Key shots that must be mastered to triumph around tricky Augusta

Augusta National is a layout designed to create drama.

It therefore requires more due diligence from the players as they attempt to come to terms with the course’s subtleties of sloping fairways, heavily contoured fast greens and swirling winds.

Four days of golf under the intensity that goes along with the Masters is an incredible ordeal. It’s extremely difficult to stay patient and focused on the shot at hand and not get drawn into the roars and reactions all around you. In Major championships, mistakes are inevitable and Augusta National is littered with holes waiting to gobble up bad shots. Self-belief and conviction will be required in abundance. The winner will earn the Green Jacket.

The course heavily favours those players who can bomb the ball a long distance, who can hit it high and from right to left and, most especially, who can accurately hit high, soft approach shots into the heavily contoured greens. Augusta’s greens are so difficult because you can look at most putts and see wildly different lines depending on your pace. Therefore the person who can demonstrate in abundance the ability to “lag putt” from distance and especially hole out from inside 10 feet stands a greater chance.

At Augusta, players are required to produce the short game skills under pressure that most of us can only dream about. For example, they need to be able to play a variety of short shots around the greens from very tightly mown fairways onto elevated and slippery putting surfaces.

History has shown us that if Augusta is truly to be mastered, the player must negotiate the front nine holes consistently before trying to plunder the opportunities presented to him on the back nine.

The par fives at Augusta (2, 8, 13 and 15) are key momentum holes, providing the best opportunities for birdies and eagles. Last year Adam Scott made two eagle putts in a 15-under assault on the par fives before eventually finishing tied second behind Charl Schwartzel.

Of the other key shots required on the back nine holes:

* The tee shot at the par-4, 495-yard 10th hole: No. 10 is statistically the most difficult hole on the course because of the drive, which requires a long hook for a right-handed player to get around the dogleg to an uneven lie in the fairway leaving an awkward approach shot to the green.

* The approach shot at the 505-yard, par-four 11th hole: Quite apart from having to bomb it off the tee box, you then have to hit a long iron from an uneven lie into a green guarded to the left by water and a bunker on the right. Bailing out right leaves an almost impossible chip and putt for par.

* The tee shot at the par-three, 155-yard 12th hole: Short in distance, this hole is complicated by the fact that you are met with swirling winds from the elevated tee box to a green only 26 yards deep and protected in the front by Rae’s Creek and the back by deep bunkers.

* The second shot at the par-five, 530-yard 15th hole: This hole is complicated by the fact you have to hit a high, soft shot from a downhill lie to hold this shallow green. If the shot is not hit perfectly, it could end up short in the pond or, if long, could leave you with an impossible shot back to the pin. It may well be the championship’s pivotal hole.

But it is not all about shot selection. The greatest asset to any potential champion this week will be his mind and a well-executed game plan. Terminologies like ‘play one shot at a time’ and ‘stay in the moment’ may be clichés but they are crucial this week. The temptation to look forward to the rewards of winning a Major have claimed countless victims. Yet just as destructive can be the urge to look backwards. If you rage against the bad fortune, it can be equally destructive.

The favourites, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, tick all of the above boxes. Woods, for me, deserves the tag of favourite and Augusta is the course best suited to his game. But a warning — Tiger has not putted well at Augusta for some time and he needs to be firing on all cylinders if he is to win this week.

McIlroy has all the talent and game to win comfortably. Though his putting is streaky, I have seen enough over the past six months to believe he will become a multiple Major winner if he remains healthy. I’m worried though, about his three-week layoff, which could prove a costly decision.

Mickelson has been inconsistent but on form he still has the game to win this week. He enters event slightly under the radar, but I expect him to be there or thereabouts come Sunday.

Of the others, I would prefer to look at those with longer odds. Paul Casey and Adam Scott all play Augusta well but it remains to be seen if they can produce the goods over four days. I also like Keegan Bradley’s game but have big hopes for Justin Rose, who is now showing the maturity required to win a Major.