April 10, 2026 NYT Connections Sports Edition #564 Hints and Answers

Today’s Connections Sports Edition #564 is a golf lover’s puzzle through and through. Whether you’re stuck on the course-side terminology or blanking on Augusta National hole names, this guide walks you through hints, category reveals, and the full answer set — in that order, so you can stop exactly where you need to.

What Is NYT Connections: Sports Edition?

NYT Connections Sports Edition is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times, developed in partnership with The Athletic. The goal is to sort 16 words into four groups of four, where each group shares a common sports-related thread.

The puzzle runs on the same format as the original Connections: you get 16 words on a board, and your job is to find the hidden groupings. Every day the board resets at midnight, and the categories get progressively trickier from yellow (easiest) to purple (hardest).

How to Play

Select four words you believe belong to the same category and tap “Submit.”
If correct, those four words are removed from the board.
A wrong guess counts as a mistake — you’re allowed up to four before the game ends.
You can shuffle and rearrange the board at any time to help spot connections.
Results can be shared on social media using colored emoji squares.

🟨🟩🟦🟪 Category Hints — No Answers Yet

Not ready for the full reveal? These vague hints point you in the right direction without spoiling the words:

🟨 Yellow: Think about the different zones and terrain types you’d navigate on a golf course.
🟩 Green: These are items you’d find tucked inside a golfer’s bag before they tee off.
🟦 Blue: These are legendary golfers — players who’ve stood on the top step at Augusta.
🟪 Purple: Augusta National’s holes each carry a poetic name. These are four of them.

Category Names Revealed

Still need a nudge? Here are today’s four category names — still no words attached:

🟨 AREAS ON A GOLF COURSE
🟩 FOUND IN A GOLF BAG
🟦 MASTERS WINNERS
🟪 AUGUSTA NATIONAL HOLE NAMES

Full Answers for Connections Sports Edition #564

Ready for the complete solution? Here it is:

🟨 AREAS ON A GOLF COURSE — BUNKER, FAIRWAY, GREEN, ROUGH
🟩 FOUND IN A GOLF BAG — BALLS, CLUBS, TEES, TOWELS
🟦 MASTERS WINNERS — COUPLES, FALDO, PLAYER, RAHM
🟪 AUGUSTA NATIONAL HOLE NAMES — AZALEA, GOLDEN BELL, HOLLY, REDBUD

What Made Today’s Puzzle Tricky

Puzzle #564 is deceptively clean on the surface — golf is a focused theme — but the purple category was designed to trip you up. Words like AZALEA, HOLLY, and REDBUD sound like they could belong to a botany or garden category rather than a golf context. Players unfamiliar with Augusta National’s named holes would almost certainly misplace at least one of them.

The blue category (MASTERS WINNERS) had its own traps. COUPLES could easily be mistaken for something relationship-related, while PLAYER is generic enough that it might not immediately register as Gary Player, the South African legend with three Masters titles. RAHM — Jon Rahm, the 2023 champion — is a more recent addition to Masters lore that newer fans may not have locked in yet, and FALDO (Nick Faldo, three-time Masters winner) skews toward older golf knowledge.

GREEN deserves special mention: it appears in the yellow category as a golf course area, not the green category — a clever structural misdirect built right into the puzzle’s color-coding.

Tips for Solving Today’s Puzzle

Start with what you know cold. If you follow golf, the FOUND IN A GOLF BAG group (BALLS, CLUBS, TEES, TOWELS) is your safest entry point — four concrete, unambiguous items with no overlap risk.

Watch out for GREEN. It’s a legitimate answer in the yellow category (golf course areas), not the green tile group. Don’t let the color confusion cost you a guess.

Augusta hole names are botanical. If you see a flower or plant name and nothing else seems to fit, consider whether it might be a named hole at Augusta National. AZALEA (Hole 13), GOLDEN BELL (Hole 12), HOLLY (Hole 18), and REDBUD (Hole 5) are all official hole names.

Save the blue category for last if needed. Masters winners span decades — from Gary PLAYER in the 1960s–70s to Jon RAHM in 2023. If you’re not deep into golf history, confirm the other three groups first and let process of elimination help you here.

More Daily Puzzle Help

Looking for hints and answers for other puzzles today or earlier this week? Here are recent posts from dotwordle.com:

More Connections Sports Edition:

Other puzzles from April 9, 2026:

Shahid Maqsood

Shahid Maqsood is a digital entrepreneur and SEO specialist focused on building engaging web experiences. He is the creator of DotWordle, combining creativity with smart, user-friendly design.