We have another birdie fest on our hands this week in the great state of Iowa. Similar to last week at the Rocket Classic, players will need to spike with their putter to have a chance to compete come Sunday afternoon.

With TPC Deere Run having bent-grass greens, here are the top 12 golfers who average the most strokes on these type of greens.

The case for Lucas Glover is extremely straightforward this week. The most important skill required at TPC Deere Run is short to middle iron approach play, and Lucas Glover is the best short to middle iron player in this field. He is also an extremely accurate driver of the ball who can be completely counted on to consistently play from the fairway, and he is a former champion at this course who has played this event 15 times, with seven top-25 finishes.

Of course I worry about the putter, but Glover has actually putted quite well on these greens over the years, and they are an extremely easy set of greens for bad putters to find their confidence. Add in the fact that Glover is coming off a top-10 finish at the Travelers Championship where he gained over 3.5 strokes in both ball-striking categories, and Glover is most definitely my strongest early lean on the board.

It’s the time of the year that we run into the bull rush of birdie fest PGA Tour events. These type of tournaments is where Denny McCarthy thrives in, especially at this tournament. Denny loves TPC Deere Run as he has finished into the top 10 at the JDC in his last three starts.

As we have talked about all week, the John Deere Classic is all wedge play and spike putting. Denny ranks 16th in the field in strokes gained from 100-150 yards. He ranks 1st in putting on bent/poa greens and 21st in total strokes gained on easy scoring golf courses.

I am front running in our ISN pool so I am going with chalk with Denny McCarthy. If you are looking for a lower owned projected player, I like taking a chance on Chris Kirk or Michael Thorbjornsen.

I was fortunate enough to spend last week in North/South Carolina. I had the opportunity to see six new golf courses. Here is a short rating and blurb on the six, in order of when I played them.

Wade Hampton 

The best version of a Tom Fazio golf course you will ever play. Probably the most character-driven and authentic Tom Fazio I have encountered. Most Fazio golf courses feel like at behest to his billionaire clients—a la Shadow Creek or many of the Discovery Land Company courses. Wade Hampton, on the other hand, feels a product of Fazio’s authentic design philosophy. Even if I am not entirely in love with his architectural philosophy or design concepts, they are fully realized at Wade Hampton in a way that feels entirely more genuine than the vast majority of his other courses. A uniquely idyllic setting and a tremendously welcoming club that boasts a strong golf culture. While not factored into my rating, the non-golf aspects of the Wade Hampton experience were all second to none. By far the most epic place to spend an entire weekend out of all the new places I saw on this trip. 

Rating: 7 

Cassique

Cassique is one of two private member’s courses at the Kiawah Island resort and I entirely understand why it is considered a clear step up from the non-Ocean course public offerings at the resort. A Tom Watson design from the 1980s that was heavily influenced by Watson’s admiration for links golf. Any golf course with Paspalum/Bermuda agronomy will never play like a true links, but the bunkering on this golf course is a tremendous, and it occupies a better piece of land than most other courses I played on this trip.

Rating: 6 

Yeaman’s Hall 

I would choose playing a Seth Raynor golf course over most courses, but this is nowhere near Raynor’s most impressive work. A clear tier below a National Golf Links of America, Chicago Golf Club, or Creek. He had worse land to work with here, and this is certainly one of his more subtle and restraint-filled designs. I often prefer subtlety to big and bold, and there were many aspects of Yeaman’s that reminded me of Garden City. The land is incredibly underwhelming, but the stars of the show are the green complexes. The tee to green strategy at Yeaman’s was weaker than Garden City, however, and it is a very simple driver-wedge golf course for any low handicapper from the member tees. I would like to play it again in the Fall under more advantageous firm and fast playing conditions.

Rating: 7 

The Ocean Course 

The Ocean Course featured the most impressive and articulate architecture (from tee to green at least) that I saw on this trip, and it was also my least fun and most frustrating round of golf. The Ocean Course requires extreme engagement on every single shot. There is not a single shot where you can turn your brain off and you will be okay if you miss your target by 10-15 yards. I found that I could completely turn my brain off at Yeaman’s Hall and Country Club of Charleston from tee to green, but I had to be fully engaged on and around the green. The Ocean Course is the inverse of this: the thinking finally stops when you get on the putting surface. I found the line between brilliance and completely boned to be extremely narrow on this course, which can make a rough go for many amateurs—but none of this is the fault of Pete Dye. The golf course wasn’t designed for amateurs, it was designed to host the 1991 Ryder Cup, and golf courses designed to host professional golf events must penalize wayward shots. I prefer more leniency and a full array of recovery opportunities, but I also stink.

Rating: 7.5

Country Club of Charleston 

If you somehow find yourself with the opportunity to play the Country Club of Charleston, but not Yeaman’s Hall, I would not be sad about it. There is very little separating the two golf courses architecturally and topographically. Does Yeaman’s have a greater mystique and feel like a more special golf experience? Sure. But I enjoyed my time at Country Club of Charleston just as much, even if the feel was more of a family country club than a true and blue golf club. In fact, the Country Club of Charleston had the best hole that I played all trip: the “Lion’s Mouth” Par 4, and the best par three that I played all trip: the reverse Redan 11th. The golf course is as flat as a pancake and provides very little tee-to-green challenge or thought, but the greens were nearly as engaging as Yeaman’s. CC of Charleston actually had higher highs, but Yeaman’s was a slightly overall better collection. Yeaman’s is a low seven for me and CC of Charleston is a high 6.5. If I lived in Charleston, I would be a satisfied member at either.

Rating: 6.5 

Charleston Municipal

For those unaware, Charleston Municipal is a replica course of Seth Raynor’s architecture. In 2022, local architect Troy Miller received a $3.5-million donation (much of this was privately raised) to completely rebuild Charleston Muni with Seth Raynor/C.B. MacDonald template holes. Under the wrong guidance, I could see this concept flopping hard, but what I experienced felt completely authentic and inspiring. Very similar to Old MacDonald, I did not feel like either of these homages to Raynor/MacDonald missed the mark in capturing the ethos of the design philosophy. In fact, I was blown away with how true to concept Miller was able to stay, and the end result is a golf course that is every bit as fun and engaging as Yeaman’s Hall and Country Club of Charleston. The playing conditions are a bit of a disaster. The fairways were in bad shape and the greens were quite shaggy, but the actual architecture of the course was admirable and felt as truly close to a real Raynor as I ever could have imagined. If it were up to me, a Charleston Muni would exist in every major metropolitan city, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a better deal for fun, engaging golf in America.

Rating: 6 

How Should Team USA Setup Bethpage Black?

For those who are unaware, the team that hosts the Ryder Cup is allowed to set up the golf course to its preference. This means the home team may decide how thick the rough is cut, the speed of the greens, which tee boxes are played, and pin positions. 

There’s been much chatter if the home team should have this much influence on the course since the last couple of Ryder Cups have been blowouts:

• 2023: Europe 16.5 - USA 11.5

• 2021: USA 19 - Europe 9

• 2018: Europe 17.5 - USA 10.5

• 2016: USA 17 - Europe 11

• 2014: Europe 16.5 - USA 11.5

As highlighted in this newsletter a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity of playing Bethpage Black recently. Going into the round, I knew a lot about the course due to being at the 2019 PGA Championship all week.

I have non-stop been thinking about the 2025 Ryder Cup and projecting who I would take if I was the captain of each team. I have also been deep diving strokes gained and other statistics to figure out how team USA should set up Bethpage Black. 

Going into the round, I was intrigued to see if there were any notable course changes. If I was on Keegan Bradley’ staff, this is how I would set up Bethpage Black:

• Move up some of the tee boxes to give players more wedge & middle iron shots over long irons

• Cut the rough down that it's not as penal like in 2019

• Widen the fairways

• Speed up the greens 

• Easier scoring conditions

On the Smylie Show podcast, Smylie Kaufman said he played Bethpage Black recently and mentioned that some fairways were widened. He also mentioned that he talked to some PGA of America folks and they mentioned that they will cut down the rough a little bit. 

One of the aspects of the course I was surprised about when I played Bethpage Black were the greens. The green complexes weren’t too challenging nor too undulating at all. There weren’t many times that I had to line up a putt with a severe break. 

Now diving into statistics, if you look at the proximity buckets, team USA’s best players are impeccable on short to middle iron approach shots. 

Over the last 75 rounds, here are where some of the top USA players rank between 100-150 yards on the PGA Tour:

• 1st: Collin Morikawa

• 4th: Russell Henley

• 4th: Justin Thomas

• 12th: Sam Burns

• 15th: Scottie Scheffler

• 21st: Keegan Bradley

• 23rd: J.J. Spaun

• 33rd: Patrick Cantlay

The Europeans have the long iron advantage, as we saw on display at Marco Simone in 2023. Rory, Aberg, Rahm, Fleetwood, Straka, MacIntyre and Hovland are all elite long iron players. I would try and stay away from 200+ yard long shots as much as possible.

Traditionally, the United States has had the off-the-tee advantage with elite drivers and longer hitters. The gap has shrunk immensely and I believe this isn’t a big edge for the Americans anymore.

However, I would still make the course that bombers can bomb away and have the rough not be so penal that you can still spray it off the tee and be able to get to greens in regulation.

Ryder Cup talk is ramping up and we will continue to highlight all the storylines in this weekly newsletter. I am sure more will come out about how Keegan and Team USA wants to set up the golf course. There’s already more pictures coming out of the grandstands being built. It can’t come soon enough!

The Breakout Stretch For The Young Stars

The passionate PGA Tour fans mainly dislike this stretch of golf because the Travelers, Rocket Classic, John Deere Classic and some of the post-Open tournaments are all birdie fests. These golf courses aren’t challenging and do not test the modern day golfer enough. 

However, this stretch of easy scoring tournaments have proven to be a great opportunity for the young PGA Tour professionals and recent college amateurs to get sponsor exemptions into these tournaments to gain experience.

Let’s use the John Deere Classic for example. This tournament is famous for Jordan Spieth winning in triumphant fashion after coming back from a brutal first round to winning in an electric three man playoff back in 2013 to win his first tournament at the age of 19. What people forget about that week is that Jordan Spieth played on a sponsor exemption in that tournament. Additionally, he would go on to win this event in 2015 at the age of 21. 

Two years later, a 23 year old Bryson DeChambeau won the John Deere to capture his first PGA Tour victory. 

Since these tournaments, outside of the Travelers in this stretch, do not draw the elite names in the sport to compete in their event, they usually give sponsor exemptions to younger, up and coming players.

Last year at the John Deere Classic, amateur golfer Luke Clanton from Florida State University finished runner-up and had a great chance to win the tournament on Sunday. Clanton now has his PGA Tour card through gaining enough points in the PGA Tour U program. 

These young golfers have had much success at these tournaments for a couple of reasons. One is that the fields are weaker and the course is easier. If the course is easier, more players in the field have a chance to win. It’s very similar to college golf and even golf on the mini tours where you need to make 20+ birdies to have a chance on Sunday to win the golf tournament. The style of golf is very comfortable for these kids that don’t have much scar tissue. 

We already saw last week when 20-year old Aldrich Potgieter won his first tournament at the Rocket Classic. Will Luke Clanton or Michael Thorbjornsen join the elite names that have won this tournament early in their career? Will college golf star Jackson Koivun from Auburn continue to make a name for himself with a good finish this week?

Even when the field isn’t great, some interesting storylines can come out of these groggy tournaments.