Out of left field

Lee Trevino was always adamant that he could not win the US Masters golf championship because Augusta National is a hooker’s course.

The flamboyant Mexican was right of course because Bobby Jones’ masterpiece is very much a course that favours right-to-left hitters.

Of the 14 driving holes all but three (the 7th, 17th and 18th) are set up to reward a draw – or at least they used to.

Back-to-back victories by left-handers Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir have revealed how modern equipment has uncovered a new side to a re-modelled Augusta.

Whereas it was certainly a hooker’s course in the days of Trevino that now is certainly not the case with the high, straight tee-ball and the power-fade that can be struck with modern titanium drivers.

Whereas the fade was traditionally a distance killer with wooden clubs – which made Trevino’s task all the harder as he was always hitting from the long side of fairways, or into bunkers, because of his inability to hook the ball around the dog-legs –the modern deep-faced drivers propel the slight left-to-right fade immense distances.

The victories by Mickelson and Weir may well show that while Augusta might have been made more difficult in the effort to make the course “Tiger-proof” the venerable gentlemen in their green coats may have ended up with a course favouring left-handers.

Augusta is still a left-to-right golf course but tees placed further back and hazards placed to gather off-key hook-shaped shots are now catching the right-handers whereas the lefties, with their power fades, can comfortably hit to the open side of fairways, where there is less trouble, and still be very much in range of the greens.

A number of holes are now perfectly set up to suit a player such as Mickelson – especially two crucial holes in Amen Corner, the 11th and 13th.

The copse of trees planted to the right of the 11th has now made it a very difficult for right-handers – remember what happened to Ernie Els in the third round – as a miscued draw, or fade that doesn’t come off, can head into deep trouble whereas a left-hander can stand up and hook the ball around the contour and pitch the ball back into the slope.

The 13th is the sharpest left-hand dog-leg on the course but once again the problem for right-handers is greater than for left-handers because a “hot hook” by the former is headed for the stream whereas a fade by left-handers curls more gently and, of course, falls to earth much more softly.

Naturally a fade is a much easier shot to hit than a draw, especially with new deep-faced club where there is always the danger of hitting a smother-hook, so lefties just set up more comfortably.

Ironically the only hole on the course that is distinctly opposite or right-to-left is the 18th where, once again, it is my contention the drive is easier for a left-hander.

The right-hander is faced with having to hit a “slider” off the left-hand bunkers or deliberately playing short of them – leaving a long and blind shot up the hill - whereas the left-hander can stand up and hit a swinging hook which turns back into the fairway.

The right-hander’s straight, or drawing shot goes into one of the bunkers – as did Ernie’s – but the left-hander would really have to “come off” the shot to make a mistake because there is no real trouble on the right to catch a mistake with the left-hander’s hook so it is easier for the player to commit to the shot – especially as the tee-shot out of the chute of trees sets up better for a low hook (by a left-hander) rather than the inevitably higher fade (by a right-hander).

This was not the case in Trevino’s day when the fade did not go very far but with today’s clubs and balls that is not so and the upshot is that Augusta National is just set up for Mickelson – especially given his touch around the greens.