By RickRunGood

While this isn’t technically a signature event on the PGA TOUR, it’s not going to stop seven of the world’s top ten players from showing up and it’s certainly not going to stop about 200,000 fans from showing up.

Having attended this event last year for the first time, it is truly unlike any other golf event I’ve ever witnessed and I highly encourage you to make the pilgrimage at some point in your life.

Without the stands, TPC Scottsdale is rather underwhelming. It doesn’t have the aura that we’d become so accustomed to. However, I love this golf course and I feel it presents an excellent challenge with the opportunity for a lot of drama over the final nine holes.

Here are the scoring averages from holes 10-18. Look at those differences! Four of the six easiest holes (13,17,12,15)  are on the back nine along with all three of the most difficult holes (11,14,16) on the course. This creates chaos and something that would be awesome in a match play situation (hint, hint!!).

It’s also worth noting that TPC Scottsdale has some of the stickiest course history on TOUR, meaning that success (and failure) tends to track year over year. Here are the best players (in this field) at TPC Scottsdale – minimum 12 rounds:

Keep It Dry, But Not Too Dry

You can be wayward at TPC Scottsdale but not too wayward. The rough hardly exists and the course has one of the lowest Missed Fairway Penalties on TOUR at just 0.20 strokes per miss – the fourth lowest penalty.

You can get away with a lot but you can’t get away with everything. There are five holes where water is in play with the driver and those water hazards gobbled up over 140 tee shots last year.

If you play significantly away from those water hazards, you’ll find the opposite – desert. Which opens you up to random lies and the luck of sightlines. You don’t have to be down the middle of the fairway but you’ll need to keep it on the grass.

Not Your Typical Wedge-Fest

The second shot is where this event is typically won. While that is not a true blanket statement, the recent winners (Scheffler 2x, Koepka 2x, Simpson, Fowler, Woodland, Matsuyama 2x) provide plenty of evidence this is where you can separate yourself from the field.

And it makes sense! These are large greens, at over 7,000 sq. ft on average. But it’s hard to hit it close to the stick. The average birdie opportunity is 23’1”, the second longest on TOUR behind Torrey Pines (South).

There are also significantly fewer “darts” being thrown here than at other venues.

Only 9.69% of birdie opportunities come between 4’-8’ while only 16.09% come from 9’-15’. Both of those are significantly lower than TOUR average. So it makes sense that golfers who can throw darts and give themselves more (and closer) looks are going to find success here.

The Week For Team No Putt

When you look at the key stat correlation, you don’t see putting rank highly at all. It’s 41st out of 52 qualifying courses which always catches my attention. Going back to those recent winners (Scheffler 2x, Koepka 2x, Simpson, Fowler, Woodland, Matsuyama 2x), it checks out that ball-striking and approach play specifically has been the key to unlocking TPC Scottsdale – not the flatstick.

And to clarify, the winners always have good putting weeks (this is not breaking news) but they don’t always show great putting prowess leading into that win.

I love and hate that this event always runs during Super Bowl week. It definitely adds to the “sports buzz” that most people will be in all week but it doesn’t allow for the winner (and Sunday in general) to really shine. The second this event is over, or maybe before, many switch over to the Big Game. This event has bred superstar winners and has one of the most exciting finishes in the game. It deserves to linger a bit.