Augusta National’s chairman confirms the club’s status as a retreat

Augusta National appears poised to end the uncertainty surrounding golf’s return.

In his annual pre-Masters press conference, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley reaffirmed the club’s position in support of the USGA and R&A’s proposed postponement of golf, currently scheduled for 2028 at the professional level, and suggested that the plans should be finalized.

In January, the USGA issued a notice to manufacturers announcing that it was accepting feedback on delaying the implementation of the new Overall Distance Standard (ODS) test until 2030, but that such pushbacks would be accepted at once at all levels, not in stages. The new test will require golf balls to fly farther than the current limit of 317 yards, but with a maximum clubhead speed of 125 mph up from 120 mph.

Most estimates suggest that the game’s tallest players will lose 10-15 yards on their shots, while most recreational players will see negligible impacts.

“There’s always a lot of compromise. My feeling on this issue is failure is not an option. I think we need to continue to work together to reach some kind of agreement,” Ridley said Wednesday morning. “What we’re trying to do is protect the integrity of what makes golf so great. I think I’ve tried to put that into my comments, and that’s more than just hitting amazing drives.”

Ridley said the club’s interest and position isn’t just about protecting its course, which has expanded significantly over the past 25 years to a score card yardage of 7,565 yards.

The most notable recent change has been the expansion of the par-5 13th hole, arguably the most popular non-par-3 in the sport. In 2023, a new Masters course was built, adding 35 yards to the hole for a new 545-yard scorecard.

To build the new tee, the club famously purchased land at the nearby Augusta Country Club in 2017 and had part of Chapman Court redesigned to accommodate the new tee.

Ridley said the change didn’t change the hole score much, but that wasn’t the point. The goal was to restore the purpose of Bobby Jones and Dr. Alister MacKenzie when they designed it 100 years ago.

“What’s changed is the way the hole is played today and, I think, the excitement of the hole. For example, before we added a yard to 13, only about 60 percent of drivers hit. Now it’s 90 percent,” Ridley said. “The first year we added distance, those same drives [that previously went through the fairway] he sat back on the fairway and let the player make the decision – Bobby Jones called it the key decision – whether they wanted to go to the green or not. So we had players hitting 240, 250 yard shots on the green, which I think is very exciting.

“So I think the hole is now playing the way it was created. Sure, there’s going to be some mid-to-par — maybe not short irons, but there’s going to be some mid-irons that are going to be played on that hole. But that’s not just one shot. But there’s going to be a lot of long irons that are going to be played. I think that’s how we want to play the hole.”

But Ridley realizes that not all golf courses, including many popular ones, have the facilities to make the changes Augusta National can and even Augusta can’t keep expanding every hole. Ridley experienced that firsthand this week.

“I talked to Jackson Herrington, one of our young freshmen, and he told me that yesterday he hit it over the bunker on the 1st and 5th, which is 325 yards, and one was blown,” Ridley said. “I said we can make changes, but there’s not much we can do to make changes, number one, unless we tear down the Eisenhower Cabin, and we’re not going to do that.”

Two years ago, Ridley said the Masters should never be played on Augusta National’s 8,000-yard course. At some point, even the seemingly endless resources of Augusta National will be limited in how long they can play golf.

Ridley wants everyone involved in the game to take action before it’s too late. Talk of a rollback has been discussed for years without any concrete action being taken until December 2023, when the USGA and R&A announced a proposed rollback, which is currently due to begin in two years.

Even in recent years, as the proposed date has approached, there has been growing doubt as to whether the proposal will actually come to fruition.

“We will make changes if we can, but I think it’s time to really address this issue,” said Ridley. “It’s been talked about for a long time.”

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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