Construction is underway as Augusta National is planning to add 30 yards to the par-4 455-yard 5th hole, reports the Golf Channel. “The new hole will play upwards of 485 yards in an attempt to restore the shot value that has been taken away by the distances achieved by the modern game,” Tim Rosaforte said.
At the 2018 Masters, the 5th (nicknamed “Magnolia”) ranked as the sixth most difficult hole on the course, with an average score of 4.16, including 26 birdies, 186 pars, 64 bogeys and four double bogeys. The most difficult hole is the par-4 505-yard 11th, “White Dogwood.”
In May, the Augusta Chronicle reported on Augusta National’s other plans to change the area surrounding the 5th hole. New landscaping and plans to alter the course of Old Berckmans Road were begun in May, to be completed by November. Rosaforte said a new tee box is being built where the road used to be.
In 2014, Sports Illustrated’s John Garrity wrote that the 5th was Augusta’s “least-appreciated” hole, citing the memorable lack of drama at Magnolia. “Augusta National, if you get my drift, has 17 highly regarded holes with packed grandstands, botanical variability and tournament lore galore,” he wrote. “And it has one out-of-the-way hole where birds peck at worms in the fairway and history is never made.”
