There is a way to avoid the short, but diabolical third shot over water to the par-5 15th green at the Augusta National Golf Club. Hit your drive and go for the green in two shots.
That's not as easy as it sounds anymore.
When a stand of trees was planted on the right side of the rough on the hole for the 1999 Masters, more golfers were blocked from trying to ``get home in two.''
The fact a strong north wind was in the players' faces on No. 15 in 1999 didn't help matters either. The result was more lay-up shots.
The difficulty of the third shot translated into the 15th hole playing over par (5.027) for only the third time in the tournament's history.
``It's one of the hardest third shots in golf,'' Larry Mize said.
The problem with the third shot is a golfer faces a wedge shot from a downhill lie to a shallow, firm green. Balls that hit the front of the green but have too much spin can roll back into the water. Shots that are too long and go over the green leave an uphill pitch that Fred Couples calls ``one of the hardest shots you'll ever have.''
``Once you hit a tee shot on that hole, every shot is a scary shot,'' said Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal.
``When you lay up on No. 15, you can do anything with that,'' Couples said.
Ask David Duval and Davis Love III. Duval took an 8 on No. 15 in last year's second round when his ball carried the pond, then spun back into the water. Love hit his third shot into the water in the third round, knocking him out of the lead.
``On that hole, you can't hit the green with your second shot or your third shot,'' Love said, only slightly exaggerating. `That hole is really scary. If you lay up, you're going to have to hit just an absolutely perfect shot to get close.''
``Once the ball starts spinning on those greens, it could come back 25 feet on that green and go in the water,'' Nick Price said. ``It's a very, very difficult hole. I look at the people around that green and I think `Man, these people, they must like to see us really battle here.'''
The lay-up shot in front of the water isn't that easy, either. Mize tries to play it down the left side, where there is a flatter spot than anywhere else. The problem is hitting that mark.
``It's hard to judge how far the ball is going to roll down the hill,'' Jim Furyk said. ``It depends on what kick you get. I've hit some shots where I thought I laid up on a pretty good (yardage) number to the green. Once I got a firm kick, I'd left myself with a half-wedge.''
Like most of the golfers, Furyk likes to leave himself a full wedge shot into the green.
``It's important to get the right yardage you want to hit in there,'' Furyk said. ``You try to get it so you can make an aggressive swing on it and put a little spin on the ball.''
Behind the Masters: One of the hardest shots in golf