Speed, Slope, and Bentgrass – Do The Best Putters Win at Augusta National?

Undulated. Treacherous. Personalized. Secretive. The purest bentgrass on the planet. The greens at Augusta National Golf Club are without a doubt “one of a kind.”

Located in the heart of bermudagrass country, Augusta, Georgia is home to the world’s most famous golf tournament, the Masters. But due to the timing of the event being early in the spring, bermudagrass in northern Georgia would still be somewhat dormant. In order to have the best greens possible, bentgrass, a cool-season turfgrass is used instead. Most professional golfers will tell you that bent greens provide the smoothest and most consistent putting surface.

With the Masters upon us, let’s take a closer look at how the players in the field have historically performed from a Strokes Gained: Putting perspective on pure bentgrass greens and also compare that number to their baseline putting average on non-bentgrass greens. Notice that there are some past Masters champions high on the list (Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods) and a couple that are closer to the bottom (Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett).

One of the main characteristics that the greens at Augusta are famous for is their severe undulations. Overall, they are some of the most severely sloped greens anywhere, and when combined with their “unknown” fast speed, are downright treacherous. Everything about Augusta National has always been very secretive. They have never released the average green speed nor their firmness level to the public. One reason is that the playing condition varies for each separate green complex. Due to some greens having more slope than others, each green is mowed differently and thus a uniform speed can not be given.

According to noted professional agronomist David Marcucilli, each green at Augusta National receives personalized treatment and conditioning that best reflects its slope, pin location, and shot-making values. The greens are also brushed before they are mowed. This promotes an upright blade orientation on the grass to ensure a uniform cut. Doing this also eliminates any grain on the greens, allowing them to run even purer.

Back in 2010, an unofficial rating of the course was conducted and green speeds ranged from an average 12′ to an ultra-fast 15′ on the stimpmeter. The variance in speed is meant to protect golfers on the holes that have the most contours and sloping. Players themselves have often noted that even on shorter putts they are sometimes simply trying to “lag putt” to a certain spot because if they putted directly at the hole and missed, the ball could roll off the green. Without actual strokes gained data, it is tough to quantify just how difficult the greens are at Augusta. A few basic putting stats are available which can also be compared to the Tour average.

We can clearly see that putting is significantly more challenging than the average PGA Tour course. That is the highest 3-Putt% by far out of any annual course played on Tour. Now let’s analyze how players in the Masters’ field have performed since 2018 on other difficult greens that have similar sloping and fast speeds. Some of these other “Tough Greens” courses include Winged Foot, Bethpage Black, Olympia Field, Torrey Pines South, Quail Hollow, and others. Similar to the bentgrass data you will see past winners scattered throughout this ranking as well. Patrick Reed and Adam Scott have both performed consistently well on tougher green complexes since 2018 while Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson have struggled.

Now that we have determined that a player does not necessarily have to be a proven putter on bentgrass, nor on difficult speedy greens with extreme sloping to win the Masters, let’s check the overall Strokes Gained: Putting ranking of the past 14 winners of the Masters in the season leading up to their victory.

2021: Hideki Matsuyama – 175
2020: Dustin Johnson – 48
2019: Tiger Woods – 74
2018: Patrick Reed – 72
2017: Sergio Garcia – 162
2016: Danny Willett – 60
2015: Jordan Spieth – 9
2014: Bubba Watson – 109
2013: Adam Scott – 130
2012: Bubba Watson – 142
2011: Charl Schwartzel – 96
2010: Phil Mickelson – 133
2009: Angel Cabrera – 63
2008: Trevor Immelman – 191

With the average putting rank of the Masters’ winner at 105th, the data shows that while being a successful putter both on bentgrass surfaces and on difficult greens is a positive, it is far from necessary to make a run up the leaderboard at Augusta National. There is another metric that is far more important when studying the winners of this special event that will be analyzed in my upcoming “Masters Trends” article.

Featured Photo Credit: The Masters