For pro golfers, the Masters popping up in April is no surprise, which means prep starts well before the Florida swing.
“I spend all December working for Augusta,” says Brooks Koepka. “I’m five months out and already working on that. So my head is already there.”
Koepka was talking to our Dylan Dethier in an episode of Warming Up, but his point is consistent across major championship contenders: there’s no such thing as too much prep when a green jacket is on the line.
In fact, so many Augusta-centric topics have come up in previous Warming Up episodes that we created a supercut of the bunch, ripping out some of the most important Masters nuggets to splice into one handy video (which you can watch below).
The goal here isn’t just to entertain, but inform you. There’s a lot to learn from the seven major champs featured — Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark, Fred Couples and Koepka.
Below are a few quick takeaways — although you’ll need to watch the video to get a more thorough breakdown and see what I left out.
How major champs prep for the Masters
Lowry’s hole-by-hole ball flight never changes. “Down the 1st a hit like a low cut,” Lowry said. “Down the 2nd I hit a high draw. The 3rd I always lay up. Five I hit a low cut. Seven I hit a low cut. Eight I hit a low cut. Nine I hit a really high one.” And on it goes. Hearing Lowry break it all down is the perfect example of the shots, creativity and workability players must have to contend.
Mickelson’s practice includes putting on the range. He does this because when the rye grass is dry and sticky, like it is later in the day, he says it’s more difficult to chip because the greens will grab the ball more. So Mickelson will elect to use putter off the green more often — and the grass on the range is similar to what the fringe might be. “I think one of the mistakes that I have made in the past and that other players will make when they are putting from off the green is they’ll look at the green, and they will get this sense of the speed of the putting green but not the fringe,” Mickelson said. “So when I’m putting from off the green I don’t look at the green, I only look at the fringe and will try to get a touch for off the green as well as on.”
Schauffele confirms that, yes, the wind is no joke. “I’ve seen the wildest stuff happen being in some spots there,” he said. The year Tiger Woods won, in 2019, he said he could see balls get “absolutely stood up” on 12, which is when several contenders found the water at Rae’s Creek and when Woods took spin off his approach, made an easy par and eventually won the green jacket. The lesson here? No lead is ever safe on Amen Corner.
Lots of players prep for that par-4 opener. Both Clark and DeChambeau explained how they end warmups by playing the first hole of the upcoming round. At Augusta, that’s a par-4. Clark says he’ll usually hit 3-wood off that tee box then start his approach, usually a 7- or 8-iron, to the center or right-center of the green and try to hit a draw. Worst case it doesn’t draw and he has a somewhat low-stress 20-footer uphill for birdie. (This, also, is a good visualization strategy for amateurs beginning their rounds.)
You can learn a lot from Tiger. Just ask Lowry, who played with Woods for three rounds in 2020. “I remember the first day I played with him he shot four under, and I was like, you didn’t even play that good,” Lowry said. “But like off the 5th hole he would never hit in the bunker on the left. His second shot on 15 he hits it kinda long and right of the green where it’s the best leave. He leaves himself in the best positions and Augusta is nearly about that.”
You can watch more Warming Up videos here.
