Tiger Woods boasts a stunning history at The Masters, but the five-time champion is sadly absent from this year’s event.
Woods has won 15 major championships throughout his phenomenal career, with five coming at Augusta National.
Controlling trajectory at Augusta was labelled crucial by Woods once upon a time, with the American having seemingly mastered that aspect of the game at the iconic course.
Situated in Georgia, Augusta once again plays host to The Masters in 2025, with the action set to get underway on Thursday.
But Woods is out of action for the foreseeable future, having recently undergone surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon.
How Tiger Woods approaches Amen Corner at Augusta National
Masters crowds and indeed his fellow players will miss the legendary figure dearly, but fortunately the latter group could gain key insight into his handling of a crucial part of the course.
Woods told The Masters in 2018 about his approach of Amen Corner, which comprises holes 11, 12 and 13.
Hole 11: White Dogwood (Par 4, 505 yards)
It’s a long tee shot. You got a big forest up the right-hand side, and it just beats you into hitting it up the right side to get a little bit closer to the green.
And if you happen to lose one in those trees, it’s generally a pitch out. Very rarely I should have a shot at getting it close to the green, so I’m playing further left.
It’s a nice angle because a lot of time it takes the water out of play because you’re firing over and away from it, but the problem is you can’t get close to some of those flags, especially anything on the left-hand side, you can’t use a slope to feed it in there.
The front left pin is something that you got to be careful of sometimes… I’ve seen balls hit off that big slope on the short right of the green go in the water. Anything to the right is one of the fastest putts on the whole golf course.
There’s been a couple other times where I’ve been on that run where I think I’ve hit seven straight birdies, and that was one of them I hit the right pine straws into the front left pin, pin high and made it.
That was pretty neat to do it early in the morning. It’s just a demanding hole. If you played in 16 for the week, you’re doing great.
Hole 12: Golden Bell (Par 3, 155 yards)
It’s really cool being a past champion. People really appreciate their past champions, and the ovations we’ve gotten over the years is pretty incredible. I’m trying to appreciate the ovation, but also out of my left eye, sometime later I catch, which way is the wind going here.
I like watching guys hit when I’m on 11, if you get a chance, and see how they hit, how they react, and how high was the ball and where did it go. If I’m able to get three looks at it, I usually have a pretty good idea.
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Still a lot of times I think that’s useless, because the wind’s going to change by the time I get over the golf ball. There’s a lot of times you just hit it and just… do I say, get up? Do I say get down? Do I say be the right club.
A lot of times I just look at it and don’t know what it’s going to do. There’s typical four pins. You know, there’s front left, one just over the left corner of the front bunker, and there’s the traditional Sunday on the far right.
We all know what it is, but the water’s in play short, anything short you know it’s coming back. And go long, it’s a tough par. The back bunker is no joke. Got to be committed to your location where you want the ball to end up and be committed to it.
Hole 13: Azalea (Par 5, 510 yards)
13, man it’s a good par five but it’s the length of a par four in the modern game now. It just happens to turn a little bit too much I think for a par four. Three wood, driver to the corner or around the corner.
I’ve seen guys just pull out driver, teed up a little higher and bomb it over the top. It can be done, but it’s a risky tee shot, because if you don’t quite hit it, or you happen to hit it a spot low on the club, it’s not carrying.
But it’s just a tough tee shot. Got to get in and play to be able to get there in two. Once you have that ball in position, you’re either presented with a hanging lie, it feels like I’m hitting like I’m little league again, I’m hitting some high inside fastball that I got to turn.
I’ve got a creek that runs up that right side and short, miss it in the swale, it’s a really tough up and down, and the green’s got a lot of movement to it. And each hole location presents its own set of layup requirements.
And so I would lay up in specific spots based on each of the hole locations of what I want. I have been over the course of my career very religious about where I put that golf ball for those hole locations.
And I’ve played the hole well over the course of my career, but it’s just a tough tee shot off a hanging lie to a really tough green.
Tiger Woods said there is ‘really no other place in golf’ like Amen Corner at Augusta
Woods has been able to master Amen Corner time and again, with his most recent Masters success coming in 2019.
Augusta was also the site of his first major triumph in 1997, with the legend also winning in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
Summarising the hugely iconic Amen Corner, he warned: “It’s tricky. God help you if you ever have a little wind blowing through there, and it’s gusty, it’s blustery, you don’t know what direction it’s coming from. Anything can happen, and it has happened, and it will continue to happen.
“You can play well and for some reason just get the wrong wind gust. You know, you walk out of there thinking I just hit what I thought were perfect golf shots into each hole, and I got the wrong gust, and I’m over par playing these holes.
“And then there are times when you can go birdie, birdie, eagle, and playing four-under par, and it changes the hole round and it also changes the whole tournament. There’s really no other place in golf that’s like that for us as players.”
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