Think you know Augusta National? Here are six things about the course routing that will blow your mind

You think you know some people, huh?

I’ve watched the Masters for over 15 years from my sofa. I know this golf course, of course I do. Augusta National is on my TV for seven days a year. I’ve gazed at more tee shots on the 12th hole than I’ve had hot dinners.

I’ve forgotten more approaches to the 18th pin on Sunday that reverse back down the slope than I remember.

I definitely know this golf course.

What I expect many first-time visitors to quickly realise after their first jaw-dropping journey down Magnolia Lane, like I did, is they do not know the golf course. Not the routing, not the slopes, not the angles.

I once thought the 14th hole provided respite for the competitors, ragged from their trek through Amen Corner. Again, no. This is a brutal hole, especially at the front of the green, which has an almighty drop to hell.

The 1st hole was tame to my eye before I came past the merchandise shop, looked around the big white Masters leaderboard and saw a giant green ski slope in front of me.

Above all else, though, are the hole locations and the routing of Augusta National, which baffled me on many occasions and which I think would baffle you if you attended the Masters.

Here are the greens and fairways I picked upon during my course walk, which I could never conceive were so close together…

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4 Masters hole locations that shocked me

The 6th hole and the 16th hole

The tee on the par-3 6th hole not only looms over the green at the other side of a cavernous drop, but it also sits high above the par-3 16th green as well – the one where Tiger Woods chipped in his way to winning in 2005.

For a pair of holes at such opposite ends of the Augusta scorecard, this one foxed me the most. This little pocket of the golf course is so much fun and features two distinctly different challenges with just 10 yards difference in length.

If the Augusta members were feeling cheeky one day and opted for some X-country golf, a tee shot from 6 tee to 16 green would be equally as fun, nor would it look out of place if this was the actual routing. The wind was swirling and baffled Phil Mickelson and Jason Day on day one of the 2025 Masters when I climbed up to this platform tee box.

The 10th green and the 15th tee

Looking down the 10th hole, and indeed back uphill from the 10th green, is one of the single greatest sights in the game. The snaking bunker in the middle of the fairway provides a gorgeous aesthetic in the nucleus of green.

The putting surface is surrounded by tall trees and bushes beyond the plateau, with a TV tower, and beyond those bushes is the 15th tee box. Before discovering these course coordinates, I imagined the 15th hole would be much further away, nearer to Amen Corner, somewhat seperated at the bottom of the golf course.

But the 14th hole takes us back up the hill to the area that encompasses the 10th green and the 15th tee. It’s difficult to know where to look in this cluster once the tournament is underway. You’re locked into a four-way dot-to-dot puzzle once you throw in the 14th green and the 18th tee as well.

I didn’t have the 10th green and 15th tee down as close relatives.

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13th green and 14th tee

I’m not inventing fire with this observation, but there is just a small, slithery, green bridge of grass separating the edge of the 13th green and 14th tee box. I emerged at this point of the golf course as Cameron Young, Michael Kim and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir teed off.

Having watched the Masters for a solid period of time now, I can’t remember any player being near the 14th tee box when pitching to the 13th green, yet on the ground, it felt a distinct possibility that this could happen.

Most players who are long enough can choose plenty of club and aim for the putting surface with their second shot on this iconic par 5, with a worst-case scenario being a chip or a bunker shot back down the green if they’re too long – not a watery grave in Rae’s Creek.

But if this was a golf course played regularly by club golfers, you would need a sign in the 13th fairway with bold letters reading: Wait until the 14th tee is clear.

The 2nd hole and the 8th hole

This is the pair of par 5s on the front nine. After watching them finish on the 1st green, I watched Jordan Spieth, Tyrrell Hatton, and Tom Kim take aim through the 2nd hole downhill corridor, where Louis Oosthuizen so brilliantly made an albatross in 2012.

As I turned to follow them down the left side of the hole, walking below the level of the fairway on a path that parted the pine needles, I was struck by the fact the 8th hole ran parallel to the left. Up by the 1st green, things get extremely bunched, with the 9th tee box being right there as well, as I peered over at Davis Thompson shooting back up towards the clubhouse.

The 1st green, 9th tee and 2nd tee knits together a triangle of sorts.

It was only the pine needles and surviving trees from last year’s hurricane that separated direct sight between the 2nd and the 8th. This wasn’t a combination I envisaged living in the same neighbourhood.

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How aware were you of these quirks of the Augusta National Golf Club course map? Did you know about these Masters hole locations? Tell us on X!