Every Hole at Augusta National, According to Ludvig Åberg

Editor’s Note: Most players need years to learn Augusta National’s intricacies. Ludvig Åberg already has a runner up and a top 10 in his first two Masters. Casey Bannon sat down with the Swedish phenom to examine every hole at Augusta National. From the opening tee shot to the approach on 18, Åberg breaks down the shots he sees—where to miss, where not to miss, what the wind does, preferred ball flights, how the grain lies, and the nuances in the greens you can’t see on TV. The following is a lightly edited version of the conversation on the podcast.—The Golfer’s Journal

Hole 1 — Tea Olive

Off the first tee, I’ve always played a little cut. It pegs the flight down a bit—a flat fade, which isn’t necessarily my strongest suit, but that’s what the hole calls for. My first Thursday in 2024, it was blowing about 40 off the left, so I just teed it down and let it fade. When there’s no wind, you peg it down and move it right to left. Either way, you’re taking something off it.

The green is really difficult. The front left pin is probably the hardest on the course. Short is a big false front. Everything catches it, which isn’t necessarily dead, but it’s tricky. You get rewarded by hitting it 20 feet right and taking your putt up the hill because that shelf is pretty small. I’ve been long a few times, and long is really difficult. It’s up and over and runs away from you. It feels like if you hit it a little thin, it’s going back to the tee box.

It’s a great starting hole. If you give me a 4 on the first tee, I’ll take it.

Hole 2 — Pink Dogwood

The bunker is in play no matter what, and you have to take it on. Even though you’re losing half a shot, left is absolutely dead. Everything goes down into that creek. Even if you find it and it stays up, you probably can’t chip it out. So you have to take left completely out of play, which means you’re living with the bunker. I always try to aim left edge of the bunker and turn it over a little. If it stays straight, it stays straight. You take a 7-iron out of there—that lip is pretty tall.

And even if you hit the fairway, the slope is so severe. The lie is downhill, but also above your feet. Especially with left pins, you can’t go at them, because if you’re in that short right bunker, you have nothing. It slopes down toward the left. So you end up taking that gap between the bunkers, which from that lie is quite difficult.

The back left pin is the hardest to get close to. The best you can do is 20 feet right, maybe 25. Just take the short bunker out of play, take the right bunkers out, and know that even from the back you can do it. You just have to funnel it. On the green, there’s so much break. You have to play the high line and try to see it come in back door. Right-to-left once you get pin high. You’ve seen those putts where guys play it almost to the fringe and it comes back. Really quick going that way.

Hole 3 — Flowering Peach

I’ve never hit iron there. Always driver no matter the pin, no matter the direction. Driver. It’s almost like Riviera’s 10th. You just beat it down there, take it on if you have an angle, and if you don’t, take your medicine.

The front is the fastest part on the course. Everything goes down. If your driver is left and you’re pitching up, you just can’t mess with it short. It comes right back to your feet. So the actual play, with any of those angles, is just playing for a 4. If you hit a nipper or check it up somehow and you have a decent putt at it, perfect. But you’re playing for 4.

Back right is probably the most doable pin. You can work it without having to play the ridge. Downwind it can become a birdie hole if you can get it to the front. If I make 3 from 40 yards, I’ll take it, but I’m not going to be too upset about 4.

I remember being up there on Sunday in 2024 in that exact spot, and it went off the back of the green. Then I putted it up. But that’s actually the play too. Even if you roll over, it’s down and then up again, so you’ll probably end up in that low area and you can chip or putt it from there.

The tricky thing about Augusta too is everything is cut toward you in the fairways and into the grain. So it’s going to climb the face a little, pop up a bit more. If it were down grain, you could flop it under a little easier. So if I have a decent lie in the fairway, I want to go high and take that front edge out of play. I’ve got trust issues with banking it. It’s more unpredictable. If I can take it out of the equation completely and be more predictable, I’ll do that.

Hole 4 — Flowering Crab Apple

Visually, it’s a tricky hole. They move the tee up sometimes. That makes it about a 7- or 8-iron, which is great. Then they put the left pins, which is where it gets deceptive. It looks like you have all the green in the world to the right, but the miss is actually left. When they put it on that front shelf, if you’re in the right bunker, you’re dead. The slope goes right toward the left bunker, and the bunker shot is playing all the way up that slope with the whole property going the other way.

It looks like you can just hit a nice, towering draw. And if it lands just left, it kind of goes down. But the bunker shot from the left is actually more makeable than a putt from the right—that putt is so fast and slick. So I always try to play a little cut that starts just inside the left bunker and moves toward the flag. And if it happens to stay in that bunker, you can get up and down pretty easily.

Hole 5 — Magnolia

The left bunkers are dead. Those things are so tall. I remember my first year I toed a driver a little bit and was in between the bunkers. I’ve never seen a ball in between the bunkers, and I still had a 6- or 7-iron into the green. You just have to take the left side away. Even a right one just past that magnolia tree is fine.

It’s a long hole, and it’s probably one of the hardest greens on the course. There’s that massive front part that looks pretty flat and then it just goes up, and they’ll put one pin literally right on top of the knob. Long left is a really skinny shelf. If you can put the ball short of the back bunker on the green—30 feet that way, 20 feet that way—you’re in great shape. It’s almost like: hit a high iron, take short out of play, and try to stop it as fast as you can. If you somehow make 3 there, you’re picking up a shot. I hit a 7-iron to that top pin my first year and I think I made it.

Hole 6 — Juniper

This is one of those holes where you’re probably hitting a flighted iron—maybe an 8, maybe a 7. You’re high up there, the pine trees are all around you, and the wind can swirl. You’re taking external factors out of play as much as you can.

To the right shelf pin, there’s just no miss. Short comes back off the front. Long is up over and really difficult, and you’re almost playing with the front again. So the best miss, if you want to miss that right shelf, is putting from the left. It’ll go down to the left fringe, but you can at least control it a little. On the short left pin, you can try to use the slope, but if you miss that shelf, instead of spinning down left it goes down right, and now you’re pitching from short right with the ball going away from you.

Take 20 feet short or 15 feet long right any day. One of the coolest things I noticed the first time I played it is when you walk down No. 6, you can see 16 right there. All the patrons sitting on that bank in front of the tee box. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on a golf course.

Hole 7 — Pampas

The tree lines want the ball to move left to right a little, and that’s just one of those fairways where you have to hit it. Miss left is just as bad as miss right. You’ve seen guys in the left semi-rough or left fringe with these crazy shots they have to manufacture, and your best bet from there is usually just getting up and down from the short bunker or chipping out to about 100 yards and spinning it. But if you hit the fairway, it’s a birdie hole.

The only tricky pins are long left and long right—that right pin is a tiny little shelf. You take 20 feet left of it from there and you’re doing fine. Long isn’t great, but I remember playing with Viktor [Hovland] last year and he had this incredible up-and-down from way back there—just a ridiculous nip. But yeah, center of the green and you have a look.

Hole 8 — Yellow Jasmine

If you hit the fairway it’s reachable, but you can’t see the green. It’s so high up. There’s a little leaning pine tree on the right side of the green that you use as your line. And those tall pines on the left mean you can’t really play a cut on the second shot. You have to turn it over. Obviously with that downhill slope, it’s easy to get behind it, especially if you’re trying to draw it. You’ll probably be hitting 3-wood unless it’s warm and you can really send it.

If you don’t have a great number, just play it short and take the pitch up the hill. A 7-wood from that slope is easier to turn over than a 3-wood, and with more loft the pitch is more doable. If the 3-wood doesn’t turn and you’re over right of the mound, you rarely see guys rip one from there. It’s into the grain, into the slope, so you’re better off hitting it way right and giving yourself 50, 60, 70 yards where you can hit it high and spin it. Short, up the gut—that’s the play if you don’t have the right number.

Hole 9 — Carolina Cherry

Left off the tee is dead. If it’s warm you can cut the corner a little bit, but otherwise you’re just pegging it out there. And then once you get going down, it’s such a cool view. You have the crosswalk, the clubhouse comes in, and you can’t see the bottom of the flagstick. A lot of people down right. You can even see No. 18 behind you a little bit. It’s a really cool place to be.

One of the best greens on the course. Three tiers, and they use all of them. Big false front, so everything short comes straight back. Right is difficult depending on the pin, and the left bunker is no good at any of them. That left side of the green goes down toward the 10th tee, which is where you get those crazy putts where guys play it almost to the fringe and it comes back. Really quick going down that way.

The shot in is interesting because of the slope in the fairway—if you don’t get all the way down, you’ve got the ball going away from you, a little below your feet, kind of wanting to come out as a low cut. But the green is up there, so you have to get it up. Everything about the lie says hit it low. It’s a cool little tension. I made a bomb from the back of that green in 2024—took the aggressive, lesser-break line, and hit the cup perfect.

Hole 10 — Camellia

It’s a brilliant golf hole. If you turn it over enough off the tee, you get a flat-ish lie down the left side of the fairway. If you bail it a little bit, you’re going to have the ball above your feet, and then the green tilts left to right. Hitting a green that tilts this way with the ball above your feet—it just doesn’t sit well with you. Can’t miss right in that situation.

But if you’re down the left, you’re coming up the green with the right bunker not even in play. Missing left usually isn’t terrible either—you’re chipping up the property, back into you. The right bunker is where everything goes down left.

When I have the ball above my feet, I never try to fight the slope. Just go with it. That’s the most predictable play. If I try to play a cut with the ball above my feet, sometimes the toe digs in a little bit and I can leave it out right—the last thing you want on No. 10. Take straight to a draw, aim center green or left edge, and worst case you miss it left and chip up the slope.

Hole 11 — White Dogwood

If someone told me I could pull back one shot in my career, it would be here. We were in between clubs and I thought: just take the shorter club and turn it over a little. That is the hardest shot to do on that hole with that wind. It was howling off the right. I tried to turn over a 5-iron and hit it in the water. Not ideal.

Ever since, I always play a little cut there. If you miss it right, you’re short right, pitching back up that way, and you just take left completely out of play. They’ve increased that slope recently, so the right side is steeper now. Which means the putt is even faster, and the pitch is even trickier. Short right of the bunker is the section. Sometimes you’d almost rather putt it from over there than pitch it. But if you blow it through, you’re in the water again. It’s just a really good golf hole. You have to step up and hit it.

Hole 12 — Golden Bell

It’s one of those holes where for a right-hander, the green goes away from you. It’s tricky when you have water short and swirling wind that can do whatever it wants up there. Similar to No. 6, we’re probably hitting a flighted shot, just trying to limit the external factors as much as we can.

To those two right pins, 20 feet left is great. You take that any day. Even if you go through a little, as long as you’re in line with the bunker, you’re either chipping from the fringe or playing a bunker shot—both manageable. The bunker is tricky because of a little fringe section that goes up and then back down. With a good lie you can land it on the green and check it. With a bad lie, you might bank it through the fringe a little. “A little fatty sand wedge,” as we call it. But yeah, 6 yards, no spin, just roll it. It’s a really cool golf hole.

Hole 13 — Azalea

There’s a leaning pine tree through the fairway. That’s your line. About 290 meters. If I can go through on that line, I might back off to 3-wood. If I can’t, you just pump driver. If you happen to go through the trees, you’re in pine straw. You can usually find a gap and hit something low and running and take the wedge from there.

Going for it in two, all you’re doing is hitting the center of the green. There’s a big shelf back left. Just stop it short of the middle of the green and you’re happy. If you have to lay up, the back left pin is a really tricky wedge. If you’re out of position on this hole, just make it as easy as you can, take two putts, and move on.

And about [the mythical pull of] Rae’s Creek—I believe it. I’ve never been one for that stuff. I remember at a national junior event, everyone talked about this creek pulling putts, and I thought that was complete nonsense. But at Augusta—and at Riviera—there might be something there. I’ve seen enough of it over the last couple of years. I’ll do Aimpoint, I’m comfortable with my read, I’m pretty sure it’s a one-percenter, and it just doesn’t move.

Hole 14 — Chinese Fir

Great golf hole. That Sunday bowl pin is almost a birdie hole if you can flirt with getting close to it, but go long over that green and you’re in serious trouble. It’s up, over and runs away from you. The front section is similar to No. 5: looks fine, but there’s a massive slope and it gets away from you fast. Always want to take short out of play.

With the right pin, there’s almost two tiers going left to right, and if you go at those right ones, there’s nothing to stop the ball. Nothing. If you aim at the TV tower and hit that slope, it can work back toward the flag. Those left pins you have to take on. If you’re long to the left, the front section pitches into you a little, so it’s not getting away from you. Take it long over short for those left pins. If you’re in the fairway on a Sunday and you have that bowl pin in front of you, you’re thinking three. Or if you just hit the number, it’s got a good chance to go in.

Hole 15 — Firethorn

The layup debate in the caddie room is real. Do you go right, do you go left? It’s kind of like No. 3. I’ve always liked the left side personally, because hitting up the slope makes the wedge a little more manageable. I’d rather have a full sand wedge or gap wedge than push it way down close to the water and have a half shot. Get some spin on it.

If you’ve missed the fairway—left or right—you’re dealing with trees, and you’re either going low and running, which is hard to judge the distance, or going high, which leaves you further back. Going for it in two, you have to hit it high and hold it, because long is up over and runs away from you.

And if you double-cross it, you might just be better off hitting from the wrong side and leaving yourself the chip. That’s the play. Just put the ball in a spot where you can manage it. But that’s the beauty of the back nine here. You have these risk-reward holes where there’s nowhere to hide. If you pull it off, you get rewarded. If you don’t, there’s going to be a consequence. No getting away with anything.

Hole 16 — Redbud

Never plays crazy long—usually a 7- to 9-iron depending on the pin. The right shelf pin is the trickier one. For those left pins, if you can use the slope, start it just right of the flag and bring it down. But the left side gets bad pretty quickly. Trees come in faster than you think.

The bunker to that makeable pin is actually pretty doable. Even with a poor lie, if you have the line, you can use the slope and it comes back. You can get really rewarded like Tiger in 2019, he stiffed it to a foot or two. But you still have to hit the shot to get there. That’s the thing with this hole. The highlights make the left pin look automatic. It’s not. You just still have to hit it.

Hole 17 — Nandina

It’s kind of a mix between No. 7 and No. 14: the skinniness of No. 7 off the tee, the shape of No. 14. Have to hit the fairway. You can get away with the right side a little more, but most of the time you need to be in the short grass to even get there. There’s a massive bunker in the front guarding the green.

The trickiest pin is long right, where Jack made that famous putt. And by the way, Rae’s Creek holds those putts up a little there too. That’s another one where I feel like I’ve seen it enough to believe it. If you go long with the right pin, you’re almost down on the 18th tee box and it gets away from you fast. Bunker short isn’t necessarily dead for certain pins. But mostly: just make 4 and move on. It’s a smart little hole.

Hole 18 — Holly

That left bunker is about 275 or 280 meters, just over 300 yards. Probably not in play for most guys yet. It’s a tight little tee box, a skinny little shoot. Wind off the left and you’re thinking about whether that tree might catch a heel. But you just have to step up and hit it. Right side is usually a chip out. Maybe if you get through the magnolia tree you can sling something low and around, but most of the time you’re blocked.

I wouldn’t really consider 3-wood there. If I hit 3-wood, I’m hitting a 5-iron in. And the second shot, similar to No. 8, it’s a pretty steep upslope and you can’t see the bottom of the flagstick. You can’t see the left side of the green at all. So you know where the flag is, but the contours are hidden. Most of the time, anything between that flag and the left edge bunker is your target.

The putt is a little up right to left. It moves about two cups, nothing crazy. Speed putt. We all saw last year’s playoff: Rory’s second shot, then that 3-footer. I can’t imagine what was going through his hands on that putt. It’s downhill, it’s slick, and if you power-lip it, you’ve got 6 feet coming back. After the best wedge shot of his career in the playoff, in the tournament he most wanted to win. I thought it was pretty cool.