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If the Augusta National Golf Club is indeed "a cathedral of pines," then Amen Corner is its altar.
That's the clear implication of golf journalist Herbert Warren Wind, who coined the phrase "Amen Corner" in a legendary Sports Illustrated article published on April 21, 1958 when he recapped the Masters Tournament won by Arnold Palmer.
Amen Corner is the approach shot to the par-4 11th hole, the par-3 12th, and the tee shot at the par-5 13th hole. It's at the lowest level of the hilly golf course co-designed by club founder Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie and the amphitheater setting behind the 12th tee, with huge bleachers and thousands of patrons, has been the site for numerous Masters dramas since the tournament began in 1934.
MAJOR INSIDER: Get Golfweek's best stories, latest updates from Augusta National straight to your inbox
Despite its worshipful name, Amen Corner is a slice of heaven or, depending on how a player has negotiated parts of those three holes, a bit of golf hell.
Two-time Masters winner Ben Crenshaw explained the mystique of Amen Corner to writer Damon Hack for a 2023 article on masters.com.
"I always approached that area with great trepidation," Crenshaw said. "All throughout the first nine, the players are trying to get a few strokes to cushion themselves before they go into the Corner. They know what can happen there, and they know what has happened there. Somebody said a long time ago that the only thing you hear over there is the player's heartbeat and the caddie's heartbeat."
Wind's lead to his 1958 Masters story on Palmer's victory began with a ceremony before the tournament in which Jones dedicated two bridges named for past champions: the (Ben) Hogan Bridge, which leads players to the 12th green, and the (Byron) Nelson Bridge, which takes players from the 13th tee to the 13th fairway.
"On the afternoon before the start of the recent Masters golf tournament, a wonderfully evocative ceremony took place at the farthest reach of the Augusta National course — down in the Amen Corner where Rae's Creek intersects the 13th fairway near the tee, then parallels the front edge of the green on the short 12th and finally swirls alongside the 11th green," Wind wrote.
One origin of the phrase Amen Corner has religious overtones.
“Amen Corner is a common church term in the South," the late Atlanta Constitutione columnist Furman Bisher told Golf Digest. "In our church, the old men sat there and said ‘Amen’ after the preacher said something they liked.”
Wind later said the phrase came to mind because it was the name of a jazz tune from the 1930s he especially liked, by clarinetist Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow.
“There was nothing unusual about the song,” Wind told Golf Digest in 1984. “But apparently, the title was catchy enough to stick in my mind. The more I thought about it, the more suitable I thought the Amen Corner was for that bend of the course where the decisive action had taken place."
After leading with the bridge ceremony in his 1958 article, Wind went on to relate the key development in the final round of that tournament at No. 12. The only rule controversy that has eclipsed that one involving Arnold Palmer was Robert de Vicenzo signing an incorrect scorecard in 1968 that enabled Bob Goalby to win.
After rain had soaked the course the night before the final round, the committee installed a local rule that allowed players to lift their ball from an embedded lie, with no penalty. Palmer hit his tee shot over the 12th green and onto the back bank, with the ball embedding.
The rules official at hand wasn't sure if the bank was part of the course that was "through the green," allowing the free lift. Palmer played the shot as it lay, hit a poor chip and two-putted for a double-bogey 5. He then informed the rules officials that he was going to play a provisional ball, dropped, chipped on and made par.
Palmer was told three holes later that the committee agreed he should get the par. Palmer won the first of his four Masters titles by one shot.
Ralph Guldahl was leading the tournament in 1937 but doubled No. 12 and bogeyed No. 13. Byron Nelson played the holes birdie-eagle, picking up six shots, and went on to win by two.
Fred Couples' tee shot in the final round in 1992 famously did something hardly any ball coming up short of the 12th green does: stick on the steep bank. Couples chipped on and made par and won the tournament by two shots over Raymond Floyd.
Tom Weiskopf made the highest score in Masters history at No. 12 with a 10-over-par 13 in 1980 in the first round. He hit his tee shot and four balls from the drop zone into Rae's Creek, got his 11th shot on dry land and got down in two.
On the flip side, there have been six eagle-twos at No. 11 (the last by Drew Kittlesone in 2009) and three aces at No. 12 (the last by Curtis Strange in 1988).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Masters Tournament: What is Amen Corner? Story of famed Augusta stretch
Continue reading...
That's the clear implication of golf journalist Herbert Warren Wind, who coined the phrase "Amen Corner" in a legendary Sports Illustrated article published on April 21, 1958 when he recapped the Masters Tournament won by Arnold Palmer.
Amen Corner is the approach shot to the par-4 11th hole, the par-3 12th, and the tee shot at the par-5 13th hole. It's at the lowest level of the hilly golf course co-designed by club founder Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie and the amphitheater setting behind the 12th tee, with huge bleachers and thousands of patrons, has been the site for numerous Masters dramas since the tournament began in 1934.
MAJOR INSIDER: Get Golfweek's best stories, latest updates from Augusta National straight to your inbox
Despite its worshipful name, Amen Corner is a slice of heaven or, depending on how a player has negotiated parts of those three holes, a bit of golf hell.
Two-time Masters winner Ben Crenshaw explained the mystique of Amen Corner to writer Damon Hack for a 2023 article on masters.com.
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"I always approached that area with great trepidation," Crenshaw said. "All throughout the first nine, the players are trying to get a few strokes to cushion themselves before they go into the Corner. They know what can happen there, and they know what has happened there. Somebody said a long time ago that the only thing you hear over there is the player's heartbeat and the caddie's heartbeat."
How did Herbert Warren Wind come to name 'Amen Corner?'
Wind's lead to his 1958 Masters story on Palmer's victory began with a ceremony before the tournament in which Jones dedicated two bridges named for past champions: the (Ben) Hogan Bridge, which leads players to the 12th green, and the (Byron) Nelson Bridge, which takes players from the 13th tee to the 13th fairway.
"On the afternoon before the start of the recent Masters golf tournament, a wonderfully evocative ceremony took place at the farthest reach of the Augusta National course — down in the Amen Corner where Rae's Creek intersects the 13th fairway near the tee, then parallels the front edge of the green on the short 12th and finally swirls alongside the 11th green," Wind wrote.
What's the original meaning of 'Amen Corner'
One origin of the phrase Amen Corner has religious overtones.
“Amen Corner is a common church term in the South," the late Atlanta Constitutione columnist Furman Bisher told Golf Digest. "In our church, the old men sat there and said ‘Amen’ after the preacher said something they liked.”
Wind later said the phrase came to mind because it was the name of a jazz tune from the 1930s he especially liked, by clarinetist Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow.
“There was nothing unusual about the song,” Wind told Golf Digest in 1984. “But apparently, the title was catchy enough to stick in my mind. The more I thought about it, the more suitable I thought the Amen Corner was for that bend of the course where the decisive action had taken place."
Amen Corner's biggest controversy
After leading with the bridge ceremony in his 1958 article, Wind went on to relate the key development in the final round of that tournament at No. 12. The only rule controversy that has eclipsed that one involving Arnold Palmer was Robert de Vicenzo signing an incorrect scorecard in 1968 that enabled Bob Goalby to win.
You must be registered for see images attach
After rain had soaked the course the night before the final round, the committee installed a local rule that allowed players to lift their ball from an embedded lie, with no penalty. Palmer hit his tee shot over the 12th green and onto the back bank, with the ball embedding.
The rules official at hand wasn't sure if the bank was part of the course that was "through the green," allowing the free lift. Palmer played the shot as it lay, hit a poor chip and two-putted for a double-bogey 5. He then informed the rules officials that he was going to play a provisional ball, dropped, chipped on and made par.
Palmer was told three holes later that the committee agreed he should get the par. Palmer won the first of his four Masters titles by one shot.
What have been other famous Amen Corner moments?
Ralph Guldahl was leading the tournament in 1937 but doubled No. 12 and bogeyed No. 13. Byron Nelson played the holes birdie-eagle, picking up six shots, and went on to win by two.
Fred Couples' tee shot in the final round in 1992 famously did something hardly any ball coming up short of the 12th green does: stick on the steep bank. Couples chipped on and made par and won the tournament by two shots over Raymond Floyd.
Tom Weiskopf made the highest score in Masters history at No. 12 with a 10-over-par 13 in 1980 in the first round. He hit his tee shot and four balls from the drop zone into Rae's Creek, got his 11th shot on dry land and got down in two.
On the flip side, there have been six eagle-twos at No. 11 (the last by Drew Kittlesone in 2009) and three aces at No. 12 (the last by Curtis Strange in 1988).
How has Amen Corner played during the Masters?
- No. 11 (White Dogwod), has been lengthened three times since 2002 and plays 520 yards. It has been the most difficult hole on the course in any era, averaging 4.304. It was 4.386 last year.
- No. 12 (Golden Bell) is the fourth-hardest hole at Augusta National, at 3.269 yards. It averaged 3.198 yards last year. It has stayed at 155 yards every year and has been the least-changed hole over the tournament's history.
- No. 13 (Azalea), on the other hand, is the second-easiest hole on the course after the par-5 second, averaging 4.744. It averaged 4.758 last year. The hole was stretched out to 545 yards in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Masters Tournament: What is Amen Corner? Story of famed Augusta stretch
Continue reading...
