In recent years at the Scottish Open, one of the path to victories or finishing at the top of the leaderboard has been premier driving off-the-tee. There is little missed fairway penalty at the Renaissance Club, which allows players to swing for the fences with little rough at the golf course. This is another Tom Doak designed golf course that he allows players to bomb and gauge off-the-tee. Because of this, we need to find the best recent drivers of the golf ball.

Over the last 36 rounds, here are the top 12 players who have gained the most strokes off-the-tee:

Matt Fitzpatrick is back, and this is the perfect golf course for him to re-announce himself as a great player again. Fitzpatrick already has a runner-up finish here as well as two other top-15 finishes, and he is coming off back-to-back unbelievable ball-striking performances at the Rocket Classic and the Travelers Championship. Fitzpatrick has now finished top-20 in three of his last five starts, including an eighth at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, another prime driver-putter golf course. Mixed in there was also a 38th at the U.S. Open, where he nearly led the field in putting.

Fitzpatrick is showing all of the signs that I typically look for before a player wins: strong performances at similar courses and spiking in different categories. I should also mention that his approach play is fully back, and Fitz has gained strokes on approach in seven of his last eight starts, including over four at the Rocket Classic. Elite recent form, elite course fit and putting experience across the pond, elite course history, hopefully a decent price. I feel quite confident this is our winner.

If we are trying to find the best players who are great drivers of the golf ball and have the ability to spike with the putter, Adam Scott has to be on your shortlist.

Over the last 36 rounds, Adam Scott ranks 23rd in the field in strokes gained from off-the-tee. Over the last two years, he ranks 19th in the field in field in strokes gained off-the-tee on driver heavy golf courses.

Scott is plenty long off-the-tee, as he showed that off at the US Open a couple weeks ago, parlayed with impressive serious ball speed numbers. In his career, he has phenomenal history putting on links golf courses, as he ranks 8th in strokes gained putting on slow greens in the UK.

He nearly won this event last year, falling short to Robert MacIntyre, who got a lucky break on the 18th hole if you remember.

In a non-elevated event, I am taking Adam Scott in our staff OAD pool. If you want to get a little different, I like taking a shot on Matt Fitzpatrick or Corey Conners, who both have great course history at the Renaissance Club.

Course Profile: Quaker Ridge

Location: Scarsdale, NY 

Designer: A.W. Tillinghast (1926), Gil Hanse restoration (2013)

Ratings: #75 in the United States by Golf Digest, #52 in the United States by Golf.com. 

Some quick stream of consciousness thoughts on Quaker Ridge, as I have now had the benefit of playing it 5-6 times, with two of those rounds coming in the last two weeks. My Tillinghast resume is nowhere near complete, but I have now spent a great deal of time at what many believe to be amongst his best work: Somerset Hills, San Francisco Golf Club, Bethpage Black, Quaker Ridge, Newport Country Club. Still needing to play for me are both courses at Winged Foot, both courses at Baltusrol, Ridgewood, & Baltimore. Not to mention a ton of hidden gems I have interest in— yet Tillinghast sneakily has the most courses in the Golf.com Top-100 with 11 (Donald Ross also has 11.)

I have never viewed Tillinghast to be quite on the level of Mackenzie, C.B. MacDonald/Seth Raynor, or George Thomas, but on average (this is a touch too much of a blanket statement), I do tend to prefer a Tillinghast golf course to a Donald Ross golf course. Ross may have higher highs with Seminole and Pinehurst, but Tillinghast seems to have a higher baseline.

There are a ton of mid-tier Donald Ross course that I believe have very redeeming qualities and I straight up just believe are skippable. Every golf course I have played of Tillinghast is at least a six— and there are a number of his less heralded work that I am still incredibly eager to see (Wykagyl, Fenway, Essex Country Club, Brook Hollow, etc.) Somerset Hills is straight up a top-15 golf course in America for me, and San Francisco Golf Club is firmly in the top-50. I have exchanged messages with a few friends, whose opinion I greatly value, that believe that Quaker Ridge is over-rated, and I must say that I vehemently disagree. Well, put it this way. Quaker Ridge is somewhere between the 50th and 100th best course in America.

I have now played a large enough chunk of the top-100 to feel very comfortable with that being its rightful place. This is a rare instance where I actually believe that Golf Digest has a better number on it than Golf.com. I will admit— Golf.com’s ranking of 52 in the country at least warrants a conversation about its overrated-ness, as there are PLENTY of golf courses ranked behind it (The Creek, Valley Club of Montecito, Pasatiempo) that are far superior, but I have Quaker Ridge as a mid-tier 7.5. For context, other 7.5s include Sheep Ranch, Streamsong Red, Garden City, Sebonack, Nanea, Rustic Canyon, Oak Hill East, and the Ocean Course. These are all golf courses I love and cherish, but they are still a touch below an 8 for me, which includes Seminole, Bandon Dunes, Cal Club, Tralee, Southern Hills, San Francisco Golf Club, Old Barnwell, Tree Farm, and Bel Air.

Quaker doesn’t really have any knockouts, and there are a few holes I quite dislike/don’t look forward to, but the best holes on property are 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 15, and 17. 2 and 3 are nothing burgers to me. 6 is a brutally unfair driving hole, and the shorter par threes on the front nine are so much more fun than the difficult and long par threes on the back— although I really quite like 10. 8 and 17 are both excellent short par fours with some real strategy off the tee where if you drive it in the wrong spot, you can easily make a big number.

This is not a golf course where you can just bomb away with reckless abandon. You must be fully engaged from a ball-striking standpoint, and while I still hit driver on every hole outside of 15, I am always thinking about what side of the fairway that I want to be on. 11 and 15 are my favorite two par fours on the front and are downright incredible Golden Age short to medium length par fours with tremendous green-sites and short iron approach shots that truly make you think. It’s a really fun approach golf course, and while it’s quite a difficult golf course around the green, it’s a fun golf course to chip on as well.

Quaker features some of the most well maintained and pure greens I have played in the Northeast, and many of them feature a tremendous amount of subtle Tillinghast undulation that is worthy of comparison to SFGC and Somerset. I know that Winged Foot is considered the best set of greens that Tilly has ever designed, and I really need to see those to truly complete the resume, but Quaker’s greens are miles ahead of Bethpage and certainly on the same tier as SFGC and Somerset, even if I prefer those golf courses from tee to green slightly more. 

In terms of the non-architecture stuff, the caddies are tremendous. Truly, truly tremendous. The chocolate chip cookies in the locker room are dialed and fully on the same tier as Oak Hill. The halfway house is a gem. They put out free bacon that is to die for. The chorizo burrito was a bit of a miss but that was a risky order—stick with the classics: great breakfast sandwich, hot dog, tuna melt, & turkey club. Bangers all around. Incredibly welcoming membership. Haven’t met a single member that didn’t make me feel like I was immediately part of the gang. All wanted to make sure I had a great day and had real curiosity on my opinions of the golf course.

I have not played all of the Westchester courses but if I lived in New York City, the only three courses I can think of that I have played that are within an hour of midtown are Creek, Piping Rock, and Garden City (bear in mind I have not played Winged Foot or Sleepy Hollow.) Any 7.5 for me is somewhere between 50 and 100 in America, and I have a deep and growing admiration for Quaker Ridge.

Proper Golf Is Back

It’s one of my favorite times on the golf calendar as the PGA Tour heads across the pond during the next two weeks for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. This is also when I’m getting sick of watching trackman golf (definition: bombs away off-the-tee) and putting contests for the last couple of tournaments. 

It’s a good point in the year for a refresher and to watch a new style of golf, which I like to call “proper golf”. What I am referring to is links golf, something that we don’t see too often on the PGA Tour and should not be taken for granted. 

What makes links golf so great is the demand for creativity and shot making, especially when it gets cold, rainy or windy out on the course. When playing this style of golf, players can’t just hit these towering tee shots or approach shots with severe wind. If that is the case, players need to keep the ball low and under the wind.

The best example I can think off in recent memory is Rory McIIroy’s 2-iron shot at the 2023 Scottish Open with the wind absolutely blistering:

I watched this shot numerous times before going to bed last night, and just seeing the shot tracer show Rory hitting a stinger from 200 yards out, barely leaving the surface, was an absolute thing of beauty. Rory didn’t even attempt to take a full swing too, he took a three-quarters swing to control the ball and ended it with a club twirl, which was well justified.

Additionally, players are asked to get creative and hit different types of chip shots around the greens. Links style courses have way shorter rough than we typically see on average PGA Tour courses. Players will play more grounded bump-and-run chip shots or even use their putter depending on pin positions and the contour of the greens. 

Another great example is back in 2022, when Cam Smith in his final round at the Open Championship at St. Andrews, in his route to victory, had a tough up and down on the road hole (the 17th). Many players would have opted to chip this, but Cam Smith decided to bring out his elite weapon from his bag.

It’s certainly on my bucket list to fly across the pond and experience true links golf. Many people who I have talked to that have made golf trips to the UK or Ireland said that it changed their perspectives on the game. The style is so fun and brings the best out of you on how you want to play certain shots. Maybe a potential ISN golf trip in the making?

Will We Get Another Epic Grand Slam Final At Wimbledon?

ISN originally started as a golf brand, but the tennis channel in the discord has rapidly been taking over the group. If you are a frequent reader of our newsletter, you must read Rishi’s grand slam previews this year. He has been posting core DFS plays, futures and daily bets each tournament day. 

Rishi’s instant success has got others and myself in discord following tennis very closely. 

Particularly on the men’s side at Wimbledon, I believe it’s shaping up for another epic grand slam final. The last grand slam, the French Open, produced an all-time championship match as the top two players in the world, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, went to 5 sets. 

Jannik Sinner took the first two sets and looked like he was about to sweep Carlos. In the 4th set, Sinner had a triple match point and Carlos fended off all three, then ultimately came back and won the tournament. Carlos carried that momentum and would go on to win the French Open.

As I am writing this Tuesday night, as it sits now, most likely two of Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner will be in the final. These are some of the biggest names in tennis and two Americans Fritz and Shelton. The last American to win a grand slam was Andy Roddick back in 2003 at the US Open. The last time an American won Wimbledon was Pete Sampras in 2000. 

Fritz and Shelton will have their backs against the wall, as Shelton and Fritz are both massive underdogs to Sinner and Alcaraz, respectively.

Any combination of players in the championship match would set up for a great final. Hopefully, Shelton or Fritz can do the improbable and breakthrough for the USA!

At ISN, we love to vic lap CLV. Speaking of tennis, one of Rishi’s outright bets, Amanda Anisimova, is a semi-finalist at Wimbledon. She took a break from tennis in 2023 and is now making a comeback. Rishi placed the 80/1 ticket back in early June.

Hopefully Anisimova can come through for our community! It would be a great story for the tennis world.