Mastering the 9th at Augusta: Smylie Kaufman's Tips & Insights

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00:00Okay, let's go to the ninth hole, Carolina Cherry.

00:03Number nine's a hole where when you hit it in the fairway, the fairway looks really wide

00:07because the ball typically chases down into that low area, but the tee shot plays a lot

00:11narrower than it looks, just with the overhanging trees on the left and the fairway slopes

00:15left to right and kind of pushes you down into the trees on the right.

00:19Once again, it's another hole where it's essential to get the ball in play and then

00:21trying to get the ball in the right tier going into the green.

00:24This is one of those holes where you're hitting from so low to such an elevated green and

00:29the tiers there are really, really small.

00:30And so it can be very tough to judge the distance and it's a hole where you cannot miss it short.

00:35So again, themes that are recurring here, the impact of elevation change, trying to get

00:41those numbers right, but also something he said off the top that you just noted about

00:45everything at Augusta National Golf Club being very intentional and just the way that Alistair

00:51McKenzie's design is set up to look at a visual and think that this place on the golf course

00:58is safe when in reality it is not.

01:00And it's playing mind games with you off the tee where you're trying to take a certain

01:03line, but your brain wants you to bail out away from that and that gets you into trouble.

01:08And this, to Scotty's point, looks like it'd be a pretty straightforward tee shot, but when

01:13you look at the way the ground moves down the landing area and things like that, it becomes

01:16more complicated.

01:18Yeah, totally.

01:19And this tee shot, it's so important to not miss a left.

01:21Left is jail.

01:22You got those bunkers that guard the left side of the screen.

01:25So you never have a chance to run anything up.

01:27Even if you have a shot, you don't have a shot because you need to play short and to

01:32the right unless somehow in the world you hook it far enough to where you're in the first

01:39fairway.

01:39And if you're in the first fairway, that's still even a really hard shot because the angle

01:43is so shallow from that spot.

01:46But important to definitely hit this fairway, of course.

01:50You could play from the right pine straw.

01:52We've seen plenty of people hit shots on the green from the right pine straw and make

01:55birdies.

01:56So not the end of the world if you push that tee shot.

01:59But he's exactly right talking about hitting from a low area.

02:02And sometimes when it's not firm enough, the ball doesn't get all the way down the hill.

02:06And when it doesn't, I found that it was really, really difficult to hit it high enough with

02:12the firm greens, especially to the front pin.

02:15That front pin to me is really difficult to get close to that hole.

02:18And the further you get down the hill to the flat, the easier that shot is.

02:23But when you're still on that side slope and down slope hitting that shot, I wasn't somebody

02:29that could hit it high enough to where I was able to really hold that section of the green.

02:34Now, Scotty Scheffler, he hits it really high and probably can hit it soft enough with a high

02:40landing apex where he might be OK.

02:43And that that's where the the topics of, you know, what does it take to compete out at

02:48Augusta National?

02:50And sometimes people undervalue that just the ability to hit it high and to be able to get

02:57to pins that other guys couldn't get to.

02:59I played well that week and there were a hole locations that I couldn't get to that other

03:03guys could.

03:04So, let's see.

03:05So, let's see.

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03:29So, let's see.

03:30So, let's see.

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