You just can’t tell, until you see it for yourself.
The dramatic elevation changes at Augusta National are like teleprompters on the evening news: you know they’re there, you just can’t see them on TV. The course looks fabulous on television, of course, with its pink azaleas and blindingly white bunkers. But television images flatten Augusta, pancaking the famously hilly layout.
Unless you’ve been there and walked the course, you can’t imagine just how high and how low Augusta really goes. Here, with a little help from some things you may be more familiar with, is one way of imagining the heaving landscape from your living room while you watch the Masters in your Golden Bear-claw slippers.
10th Hole
Drop from the 10th tee to the lowest part of the 10th fairway = 116 feet
Statue of Liberty head-to-foot (111 feet), wearing 5-foot heels = 116 feet
2nd Hole
Drop from the second tee to the second green = 90 feet
King Kong (official height in the 1933 original, 50 feet), standing on his own shoulders = 90 feet (-10 feet for big ape head)
11th Hole
Drop from 11th tee to 11th green = 62 feet
George Washington’s head on Mt. Rushmore (60 feet), with General Washington wearing a 2-foot fez = 62 feet
8th Hole
Rise from the eighth tee to the eighth green = 61 feet
Three-and-a-half giraffes balanced carefully atop each other’s heads (avg. height of 17’3″ each) = 61 feet
12th Hole
Drop from the highest point on the course (back right of the first green) to the lowest point (Rae’s Creek in front of the 12th green): 175 feet
Niagara Falls: 176 feet
Illustrations by Robin Griggs.
