Mackenzie's article mentioned that, though he and Jones weren't trying to duplicate famous British golf holes, they wanted 18 ideal holes, and Jones thought the Old Course at St. Andrews most closely approached his ideal. Purists jumped on that, and have long insisted Augusta National was patterned after St. Andrews: enormous fairways, few trees, hidden hazards, humps, bumps and mounds, big greens with bold contours, all playable with a bump-and-run ground game.

Well, yes, it started out with some of that. But most of that was removed within a few years of its opening.

Here's Bob Harlow (later the founder of Golf World magazine) writing in The Augusta Chronicle in 1938: "A British linksland motif which was intended by the original builders of the Bobby Jones golf course in Augusta has been abandoned, and the artificially thrown-up sand-dune formations which were intended to give the foreign touch to a number of the greens at the home of the Master's [sic] tournament have been replaced with a more modern American concept of proper contours to test a player's skill. ...It was a notable experiment, but an effort to duplicate the natural terrain of one country in another location, by artificial means, does not work out successfully except in Hollywood."

Think Bobby Jones wasn't involved in that transformation? Think again. In his 1951 series, Jones explained his reason for abandoning the Mackenzie green on the par-4 seventh, a green inspired by the Valley of Sin at St. Andrews' 18th. "The contouring of the green in its final form did not correspond with our original objective," he wrote. "The contouring of the original green was too severe, or if you choose, too tricky."

Length and width
After watching Jones and Mackenzie stake out the course, longtime Jones biographer O.B. Keeler wrote in 1931, "The Jones idea and, I believe, that of Dr. Mackenzie also, does not incline to drive-and-pitch holes." Only two on the entire course, Keeler reported.

So Jones would not have approved of modern-day players hitting 300-yard drives, then pitching wedges into half the par 4s on the course. Hootie was right in lengthening so many holes. For example, the first from 410 yards to 435 yards, and ultimately to 455; the 17th from 400 to 425 yards and then to 440; and the 18th from 405 to 465. Each time, each hole was lengthened by adding another new back tee (stretching the course to 7,445 yards today, up 520 from the 6,925 in Tiger's record-setting year).

Bobby Jones lengthened holes, too. But he did it by moving greens. So much for retaining the integrity of the original design.

Take the green at No. 7. Jones thought the then-340-yard seventh was a "pitch and a kick." (In 1937, Byron Nelson drove the green; today the hole is 450 yards.)

"The original hole by championship standards played too short," Jones wrote. He adopted suggestions for what became the present seventh green, relocated atop a hill, "...a new postage-stamp type of green, almost entirely surrounded by bunkers, the only green of this type on the course."

(Of course, these days dozens of golfers can drive it 340 yards. Some players, particularly six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, have long advocated a reduced-distance golf ball to preserve older classic courses. In 2002, Hootie intimated that the club was considering requiring all competitors to play just such a "Masters ball," but nothing has come of it, probably because the club doesn't want to interfere with players' individual equipment contracts.

Ironically, back in November 1933, Bobby Jones hosted a weekend of golf at his new course for players who represented Spalding golf equipment. They all played 36 holes using the same golf ball, a prototype "Tournament Spalding" ball. That's likely the only time an event at Augusta National involved just one type of golf ball.)

The par-3 16th was originally 145 yards over a ditch, a popular birdie hole for the members, especially Clifford Roberts. Several Masters competitors told Jones the hole didn't measure up. In 1947, the present 16th was created. Again, a heaving, rolling Mackenzie green was abandoned, in favor of a new one positioned in a different direction, at the far end of a newly formed pond, 190 yards (now 170) from the tee.

"The expanse of water seems to have reduced the birdie harvest," Jones wrote. "Everyone experiences a bigger thrill in playing the present hole. Most certainly, it is far more attractive and exciting than the older one." Jones also described the remodeling of the par-4 10th.

"Originally the green was located at the end of a downhill slope in a miniature amphitheatre. Although the championship length was 430 yards, it played too short because of the terrain. ...In 1937, a new green was constructed thanks in part to the generosity of a club member from New Jersey. It is farther back, to the left and on higher ground [turning the greenside bunker, the only remaining Mackenzie bunker on the course, into a fairway bunker today]. The maximum tournament yardage is now 465 yards [495 yards today], but if a good tee shot is played down the left side of the fairway, where it takes full advantage of the downhill roll, the expert can reach the green with an iron second shot."

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