Some Course Changes That You'll Notice at the Masters

Each year when Augusta National makes very noticeable changes to the golf course for the Masters, they typically outline them in a memo to the media.  This year, the course did not change drastically - in fact, hardly.  The memo was short:

• The front of the second green was widened by 8 feet
• The 15th green was rebuilt
• 7 yards were added to the front of the fifth and 13th tee boxes.

But the changes have been noticed by the players and seem to be well received, including ones not mentioned in the memo.

Randall Mell reports that Phil Mickelson told him that the back right of the second green has been subtly reshaped to create a funnel effect which will help players that lay up short of the bunker.  He also heard from Luke Donald that the slop on the front right of the first green is steeper now.  Judge for yourself: