Tournament: The John Deere Classic
Course: TPC Deere Run
Course Architect: TPC Deere Run is the brainchild of former PGA Tour player and Senior Tour player, DA Weibring. Weibring was a perfect fit to design the course, as not only is he an Illinois native, but he was a three time champion of the Quads City Classic, the tournament that predated the John Deere Classic. In staying true to many TPC layouts, Weibring crafted a risk-reward layout that offered challenging strategic nuances for the world’s best players, while still making it a very fan-friendly track that can be played by amateurs in off-weeks. I like the course a lot because it has sort of every type of feature you look for in a fun tournament layout, including drastic elevation changes, hazards that are both big and small, and aesthetic qualities that are true to the surrounding area. A little known fact about the course is that there was an Arabian Horse Farm that sat, untouched mind you, on the course property while Weibring was designing and building TPC Deere Run.
Course Grass: TPC Deere Run features Bentgrass greens, tees and fairways, with Kentucky BlueGrass rough.
Course Stats: TPC Deere Run will be stretched to its gills this week at 7,257 yards and plays to a Par 71. It features 78 bunkers and three water hazards, while the Greens will be rolled at an 11 on the stimpmeter.
Course Features: TPC Deere Run is widely known as one of the more exciting venues on Tour, because it is a track that allows players to be super aggressive, go after pins and post low numbers. This is not a course where you can shoot (-3) each day and win. In fact, of the last three winners (Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman) fired rounds of 61 (-10) and 63 (-8) en route to their victories, while Ryan Moore posted three consecutive rounds of 65 to start the tournament, and cruised home with a 67 on Sunday to win by two shots. Runner up Ben Martin, fired a 62 in round 3, and Morgan Hoffman (3rd place), matched Martin’s round on Saturday. The JDC’s average winning score over the last five years has been (-20), which gives you a good idea of the type of skillset needed to win this tournament. You don’t have to be overly powerful, but you have to hit a lot of fairways and greens, and you absolutely have to take advantage of the three par 5’s. The Par 3’s are where trouble can be found, but that is more than equalized by the fact that there are three par 4’s under 400 yards.
TPC Deere Run plays to a par 71 and will be stretched to its max of 7,257 yards this week. There isn’t much in the way of tricked up holes, just really solid architecture that takes advantage of the natural hills and valleys and situates the greens on mounds that are in many cases perched above the fairway. This is where ball-striking becomes key, as if you are able to have to your distance control dialed in, you will be rewarded with birdie putt after birdie putt. However, on the flipside of that though, is if you are not careful with your approach shots and get careless trying to attack pins—instead of playing to the center of the green and allowing the ball to funnel naturally to the hole—you can be left with some very difficult chips and pitches around the green where you find the slope running away from the hole. This was what did Danny Lee in in 2015, and had it not been for his mistakes on the back nine, he very well could have been right there with Gillis and Spieth on the 72nd hole.
The course was designed by former PGA Tour veteran, DA Weibring in accordance with the PGA Tour and TPC standards. The course takes advantage of the natural terrain, with large oak trees framing much of the course, and the track following a natural progression through deep ravines and natural ponds. Paul Goydos holds the course record with a 59, and while that score is always a magical one, there are more than a few players in the field this week that could challenge the course record.
Key Metrics: Par 4 scoring, Driving Accuracy, SG: Around the Green, Bogey Avoidance, Proximity to Hole
