With the 90th Masters looming, Augusta National has made another subtle but significant tweak.
It’s less than two months until the 2026 Masters Tournament, and Augusta National Golf Club has already made its first move.
The story of modern tour golf is simple: players are hitting it further than ever. Ball speed is up. Training is sharper. Equipment is hotter. And when long irons start turning into wedges, even the most revered layouts can lose their teeth.
Augusta’s response, much like the Old Course and other historic venues, has been consistent – protect the architecture by increasing the yardage.
Over the past two decades we’ve seen it repeatedly. The 7th was lengthened. The 11th was pushed back dramatically to restore it as one of the most exacting approaches in major championship golf. Even the iconic 13th was stretched to force players to think twice before automatically going for the green in two. It’s not about making the course unfair. It’s about restoring the design intent.
Now, ahead of the 90th Masters, there’s another subtle adjustment.
According to the newly released Masters media guide, the only significant tweak for 2026 comes at the 17th hole, Nandina. The front of the tee box has been reduced by 12 yards, the tee marker repositioned, and the scorecard will now list the par-4 at 450 yards – up from 440 previously. (True to tradition, Augusta yardages always end in a 0 or a 5.)
It may not sound like much, but the 17th was already no pushover. In 2025, it ranked as the fourth-hardest hole on the course, averaging 4.230. It was there that Rory McIlroy made birdie to take a one-shot lead before a closing bogey forced a playoff with Justin Rose. The rest, of course, became Masters history.
For 2026, the par-72 layout will stretch to 7,565 yards.
Ten yards here. Twenty yards there. Augusta rarely announces sweeping redesigns. Instead, it nudges. It recalibrates. It ensures that when the world’s best turn down Magnolia Lane, they are still being asked the same timeless questions to prove they’re worthy of a Green Jacket.
The azaleas will bloom as always.
But the chess match between power and course design never stops.