Augusta National’s 13th tee is in the spotlight, but it’s usually a place for peace and quiet

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Imagine being in one of the loudest rock concerts you ever have attended, the music thumping, the roof starting to separate from its joists, the crowd abuzz, the show building like a pounding drumbeat to its zenith ... and suddenly somebody hits mute. The arena falls dead silent.

This is the strange cadence that exists in the small elbow of turf-grassed heaven that is Augusta National Golf Club’s famed Amen Corner, which comprises a stretch from the 11th green to the 13th fairway. The name is derived from a Sports Illustrated story penned by Herbert Warren Wind coming out of the 1958 Masters titled “The Fateful Corner.” For years, Masters competitors battling across the rolling second nine on Sunday have strolled over the crest of the hill at the highly demanding 11th to view a sea of patrons off to the right, gathered behind the 12th tee.

Beyond that tee, across the Hogan Bridge, is where one of golf’s most hallowed transitions transpires. Once players hole their putts at the 155-yard 12th hole, they turn left and walk up a hill to the tee at 13 – a stroll that grew 35 yards longer this Masters (the revamped hole now measures 545 yards). This year, the new 13th tee will be in the spotlight because of the dramatic change it brings to one of Augusta National’s most famous holes.

But that patch of grass actually is known for the peace and quiet it affords, especially late on a Sunday as players contend for a Green Jacket.

There, competitors have a spot on the golf course that is all their own. With patrons held in place behind the 12th tee some 200-plus yards away, it leaves only players and their white-bibbed caddies staring down a long, skinny corridor toward a distant fairway. On a course known for the roars it produces, the 13th tee is known for quiet.

“It’s kind of strange, surreal, different,” said Bernhard Langer, a two-time Masters champion who will play in his 40th Masters this week. “You sometimes make a birdie there (at 12), and people don’t really see it until you pick the ball out of the hole. You might get a clap. That and the 13th tee, it’s very different than the rest of the golf course.”

Ernie Els considers the setup at 13 to be unique in the game. “I’ve played there (Augusta National) away from the tournament,” he said, “and that’s what it’s like all the time. That’s a magical spot.”

Rory McIlroy calls Augusta’s 13th tee “a welcome respite.” Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, said it is a nice spot on the course “to get one’s wits about you” for the stretch ahead. When Rocco Mediate thinks about the atmosphere there, one word comes to mind: Cool.

“It’s a little spot of tranquility,” said Tom Lehman, who played in 13 Masters Tournaments.

Yes, the 13th tee, and where it sits in the midst of a mystical second nine, is yet one more Masters tradition unlike any other. Don’t sleep on the hole and its meaning to Masters’ history each spring. In 1958, Wind, one of the best to ever write about the game, was moved to depict a bold play there by Arnold Palmer on Sunday in ’58. Facing 250 yards into the green at what was then a 475-yard par-5, Palmer choked down on his persimmon 3-wood and ripped a piercing shot onto the putting surface, setting up a key two-putt birdie in his title run. He won the first of his four Masters that year.

Wrote Wind of the significance of 13 and where it falls on a Sunday, “What a player does on the other 17 holes – or, if you will, on the 68 other holes – is always significant and often critical, but the point is that no one is pushing the facts around when he remarks that the events that take place on the 13th have an odd way of proving to be strangely conclusive at the Masters.”

And before the needle returns to the record, nothing but calm. A loud roar might come from the 11th green, or maybe 12, so players on the Zen-like tee at 13 had better pay attention.

"My dad has played (Augusta National) twice, and he told me every time you walk over the bridge on 12 to turn back and look around, because you don’t get that view on TV," said Will Zalatoris, who two years ago was runner-up at his first Masters. "It’s such a cool place. Just right there, you’re in the middle of Amen Corner, and it’s just a nice time to reflect. I’ve done that every single time I’ve played."

The lengthened 13th hole will garner a good deal of attention this week. The tee has been stretched onto land Augusta National Golf Club purchased from neighboring Augusta Country Club a few years ago, and the hole promises to be more of a challenge, and certainly no automatic birdie.

In the 13th's previous state, many players could turn a 3-wood around the corner, leaving mid- and short-irons in. The lengthened 13th will require more players to choose driver off the tee, and with longer irons, hybrids or possibly 3- and 5-metals left into the green, players may decide risk outweighs reward.

When Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley announced plans to put more teeth into the hole, he leaned on long-ago words from club co-founder Bobby Jones, who believed any decision to go for the green in two at the 13th should be “momentous.”

Said Ridley, "And I would have to say that our observations of these great players hitting middle- and even short-irons into that hole is not a momentous decision."

What might be enhanced on the newer version of 13 will be an even more remote spot on the tee, which, in addition to being moved back, has been raised eight yards. In early reconnaissance rounds, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler, last April's winner, had 3- and 4-irons left for second shots after drivers off the tee. This should add more decision-making, as well as more challenge to a hole that last Masters yielded more eagles (6) and birdies (91) than bogeys (37), double bogeys (6) and others (4) combined. Playing to an average of 4.9 strokes, the 13th was the third-easiest hole at Augusta National.

Amid one of the quietest spots in town during Masters week, players will have far more to contemplate standing on that tee this week.

“It’s serene,” said McIlroy, who joked that he ducks into the tiny bathroom hidden in the trees left of that tee every time, “whether I need to go or not.” (A little-known secret: Finding player restrooms at Augusta National once players go down 13 fairway can be a true challenge.)

“Being on that tee, it’s a good reset if you feel like you’re struggling, or it’s a good time to remind yourself what you need to do over those last few holes. I think you can definitely hear yourself thinking a little more clearly,” McIlroy said.

As for the abrupt shift, from one of the most buzz-filled, hair-raising, electric atmospheres in golf to a setting that can be quieter than a remote private island? “That’s the beauty of it,” McIlroy said.

In 2006, Mediate was contending for the lead despite feeling an intense pain in his hip and back. At the 12th, his hopes derailed when he made a 10 on the hole. On 13 tee, pretty much alone with his thoughts, his decision was whether or not to continue his round. He played on.

“Whether you’re playing great or you’re trying to regroup, there’s nothing there. Nothin’” Mediate said. “It’s kind of great. And now that tee is even further back. You might need a bus to get back there.”

Langer, the man who has spent 40 weeks of his life at Augusta, was asked if players find the scene at 13 so different, given the historical setting, that it becomes a point of conversation to break the silence as they stand alone back there.

“No, you just get on with it,” said Langer, a no-nonsense man. “It’s just the way it is, and the way that it always has been.”

He smiled. “And it’s probably not going to change.”