Golfdom, April 2010

Shack Attack THE FINAL WORD Mum Is the Word I n the annals of eyebrowraising NATURALLY AUGUSTA NATIONAL DENIES THAT ANY CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE COURSE FOR THE RECENTLY COMPLETED MASTERS BY GEOFF SHACKELFORD Augusta National moments that make you go hmmm I offer the following two anecdotes for no good reason other than its April and the just completed Masters is still on our minds You probably know about the first item if you have an e mail address and work in the golf industry This involves the extensive series of Augusta National images taken Feb 13 where the glorious home to golfs first Major tournament is seen under a thick blanket of snow The serene pictures looked like something kitchmeister Thomas Kinkade conjured up for a United States Golf Association Christmas card collection if Augusta National would allow such a thing Thankfully even Augusta draws the line when it comes to good taste An image of No 12 was particularly striking because for an instant the sun slightly poked through Its quite possibly the most beautiful golf course image Ive ever seen Also noticeable in the photographs was how little snow was on the green floors thanks to the clubs subsurface heating system If nothing else the images made for the perfect gone viral SubAir Hydronics systems ad campaign I waited a few days to post the images on my Web site until a few other bloggers had posted them I even cropped out the date in an attempt to protect the innocent on the off chance the club would be upset about the images If club co founder Clifford Roberts were alive hed likely launch an investigation into the heathen who exposed the beautiful Bobby Jones and 64 Golfdom A p r i l 2 0 1 0 Alister MacKenzie design the world now knows is susceptible to low scores and snow Sure enough I was talking to a photographer from another major golf publication a few days later who said his magazine requested permission from the club to run the images The club said no and also intimated it was looking for the source of the photos even though they were taken out of admiration for the beauty and sent harmlessly to friends who would appreciate them Those friends just so happened to think their friends would feel the same way and off to the viral races the images went It was yet another attempt by Augusta to control information But as Tiger Woods will tell you such efforts usually backfire in this day and age Should it turn out the photographer lost his job itll just reflect poorly on the club After all what is there to cover up Another Augusta surprise came when I was interviewing Ben Crenshaw about the design and its ties to the Old Course at St Andrews When I posed the question to Crenshaw that perhaps Augusta had lost much of its Old Course inspired strategic charm thanks to the introduction of rough he shocked me by saying he believed the club had actually widened out many landing areas the past few years so some of the key angles of attack he so cherished were in play again Naturally the club says no changes were made to the course for this years event And we longtime Masters analysts know the club will never acknowledge any undoing of former chairman Hootie Johnsons wretched changes even if they were made in a well intentioned attempt to offset what is widely considered by most in golf to be the faulty golf ball regulatory work of the governing bodies An alleged fairway widening is exciting and just the kind of thing Masters fans should know about It could also be a huge boon to golf course superintendents and green chairmen across the land looking for a positive example from Augusta National But well never get an official acknowledgement that such work took place to get the design back to its original intent Once again an attempt to cover up a so called alleged crime will be far more embarrassing than the so called alleged crime itself Especially since theres nothing to be embarrassed about Visit Shack Golfdoms contributing editor at www geoffshackelford com