The best in the world are already on alert it would seem. With the sun set to shine for the rest of the 90th Masters, conditions are only expected to toughen and the consensus appears to be that this could be the toughest in recent memory.
With a warm, settled forecast for the rest of the tournament, the impact on the course at Augusta National is already the source of much discussion.
“I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while,” said Shane Lowry after an opening-round 69.
“You look at the forecast, and they can do whatever they want with the golf course this weekend.”
Of the 91-player field for the first men's Major Championship of the year, Lowry was one of just 16 players to finish the day under par. By comparison, there were 26 last year.
At the other end of the scoring charts, ten players finished Thursday's opening round with scores of 80 or more - nine more than 12 months ago.
On Thursday, only three holes, 2, 8 and 13, all par fives, played under par for the day.
The most recent highest winning score, with the exception of the delayed edition in 2020, was nine under by Sergio Garcia in 2017.
With rain having been a feature of Masters weeks over the past decade and longer, the prospect of a week of bright sunshine along with a bit of wind at times means putting surfaces are likely to start to dry out.
The expression "firm and fast" is something everyone is likely to start to hear as the event unfolds.
“Over the last few years, we’ve had a day every year where it’s been raining or it’s been heavy rains," Lowry added.
"It’s kind of helped us a little bit. But I think before the week is out, it’s going to get very, very crusty around here.”
Among the morning wave of starters, the Irishman enjoyed the best of the conditions - as did Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns who hold a share of the lead after the opening round.
For those in the final groups of the day, despite the wind being relatively negligible, the occassional gust only added to the complexity at Augusta.
Among those was Justin Rose, who reached four under through 13 but finished with back-to-back bogeys to card an opening 70 to sit three adrift of the early leaders.
"I still got the wind wrong on 14 and 17, and because it was dying, there was still the occasional gust to kind of puff through," said last year's runner-up from England.
"Listen, it's never easy. Even five-mile-an-hour wind if it doesn't settle in one direction, you can still make mistakes because as the greens get firmer, your targets get smaller, so it's more and more critical."
And that margin of error is only likely to become smaller.
Earlier in the day, Patrick Reed made a bogey at the par five 15th after his approach found the water beyond the green after taking a firm first bounce.
"With how high it was coming in, I don't see that ball landing on the green and going that far," he reflected.
"You know, I'm just going to go ahead and write that down as a bad break, because I mean, I don't know any [other] way to put it."
Having not missed a cut in his seven starts since winning the Green Jacket in 2018, few have a better record at Augusta than Reed and he appears to be relishing the prospect of exacting conditions.
"Just got to be patient," he said. "I mean, try to get as many early as you can the first couple of days, because this is one of those golf courses that it can change so quickly.
"With what the weather looks like it's going to be, hot, you know, really hot, sunny, they could make this place really, really hard if they wanted to.
"I wouldn't be surprised. We have the best players in the world here. Why not? Challenge us and make it difficult, because it's one of these golf courses, though, if you hit quality golf shots, you're going to get rewarded for it.
"That's the biggest thing is if it's going to firm up and it's going to get faster and faster, you're just going to have to hit quality golf shots and know where you are going to hit the ball."
Another player looking forward to how the course is shaping up to play? None other than defending champion McIlroy.
“I think when the greens get that firm, you really have to think about where the best miss is, and distance control is very important, but also … missing it left, missing it right. … When the greens do get firm like this, it makes it a much more tactical test, and you really have to think about things.
“As you guys know, I've said for the last few years I've started to really relish that type of golf. I really want to excel at that type of golf.”
