Brush Up Your Augusta National Trivia for Masters Week

Every  April, millions of people around the world take time to witness one of the most celebrated events of the year–and I’m not talking about spring cleaning or Easter. It’s one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments: the Masters at Augusta National, where all the holes are named for flowers, and the pimento cheese sandwiches are almost as famous as Amen Corner.

Here are a few insights from A Disorderly Compendium of Golf to consider this week, as you watch this year’s contenders fight it out for the next green jacket:

What Nobody Ever Tells You About Augusta National:

Because television tends to flatten out topography, nearly all first-time visitors to Augusta National are amazed by how hilly the course is. The 18^th hole plays straight uphill; the 10^th hole can comfortably play as a 500-yard par four because it runs so steeply down the same hill. On the dogleg par-five 13^th, the landing area slopes significantly from right to left, so the approach shot over Rae’s Creek is undertaken with the ball well above a right-hander’s feet. And laying up on the 15^th hole is no bargain, because there’s no flat place to aim for; if you decide not to go for the green in two, you’re facing a short wedge pitch over the pond from a steeply downhill lie to a shallow green with a shaved bank in front.

One striking aspect of the course when it isn’t thronged by Masters patrons is how open it is. For all its tree-lined splendor, there are wide vistas where many holes can be taken in at once, and the trees between holes are almost always sparse enough to allow for recovery shots. While it’s hard to imagine a course whose reputation is less linkslike than Augusta National’s, the green surrounds make the bump-and-run a vital shot on a surprising number of holes, because of the tightness of the turf.

Another feature unique to Augusta National is the nature of the sand in the bunkers. The “sand,” which consists of finely ground feldspar, is so powdery that a ball rolling through a bunker can leave the impression of its dimples in its wake.