RADIO
We are right back at it for the second event of the PGA Tour Fall Swing as the Country Club of Jackson is once against set to host the Sanderson Farms Championship. The property features 27 holes but the Azalea and Dogwood nines will be in play for the PGA Tour as players are eager to get a jumpstart on their points and come out of the gates hot for the new season.
We have a solid understanding of how this course typically plays during the early fall as it once again falls into its familiar spot on the PGA Tour calendar. Conditions will be hot and dry per usual, and the course features Bermuda grass throughout which we know can create advantages and disadvantages for certain players based on their familiarity with it.
I wanted to use this piece to hopefully highlight a few different angles and elements that may be less spoken about to provide some value in this course preview. I'm hopeful that you can utilize this to get your research started with a proper understanding of how the golf course should affect which player attributes are the most important for success. Let's get right into it!
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An Introduction to the Country Club of Jackson
The Country Club of Jackson is a historic landmark club in Mississippi that dates back 110 years to its beginning in 1914. The club quickly received high praise in the area for its classic design elements put in place by original course architect Donald Ross. The course has since gone through a major overhaul by John Fought in 2008 where he unfortunately lengthened the course for professional play but also diminished some of Ross's major architectural elements of strategic bunkering and undulating greens.
The modern version of this course unfortunately lacks character and charm for me. Many of the holes are indistinguishable from one another. The Sanderson Farms Championship has been held at this venue since 2018 after previously hosting the Microsoft Golf Championship in the late 1990s.
It is what it is. The course is pretty straightforward and offers players the ability the leverage a bunch of different styles and skill sets, but ultimately it often comes down to who can find the hot putter this week in Jackson. I do not believe the course was impacted by Hurricane Helene but we should all pay attention to the reports this week to see how much rain the area has received recently so we can gauge how firm and fast the course will play.
Course history at the Country Club of Jackson for the Sanderson Farms Championship
-Includes average finish position and "Strokes Gained" per round in each category since 2015. Players are sorted by SG: Total
-24th most predictive annual course on Tour pic.twitter.com/tkhIgY58mM
— Ron Klos (@PGASplits101) September 30, 2024
Scorecard:
Course Specs
If you look at the total yardage of 7,461 yards, you may think this course is a brute in length. In reality, for PGA Tour players who have little resistance from hitting Driver often, the majority of holes turn into wedge holes. The front nine features four different par 4s that all play under 420 yards. The back nine also features a 330-yard 15th hole which many in the field will attempt to drive the green on.
The course gets its total length from the four par 5's, but all of which is reachable and scorable with a good tee shot. The Country Club of Jackson does a solid job of providing varying lengths on the par 3s as they range from 168 yards to 223 yards. The course features Bermuda grass throughout from tee box to green.
The greens are smallish in size and average 6,200 sq ft. They are effectively made a little smaller with some of the runoffs around the edges. That said, if you are able to hit and hold them, they are some of the easier greens to putt on the PGA Tour. You will have many flat reads that should give you opportunities to score where players can be aggressive without fearing the speed.
The fairways are pretty wide open, averaging 30 yards wide at the 300-yard mark. The roughly is comprised of that pesky Bermuda grass but it's not enough to discourage players from taking a bomb and gauge approach at this course. We have seen an eclectic group of previous winners that includes a number of players who are certainly not known for their driving accuracy and ability to hit fairways.
Lastly, one thing this event has going for it is the trophy. A truly magnificent work of art.
Sanderson Farms Cock Trophy pic.twitter.com/uLf8FbLZ5o
— Pat Mayo (@ThePME) November 24, 2020
Statistical Considerations
As mentioned before, we have seen a number of different skill sets have success at the CC of Jackson, but the most dependable is good old fashioned recent SG: Approach play. In 2022, seven of the top ten players on the final leaderboard finished inside the top 10 in strokes gained on approach. It's the easiest path to scoring.
Here are the top 10 players in SG: Approach over the last 30 rounds played:
- JJ Spain
- Ben Griffin
- Doug Ghim
- Mac Meissner
- Patrick Fishburn
- Chez Reavie
- Chan Kim
- Will Gordon
- Nick Dunlap
- Nick Hardy
I also ran a hybrid blend of SG: OTT and Driving Distance into my model to get a better idea of which players have been gaining the most OTT but are also longer than Tour average. Bermuda grass putting is also so nuanced that it gives certain players fits while others love this kind of greens. It is worth factoring into some degree in your stat models this week.
In terms of approach buckets, over 40% of shots historically come from 75-150 yards at this course. This is a big advantage and jump up for those players who are extremely proficient with the wedges. Lastly, I factored in a bit of Birdie or Better Percentage from the rough. I figured many of the players were going to elect to deploy a bomb and gauge strategy so I wanted to have a good idea of which players are best at making birdies from places other than the fairway.
Approach Shot Distribution (Datagolf)
Stat Radar Plot for CC of Jackson (Datagolf)
Good luck and enjoy the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship!
