On Sunday, Augusta radio personality Austin Rhodes shared a letter from Augusta Country Club president Jay B. Forrester informing members that a “purchase of property at our northwest boundary” had been approved by the club’s board of governors. The land is the site of Augusta Country Club’s eighth and ninth holes, which the letter says will be reconstructed “at no cost to Augusta Country Club.” Those two holes sit just behind Augusta National’s 12th green and 13th tee. Here’s a look at the full letter Rhodes posted to his Facebook page:

Well the rumor is true about ACC & Augusta National as first reported by @GetAustinRhodes and his attachment. pic.twitter.com/SVh7v153Iq

— Sean Frantom (@SeanFrantom) August 7, 2017

With the land, Augusta National could lengthen No. 13 by adding a new tee box. Despite the hole’s iconic stature, at 510 yards, and with long hitters being able to bomb tee shots over the trees on the left, it hasn’t felt like a par 5 in years. The 13th played as the easiest hole on the course at the 2017 Masters with a 4.6301 scoring average, and had its lowest scoring average in 2015 at 4.546. Still, it’s hard to imagine changing a hole has provided so many memorable moments, most notably Phil Mickelson’s daring 6-iron from the pine straw in 2010.

Rumours of the deal first started circulating ahead of the 2016 Masters. When asked about possible changes to the 13th hole, here’s what Augusta National chairman Billy Payne said at his pre-tournament press conference.

“We think there are multiple options where we could increase the difficulty of the hole and restore the shot values, only one of which deals with extending the length,” Payne said. “We are in the middle of those studies, a lot of arithmetic, lot of design issues.”

The letter doesn’t specify how much Augusta National is paying for the land, but earlier reports had the deal pegged at around $27 million.

In 2015, Golf Digest reported ANGC had spent about $55 million from 1999-2014 to buy approximately 100 acres of land around the club. That figure didn’t include the reported $6.9 million and $5.35 million the club spent to buy a nearby Pep Boys and record store, respectively. ANGC’s new land has been used for parking and hospitality during tournaments. The club also built a new practice facility and a new media center, which opened last year.

The post Leaked letter indicates big changes could be coming to Augusta National’s iconic 13th hole appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Open champ found himself in a bit of a predicament during Round 1 of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, putting his drive on the par-4 eighth into the trees. Rather than do the prudent move, Spieth — perhaps playing with a house-money mentality — decided to go for the hero shot. A move so brazen that he admitted, “I’m going to try something stupid,” waving off caddie Michael Greller to ensure common sense didn’t reign supreme.

Of course, the man proceeded to pull off a “Did you see that?!” shot of epic proportions:

“I’m gonna try something stupid here.”

– @JordanSpieth pic.twitter.com/1ZcewrKhRj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 3, 2017

I want to believe our recent study and investigation into the viability of hitting through treeswas in the back of Spieth’s mind during this decision. But, in all likelihood, it probably stems from the cat being really, REALLY in the zone right now.

The post Jordan Spieth says ‘I’m going to try something stupid’ with recovery shot, proceeds to pull off miraculous approach appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

RELATED: How Michael Greller helped Jordan Spieth more than you know

On Tuesday, Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, joined SXM PGA Tour Radio to talk about the big win and describe that crazy scene. Greller says he was amazed by how calm things were for the duo considering the situation. Well, once Spieth’s golf ball was found, that is. It’s hard to be calm when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack filled with fans.

RELATED: ‘This is as much of a high as I’ve experienced in my life”

“I was forearm shivering guys in the crowd there initially in the fescue,” Greller said. “I mean, there were 500 people, we can’t find the ball and I’m thinking someone could grab it. It was just absolute chaos and then out of right-field you hear someone yell there’s a ball on the other side of the dune. And Jordan goes bouncing up there like a billy goat and I went back to the fairway because I didn’t think it was a ball, I thought there was no chance he was over there.”

But it was there. And although there was still plenty of drama to play out — Spieth went 21 minutes in between hitting shots — the 23-year-old was in control despite most golf fans wondering what the heck was going on as he took a tour of the equipment trucks parked on the range.

“From that moment, when he found that ball, I don’t think people can appreciate his being in the situation and for him to have the thought process to think is that range in play or out of play. You would assume it’s just out of bounds. He asked the question and found out it was in play so he knew he could go as far back as he wanted by taking an unplayable.”

Greller says the reason it took so long was that it was a tricky ruling, and had little to do with them figuring out their line or distance for the next shot.

“While he was doing that, it gave me the time to work my sixth grade math numbers and A squared plus B squared equals C squared, because it was 125 yards off from where Kuchar was,” said Greller, a former sixth-grade math teacher.

Of course, after taking his penalty and his drop, Spieth hit his third shot back in play and got up and down for a bogey. He then played the next four holes in five under to claim his first claret jug.

“The cool part about it . . . was how slowly everything moved from a mental standpoint,” Greller said. “There wasn’t a sense of panic, it’s over.”

Have a listen to the clip:

.@JordanSpieth's caddy Michael Greller gives you a first hand account of what was going through the Texan's mind on the 13th hole @TheOpen pic.twitter.com/uNefivIaUq

— SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) July 25, 2017

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