The Masters will be live on 9GEM from Friday morning.
Golf's distance debate is likely to be front and centre when the Masters gets underway at Augusta National tonight, with all eyes on the favourite, Bryson DeChambeau.
The 27-year-old has transformed his body in the last 12 months, adding around 20kgs of muscle through a diet high in protein and a tortuous workout regime.
It's resulted in DeChambeau hitting drives ridiculous distances, with the American tweeting a picture recently of his first 400 yard (365 metre) drive. He threatens to make a mockery of the historic Augusta National course, which was designed 90 years ago.
Although the course has been lengthened in recent decades, most famously being 'Tiger-proofed' in the late 1990s, DeChambeau is likely to have a short iron, even a wedge, for his second shot into some of the par-fives.
One of the five Australians teeing off in the 84th edition of the famous tournament, amateur Lukas Michel, has taken a special interest in the debate, having been employed for the last year by Australian course designer, Mike Clayton, a former pro himself.
With his designer's hat on, Michel admits it's likely the sport's governing bodies will need to take action to prevent the technology making classic courses obsolete.
"It's really interesting, architects have always argued for that," Michel told Wide World of Sports.
"Even Alistair McKenzie (who designed Augusta National 90 years ago) was saying the golf ball needs to go shorter, and now it goes a lot further than it did back then.
"But at some point a decision needs to be made. It definitely seems like it should be right now.
"If you were to start golf again, from a blank slate, you'd probably come up with a driving distance number that would be nowhere near 370 yards (340 metres). It's just ridiculous.
"I think 150 yards (137 metres) would be fine, you'd be walking shorter distances between shots, less time spent aimlessly walking and more time actually hitting. I just feel like golf needs to be shorter. You'd use less land, less resources, less water. It's kind of gotten out of control.
"But people have been saying that for a century!"
Michel will make his Masters debut tonight, having earned his spot by becoming the first international winner of the US Mid-Amateur tournament in September, 2019.
Earlier this week he revealed to Wide World of Sports how he could be stranded in the USA after the Masters, after having three flights back to Australia cancelled in recent weeks.
A member of the Metropolitan club in Melbourne, he says the conditions at Augusta National are very similar to home, with the tournament moving from its usual April date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's definitely similar to golf in the Melbourne sandbelt," he explained.
"Because we're playing in November, and they've had a warm fall (autumn), the surfaces are exactly what we have in Melbourne. They normally over-seed with Rye grass, but it hasn't taken yet. So, it's effectively Bermuda grass around the course, with Bent grass greens, which is what we play at Metropolitan and Royal Melbourne.
"It's going to be a really familiar environment to play golf in."
The 26-year-old's interest in course design goes back nearly two decades. There was no history of golf in his family, but one of the country's leading courses wasn't far away from his childhood home.
"I grew up near the Lake Karrinyup course in Perth, I was only about eight or nine, and we knew this great course was just down the road," he explained.
"Eventually I got into the junior program there, and in 2006 'Clayts' (Mike Clayton) came in and redesigned the main course there. I was about 12 or 13, watching it unfold and I remember being really fascinated by what was happening.
"I went along on course walks with him, he'd explain to the members what was happening."
After he finished high school, Michel moved to Melbourne where there were a lot more opportunities in the golf industry. As luck would have it, Lake Karrinyup had a reciprocal arrangement with Metropolitan Golf Club on the world-renowned sandbelt.
"I was sitting in the clubhouse one day and I heard this guy talk. His voice was familiar and he kind of looked familiar, and eventually I figured out it was Mike Clayton," Michel said.
"We started playing together, and ever since we've become better friends. Last year, I was interested and he felt there was room for me to help him, so I started doing some golf course architecture with him."
While he has a bright future in the design industry, Michel is still trying to figure out exactly how he wants to balance a playing career with one off the course.
"I think regardless of how the playing goes, I'll always want to do the design side as well," he said.
"Whether that's in a year or two, or in 30 years after a really successful professional career, I don't know.
"But first and foremost, while I'm fit and young and able, I want to give the playing side of things a real go."
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