The 2025 Masters golf tournament will take place on the lush fairways of Augusta National Golf Club, home to the first major championship of every golf season. The cathedral in the pines, adorned with blooming azaleas, is hallowed ground in golf. Some of the sport’s greatest legends — Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods — had their most iconic moments on the hilly Georgia terrain.
Though the course has become deeply revered, golfers also know that it can be just as perilous as it is beautiful. Tucked deep in the far end of the estate is a treacherous three-hole stretch that strikes fear and claims victims every year.
What a player does on the 17 other holes is undoubtedly significant, but it can all be rendered meaningless by the events that take place at Amen Corner, which has tortured the best golfers in the world.
What is Amen Corner?
The aptly-named Amen Corner is often used as a blanket term for the 11th, 12th and 13th holes, but it actually begins with the approach into the 11th green and concludes with the tee shot at the par-5 13th hole.
The name originated from legendary golf writer Herbert Warren Wind, who described the perilous stretch in a 1958 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. The moniker was inspired by “Shoutin’ in that Amen Corner” by Mildred Bailey, a jazz song Wind listened to while studying at Yale University.
11th hole, White Dogwood: 505 yards, Par 4
The 11th hole, White Dogwood, is a 505-yard par 4. Wind often plays the tee shot downhill, and a pond guards the green to the left. A bunker is strategically placed right center, and it’s considered to be the course’s most difficult approach due to sharp slopes in front of the green.
12th hole, Golden Bell: 155 yards, Par 3
The 12th hole, Golden Bell, is 155 yards — the course’s shortest par 3. The whole doesn’t seem so bad from a distance, but fickle winds and a brook in front of the green have made it deceptively heartbreaking. As Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly once wrote, the 12th hole has “broken more men than bad whiskey and the over-under put together.”
Just 51 percent of players hit the green in regulation to give themselves a birdie putt, per the Masters website. The wind sweeping down along Rae’s Creek can be deceptive to the golfer standing on the tee, which makes the distance hard to gauge.
13th hole, Azalea: 510 yards, Par 5
The 13th hole, Azalea, is a 510-yard par 5 that requires perfection due to the presence of Rae’s Creek. There are four bunkers behind the green and a tributary to Rae’s Creek in front.
“It's a hole that lures you into wanting to do a little too much, because the green is so large,” Jordan Spieth once said.
Amen Corner’s Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson bridges
Amen Corner features two bridges that pay tribute to Masters history. Ben Hogan’s bridge, which is to the left side of the 12th green, commemorates Hogan’s record-low score of 274 in 1953. The Byron Nelson bridge, which crosses the creek in front of the 13th tee, commemorates Nelson’s 1937 win.
At the 2016 Masters, Jordan Spieth entered Amen Corner with a four shot lead and only eight holes left to play. He bogeyed the 11th hole and splashed into the water on the 12th hole. He mishit his wedge on the penalty drop and went back into the water again, then swung into a bunker. He ultimately putted for a quadruple bogey while Danny Willett went on to win the Masters.