I had seen on TV, or heard about, that just went outside the door. You can describe what it might be like to be at the Masters, but nothing comes close to actually being there. To this day, that statement has never been lost on me.
Study the pins
My main advice to this year's first-timers would be for them to take a look at popular pin positions over the years, study them carefully, and draw up a gameplan on the best way to get to those flags. If you get out of position on certain fairways, then a great shot would be 25-30 feet from the pin.
A perfect example would be the 13th. If you can't get there in two and the hole is cut front-left, then pin-high towards the right is a sensible play and leaves you the simplest of chips. But if the pin is back-left, then short of the creek on the left side is good as you'd be left with a pitch-and-run.
If it's back-right, then anything just short of the creek is fine, but if it's a front-right pin, then you need to lay-up much shorter and give yourself a fuller wedge going in. There are so many different ways of playing that hole, and the rookies need to have a good understanding of that.
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This golf course is generally all about the second shot, and the pin placements will have a significant impact on your decision-making off the tee.
Take the third hole for example; if the pin is at the back, then hit a driver and it's just a long chip up the hill for the second. If the hole is at the front, hit iron off the tee and go in with a smooth wedge. And it's okay to find the front-right bunker on the fourth if the pin is front-right. Just dump it out past the flag and it'll roll back down the slope.
Birdie opportunities can be few and far between at Augusta, so you just have to figure out the simplest way to get it around this course and avoid running up the big numbers. And with it being such a big, hilly layout, it's easy to get sucked in by the enormity of it.
It's often about working out the angles, whether you're hitting off the tee, off the fairway, or pitching on, or laying up.
Aura of Augusta
A lot of Masters rookies can find it tricky to overcome the aura of being at Augusta for the first time, but what I found in my first visit was that I was intimidated by the golf course. There was barely a single shot that I felt truly comfortable with.
I never felt like I could turn it loose and play my best, even though the fairways are wide, and that feeling of unease starts at the first. If you're down the left side of the fairway, that takes the two left pins out of contention. So you want to be down the right, but then that brings the fairway bunkers into play.
So, even though the fairways are wide, they tend to shrink when you consider your angles of attack for the second shot. Deep down, I knew this, but I never fully understood it. The fairways can be 40-50 yards wide in places, but they never really play to their full width and I never understood that.
There are a lot of young rookies in the field this week, but they tend to be a different breed these days. They are a lot more fearless, they expect to win and they know they can win.
Live from the Masters
I'm interested to see how the US Amateur champion, Viktor Hovland, fares this week. I've watched him quite a bit, and this kid can flat-out play. I don't think he'll be the kind to get too wrapped up in everything else going on.
He could even have a chance to get himself in the mix over the weekend, and he's part of a new generation that are on a different level to the one before.
