2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club – Preview

The PGA Tour rolls on to the Motor City and the Rocket Mortgage Classic as we head down the stretch toward the final major of the season and the FedExCup Playoffs that follow.

The Detroit Golf Club is a classical, tree-lined, parkland course that has been one of the most prolific birdie-making courses on the Tour. Established in 1899, the club has a long history with the North Course (1916) being the oldest annual course in the Tour rotation. This year’s tournament is the fifth edition of this event with past champions including Nate Lashley, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Davis, and last year’s winner, Tony Finau.

While longer hitters (DeChambeau, Davis and Finau) have flourished here due to the lack of hazards off the tee, all playing styles have had success with the likes of Lashley J.J. Spaun, Troy Merritt, and Chris Kirk finishing high on past leaderboards. Skilled putters that are strong with their wedges and who are proven par-5 scorers are the best players to target on this course.

The Field

The field for this year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic is the strongest in its history. Part of the reason definitely has to do with the tournament being moved up an entire month to a more beneficial position in the schedule. Another reason is the need for certain players to increase their FedExCup point total in the hopes of guaranteeing their spot in the top 70 of the standings.

Overall, 14 of the top 40 and 37 of the top 100 players in the OWGR will be in attendance including Max Homa, defending champion Tony Finau, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Travelers Championship winner Keegan Bradley, and perhaps the hottest player on Tour without a recent win, Rickie Fowler. This will be the first trip to Detroit for both Thomas and Morikawa. Young phenoms, Sam Bennett and Gordon Sargent are also in the field thanks to a sponsor exemption.

Detroit Golf Club – History

The Detroit Golf Club was founded in 1899 by local businessman William R. Farrand and his partners. The course was originally a six-hole layout on a rented 45-acre plot of farmland just a few miles north of the city center. Originally limited to 100 members, the course added three holes a year later, making it a nine-hole course. With membership increased to 200 in 1902, an additional 35 acres of land were purchased, and the course expanded to a full 18 holes. In 1913, more property was acquired, and one of the most iconic golf course designers of all time, Donald Ross, was brought in to survey the land. He determined that two 18-hole courses could be built on the property.

In 1916, Ross completed the two 18-hole tracts, which were simply named the North and South courses. The property’s heritage goes even further back in history, as between the seventh and eighth holes on the North Course, an oak tree was bent by Native Americans to mark the trail that extended from the area of Pontiac to the Detroit River.

Ross preferred to let the natural environment determine the design of his courses. This classic approach is quite evident at the Detroit Golf Club, especially with respect to the topography of the course. There is very little elevation change, with only 10 feet between the highest and lowest spots. It is also this classical approach that, over a century ago, did not take into account players bombing the ball 320 yards off the tee. The course was chosen to host the 1941 Ryder Cup, but the outbreak of World War II scuttled that.

Based on the ShotLink data, minor adjustments to the course continue to happen. For example, on the par-4 12th hole, players were bombing it over 300 yards past the fairway bunker. This caused tournament officials to add 40 yards to the hole which has kept the bunker in play.

One revision of the North Course has been more controversial. Typically, the complexity of the greens is what makes it a “Donald Ross” course. With the passing of time, the greens have weakened, with some of the slopes being made flatter. Said Golfweek’s course evaluator, Nick Ficorelli, “I’m a little worried about the North greens being too easy. They used to be really, really good. When I watch PGA Tour players playing, say, a 1916 golf course, it’s disappointing if those greens have been weakened. There’s nothing more boring than watching guys make 30-footers that don’t break.”

Finish Position and Strokes Gained Event History (2019-2022)

*This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Detroit Golf Club is the 33rd most predictive annual course on Tour.

Course Features

The North Course at Detroit Golf Club is a Par 72 course that measures 7,370 yards. It features the standard breakdown of four par-3s, 10-par-4s, and four par-5s. Let’s cut right to the chase here. It is one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour rotation. Through the event’s four years of existence, it has played as the eighth easiest course on Tour at -1.72. Players will have to shoot very low scores to be in contention. Winning scores in the first four years of this tournament have ranged been 18-under to 26-under par.

It is a traditional parkland venue with tree-lined fairways and flat topography. When the course entered the Tour rotation in 2019, its standard deviation of terrain change stood at 2.18 feet, edging TPC Louisiana (2.23) as the flattest course on Tour. Other than a few holes, not many stand out because there is not much variation from tee to green over the course of the round. Most of the holes are north to south or south to north with a few doglegs mixed in.

With a course that lacks length and any real penal areas off the tee, birdies will be dropping left and right. In such an easy scoring environment, more golfers will be able to contend on the leaderboard. In fact, because the course does not really penalize poor shots, there is not much separation between great and below-average tee-to-green play. This, in essence, boils the tournament down to a putting contest. Above-average rainfall amounts that include over an inch of rain falling on Sunday and Monday, along with typically humid conditions, will only add to the scoring potential as the course will play soft with very receptive greens.

Unlike TPC Twin Cities, there are no “blow-up” holes here where players are threatened with double-bogey or worse. There is only one solitary hole with any water danger. In fact, there are only two holes on the course with a bogey or worse rate above 20%. The course has the second-fewest number of penalty strokes on Tour, which speaks for the lack of danger off the tee and on approaching the green.

While not as penal as one would think, the Bluegrass rough at Detroit Golf Club is one of the longest in non-major events that golfers will see all year at four inches. Even with many of the greens being diminished in nature from Ross’s original design, the main defense of Detroit Golf Club (along with the rough) are the green complexes. Greens are a mix of Poa annua and bentgrass and run around 12 on the stimpmeter. They contain just enough slope and undulation to cause players to take some precautions with the flat stick. The greens are also smaller than average at only 5,150 square feet.

Hole Preview

The holes used for the Rocket Mortgage Classic is a composite routing with 17 of the holes coming from the North Course and only one hole coming from the South Course. The layout begins with holes 8 and 9 serving as Nos. 1 and 2, followed by hole 1 from the South Course serving as No. 3. The course then plays holes 2-7 of the North Course as Nos. 4-9 before the regular back nine on the North Course makes up the final nine holes for the championship.

Overall, the front nine plays easier than the back nine. Hole Nos. 6-8 are one of the trademark stretches on the course. Each demands tee shots into some of the most narrow fairways on the course with some sloping that angles drives toward the rough. Each of these holes also has two-tiered greens with multiple tricky pin positions.

The fourth hole, one of two par-5s on the front nine and the course’s longest, extends to 635 yards. While tough to reach in two shots, it still has a birdie or better rate of 28%. On the back-nine, holes 14-16 combine to form what organizers have called the “Area 313” challenge. The 14th hole is a 555-yard risk-reward par-5 with a 41% birdie or better rate. The 15th hole is a par-3 that typically plays longer than its 160 yards while the 446-yard par-4 16th hole has one of the most demanding greens on the course and rates as the 6th toughest hole overall.

Strokes Gained Analysis

Off the Tee

The top of last year’s leaderboard was a veritable group of bombers off the tee including Tony Finau, Taylor Pendrith, Patrick Cantlay and Cameron Young. Fairways are generous and wider than average at over 34 yards, making them the 15th widest on Tour. With only one water hazard on the entire course, there are literally no forced layups or “danger” areas off the tee. Players are free to blast away with driver which is evidenced by 78% of drives hit over 280 yards. Those with extra length will have wedges and short irons into greens on almost every par 4. Also, the softer conditions thanks to the recent rainfall will only lengthen the course.

During last year’s event, Tony Finau talked about length being an advantage. “If you hit it far, you have an advantage not only off the tee, but into the greens you’re hitting shorter shots. If you’re hitting it into the rough, you’re hitting more lofted clubs out of there, you’re able to create speed out of the rough. I always feel like guys that bomb it have the advantage and this golf course is no different.”

That being said, even though 2020 winner Bryson DeChambeau appeared to bomb and gauge Detroit Golf Club to death, the tree-lined fairways and thick rough, as unsuccessful as they were, are there to combat any similar attempts. It should also be reminded that DeChambeau gained eight strokes putting that week along with the six strokes he gained off the tee.

And while length can definitely be an advantage, there have been plenty of shorter, more accurate hitters who have contended here as well. With it being very average length-wise, anyone who can keep the ball in the fairway will have the chance to contend. Along those same lines, Brian Stuard had an interesting comment saying, “I think driving it straight here is very important because, with every fairway pretty much tree-lined, you would rather be 150 (yards) in the fairway rather than 100 in the trees.”

Approach

With golfers unable to separate themselves that much off the tee due to the lack of any penalty for wayward drives, Detroit Golf Club is a definite second-shot course. Over 46% of approach shots come from under 150 yards, which is one of the highest wedge/short-iron rates on Tour. Thanks to a full set of par 5s and two longer par 3s, 21% of approaches also come from over 225 yards which is 4% higher than the average course. Even with the 12th smallest greens on Tour, these greens have one of the highest GIR rates anywhere.

While being strong off the tee is always a benefit at any course, with so many scoring holes here combined with a Greens in Regulation (GIR) rate from the fairway at well over 80%, proximity to the hole on these Donald Ross greens will be key this week. With the majority of approach shots coming from the short iron or wedge range, players that are strongest in that area will have a sizeable advantage. The greens have numerous quadrants, and finding the right one on approach to set up uphill putts will be another factor in golfers separating themselves from the field. Players will also need to control the spin on their wedge shots to get the ball as close to the hole as possible.

Around the Green and Putting

While there is thick rough and some tricky runoff and collection areas surrounding these green complexes, whenever the GIR rate is so high it is hard to give around-the-green play much weight. These green complexes have nowhere near the same runoff slopes as Ross created at Pinehurst No. 2.

When looking at the numbers of past winners, however, this could be one the most important putting courses on Tour. First of all, as previously mentioned, putting on these greens is not easy. While these Donald Ross greens have lost some of their natural movement over the decades, many still feature back-to-front sloping which is typical of his designs. Over the past four years, they have been rated as the 11th most difficult greens on which to gain strokes putting. And yet, close to 40% of all strokes gained on this course come with the flat stick. That is well above the typical average of 35%. The undulated areas around some of the pin placements make putting even tougher from inside five feet averaging as the 6th toughest.

2019 winner, Nate Lashley confirmed that certain hole locations on the greens can be tricky, saying, “The greens do have quite a bit of slope, some of them around the holes that have a lot of undulation. If you get it on the right spot, though, and get it in the right tier, you can make a lot of birdies.”

Just to further emphasize the importance of putting, 2019’s winner, Nate Lashley gained over 10 strokes on the greens that week. In 2020, every single player in the top 12 gained at least one stroke putting. In 2021, each of the top five in the standings gained over three strokes, and 23 of the top 25 were positive on the greens. Last year was more of the same as each of the top five on the leaderboard gained at least 3.5 strokes putting. Though there is a blend of Poa annua mixed in, similar to TPC River Highlands, these greens do not play like west coast Poa. They actually are very smooth and play more like bentgrass greens. Green speeds have been increased since the tournament’s inception, moving from 11 on the stimpmeter in 2019 to upwards of 12 and beyond this year.

Most Important Stats For Success at Detroit Golf Club

*In order of importance

• Birdie or Better %
• SG: Approach
• SG: Putting
• Good Drive %
• Par 5 Scoring
• Driving Distance
• SG: Easy Scoring Courses
• Proximity: 50-125 yds
• Opportunities Gained
• Par 4 Scoring: 400-450

Weather Forecast – Detroit, Michigan