Every April, the golf world stares at Augusta National and tries to reconcile what it sees on television with photos from the course's earliest days. Most holes have evolved gradually — softened, lengthened, reshaped — but their bones remain those laid down by Alister McKenzie and Bobby Jones in 1933. There is one major exception, and it is the par-3 16th: the hole now known as Redbud.
In a recent Golf Digest documentary, architecture writer Derek Duncan walked through the strange afterlife of a hole that, in its current form, contains almost nothing of the original.
"It's become an annual tradition each spring to ponder all the ways Augusta National has changed since it opened in 1933," Duncan said. "Every April, we gaze at photos from the earliest days and all its bare, rugged scruffiness. And when you compare those to the Garden of Eden we see on television today, it's hard to believe it's the same place."
When Augusta reopened after World War II in 1946, club officials assessed the course with fresh eyes. What they saw at the 16th was a problem. The original McKenzie design was a short par-3 played over a small creek — pretty, popular with members, but conceptually almost identical to the par-3 12th.
"Those eyes told them that the 16th, as much as the members liked it, and as pretty as it was, had never quite been a satisfactory hole for tournament golf," Duncan explained. "It was too close in both length and concept to the par-3 12th. They were both, at least originally, short irons over water into shallow greens."
Robert Trent Jones was hired to fix it. Between 1946 and 1948 he dredged a basin, dammed the creek, and produced an entirely new hole — a longer par-3 across an artificial pond. It was a bold move for the era.
"Before the 1940s, it was not common for architects to create artificial ponds and lakes on golf courses," Duncan noted. "And though he didn't invent the use of artificial lakes, Trent Jones's use of them here, and at Peach Tree, was influential. Man-made water hazards soon became part of his repertoire."
The hole that emerged carries Trent Jones's signatures throughout. Duncan argues the fingerprints are unmistakable.
"When you look at it, it's pretty obvious that Augusta National 16th is a Trent Jones specialty," he said. "That's not to say Bobby Jones didn't consult or have his say, but Trent Jones's fingerprints are all over it. You've got a long, runway-style tee box, which was an RTJ signature in his early years."
For decades, club chairman Cliff Roberts refused to credit Trent Jones with anything beyond construction work, insisting publicly that the design was Bobby Jones's idea. Trent Jones eventually settled the matter himself in print: "The design," he later wrote, "was mine."
What he produced is now considered one of the most strategically clever par-3s in championship golf. The bean-shaped green sits at an angle, split by a ridge that creates upper and lower tiers. Four traditional Masters hole locations sit across that surface, each with its own personality.
"Today's 16th is uniquely designed to expose shaky shots," Duncan said. "The brilliance of the design is that it's really several greens in one, each equipped with a unique demand and a unique opportunity."
The Sunday hole location — back-left, at the base of a long slope — is the one viewers know best. It is also the one Duncan argues changes the entire psychology of the hole.
"The entire complexion of the hole changes psychologically when it's there because of the way the slopes funnel the ball down toward the hole," he said. "The players know that a two is likely if they just come close to hitting their number."
Nearly eight decades on, the 16th is the rare Augusta National hole where almost nothing of McKenzie remains. It is also, by quiet consensus, one of the most influential par-3s ever built — even if Cliff Roberts spent the rest of his life pretending otherwise.
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*Originally published on [Golf News Global](https://golfnews.global/article/augusta-national-16th-hole-history-trent-jones-mckenzie-redbud-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
