By RickRunGood

George Thomas is known for his “half-par” concept and you’ll see it in action immediately out of the gates at Riviera Country Club. The concept, of course, is to replace par-3s, par-4s and par-5s with par-3.5s, par-4.5s and par-5.5s.

The first hole at Riv is a Par-5 on the scorecard but plays as one of the easiest holes on the PGA TOUR schedule, averaging 4.33 strokes in 2023. The second hole, however, is a par-4 that will play closer to a 4.5 scoring average. Many golfers will take nine strokes over two holes that combine for the same amount in par – but it’ll be a circle and a square on the scorecard.

This segment of the course is just one of the many interesting statistical situations at Riviera. Let’s address a few more.

Hole #10 – My favorite on the course. The devious 302-yard Par 4 with no good way to play it. The narrow green and uncomfortable angles can make anyone look like a fool – and it usually does.

Option 1: Layup – this has become more rare over the years, but there will be a dozen or so lay-ups leaving the player with ~70 yards into the green. If you make the mistake of laying up into the bunker, you’ll be kicking yourself and staring bogey in the face. Laying up into the fairway generally protects against bogey but doesn’t offer much birdie upside.

Option 2: Hit driver short into the rough, or bunker in front of the green. In my opinion, this is the worst option. Depending on pin position, you’ll be forced to hit some high/soft shot that frequently goes over the green and can get a big number on the scorecard. You’re also at the extreme mercy of the lie. Those greenside bunkers are not flat. They have steep lips and, if your ball just trickles in, can be on the downslope without access to the back of the ball.

Option 4 (I’ll come back to 3) – is not so much an option as it is an execution. Of course every golfer would love to get their ball to stop in the short-grass between the bunkers and short of the rough behind the green. This is ideal for scoring. This is where most birdies come from and it’s impossible (LOL) to make a bogey from here. This tiny area is difficult to find but well-rewarded for being there.

Option 3 – My preferred path. Bang driver through the green and into the rough behind. This is still very difficult because there are little humps back there that will introduce a ton of variance into your lie. However, the benefit of being back here (compared to the bunker in front of the green) is that you have the option to play into the green zone. That’s right. You will see a lot of golfer “lay up” into the area short of the green and then make a fairly routine par. If you happen to draw a good lie, you do have the ability to take on the pin which is why you’ll see a fair number of birdies from back here.

The Dilemma at 15

You may have noticed that a small number of players will tee off on 15 and intentionally hit it down the adjacent fairway (number 17).

The “why” is fairly simple. The fairway bunker on 15 is one of the most penal spots on the golf course. It’s deadsville.

Auto-bogey, don’t pass go, straight to jail. So what’s a good way to not hit it there? Hit it down a completely different hole and leave yourself with a relatively simple and easy shot in from there. To be clear, playing the hole this way is not a huge cheat code. It’s probably going to lead to a par and not much more. But playing 15 in 16 shots over four days would gain a stroke on the field. That was the 2nd most difficult hole in 2023 – so maybe it is a cheat code.

Last year, the TOUR erected a scorecard in that gap, trying to deter golfers from going that route. Many, including Viktor Hovland, just hit it over the scorecard. So we’ll see if they go with a double-decker this year.

Off-the-tee, Riviera is going to ask you a lot of different questions. It asks you to work the ball both ways and be accurate when necessary. I say “when necessary” because there are definitely holes (1, 5, 9, 17) where hitting the fairway isn’t crucial. However, there are others (8, 13, 18) where there’s a massive penalty for missing the short-grass. Don’t show up to Riviera without being driver skills and expect to contend here – just ask recent winners Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Adam Scott, JB Homes, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson again. They are all masters with the longest club in their bag.

The reason that Riviera is so great is because it’s going to ask you all the questions on approach as well! This ain’t no PGA TOUR wedge-fest. Only 3.2% of all approaches last year came from 100 yards and in – the third lowest rate on the PGA TOUR.

Nearly all the approaches come from 150 yards and longer with a fairly even split from 150-175, 175-200 and 200+. There is no course on the schedule that gets more approach shots from 150-175 yards than Riviera. Fun Fact – the proximity bucker distribution of Riviera is very similar to that of TPC Scottsdale. So you might want to run back those lineups and bets.

As if that wasn’t enough – it’s around-the-green play that strongly correlates to success at Riviera! There are only 11 other courses on the schedule where SG: ARG is more correlated to success. That passes the sniff test considering how many shots are coming from farther away from the green and (normally) how firm and fast Riviera plays.

Speaking of which, I obviously haven’t been on the grounds yet, but I assume we are going to get a fairly soft version of Riviera this week. This area has gotten a year’s worth of rain in the last week or two. It would be quite surprising to see a spicy course this week – but I’ll check it out for myself on Tuesday.