After a couple of weeks off, including last week’s American victory at the Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour returns to stroke play competition for the second event of the FedExCup Fall “Swing Season” in Jackson, Mississippi for the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Played at the Country Club of Jackson for the 11th consecutive year, it is a relatively long and straightforward tree-lined parkland course. Golfers who have added length off the tee and can get hot with the putter on the fast Bermuda greens will have a definite advantage. With minimal hazards and non-penal rough, scores have averaged 19-under par over the last five events.
The Field
As is typical for fall events in the Swing season, the field for the Sanderson Farms is quite weak. Rickie Fowler and Nick Dunlap might be the closest examples to “headline” players in this field. The highest-ranked player in the field is Dunlap who is 35th in the world. Beyond him, the next highest-ranked golfers are Eric Cole (54th) and Stephan Jaeger (59th). Six of the last ten winners at this event have been first-time winners on the PGA Tour.
Beyond Cole and Jaeger, there is some depth in the mid-tier with the likes of Daniel Berger, Harris English, Ryan Fox, Ben Griffin, Emiliano Grillo, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, Seamus Power, Patrick Rodgers, and Adam Svensson. Last year’s winner, Luke List returns to defend his crown, as do other past winners including Cameron Champ, Mackenzie Hughes, Ryan Armour, Peter Malnati and Cody Gribble. There are three golfers in the field with home ties to Mississippi including Davis Riley, Chad Ramey, and Hayden Buckley.
CC of Jackson – Course History
Founded in 1914, the original Country Club of Jackson was a Tom Bendelow-designed course built on 100 acres five miles west of the city’s center. In the late 1950s, the club purchased a 400-acre property northeast of Jackson with famed architect Dick Wilson contracted to design the course which opened in 1962.
While the Sanderson Farms Championship event has had different names over the years, it has been played in Mississippi and has been on the PGA Tour schedule since 1968. As for the course itself, it was a renovation by John Fought in 2008 that prompted its inclusion as a host for a PGA Tour event. The members of the course wanted the layout to incorporate more of a “Golden Age” feel and thus Fought redesigned the course with Donald Ross-type characteristics in mind. The course incorporated a classical parkland-style out-to-in routing. The par-3s are well-conceived and challenging. The biggest change was to the green complexes, many of which are elevated and slope from back to front as is very similar to other Ross designs.
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Finish Position and Strokes Gained Event History (2015-2023)
This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total. TPC Southwind is the 14th least predictive course on Tour.
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Course Features
Located in a rural setting in the Deep South, the Country Club of Jackson is a long par-72 course that plays just under 7,500 yards. The course meanders through 400 acres of lowland property with very few elevation changes. It features narrow fairways, non-penal 2″ rough and speedy Bermuda greens. There isn’t much danger on the course in the form of water hazards and bunkers. With water danger on only five holes and the ninth fewest bunkers on Tour courses, it ranks as the 12th easiest course at -1.35 strokes under par per round.
Looking at agronomy for the week, golfers will see bermudagrass fairways and greens. The Bermuda/zoysia rough mixture sits at just two inches and has not proven to be difficult to hit from compared to other courses with pure Bermuda rough. The greens are Tour average at 6,200 square feet and run quite speedy at upwards of 12.5 on the stimpmeter. Golfers from the South who have grown up playing on Bermuda grass will have an advantage here in Jackson. During past interviews, players who have finished high on the leaderboard tend to bring up their comfort on Bermuda greens. And that has played out in this event as a majority of past winners have ties to the southern United States.
The Sanderson Farms Championship layout is a composite course that combines the nine holes from the Dogwood course with the nine from the Azalea. Every year since 2015, scoring has been between 18-under and 22-under. Overall, it is a bland course without much strategic value and an almost complete lack of risk/reward holes.
Along with its speedy greens, the course’s biggest defense might be its lengthy and tougher-than-average par 5s. Even with four par-5s in play, with three of them stretching beyond 580 yards, only the longest hitters will be able to make it to the green in two shots. Additionally, the par-5 11th hole which only measures 554 yards has water down the entire right side of the fairway. Because of this, these par-5s have one of the lowest par-5 eagle rates on Tour at an average of only 1.3%.
There is a good mixture of holes with three par-4s that play over 475 yards and five other par-4s that are under 425 yards. Three of the par-3s rank among the seven toughest holes on the course and will also provide a minor challenge.
When John Fought and his associate, Mike Gogel designed the course in 2008 they tried to put a value on accuracy. Not only on hitting fairways, but also on hitting greens on the proper side of the hole. It’s tough to say how much that has actually borne out over the years because even though driving accuracy is on the difficult side, GIR% from both the fairway and rough is much easier than the Tour average. The one area where there is some difficulty is with Proximity to the hole which is almost two feet longer than the Tour average.
Strokes Gained Analysis
Off the Tee
Off the tee, the Country Club of Jackson has many similarities with the last Tour event at Silverado for the Fortinet Championship. A combination of non-penal rough and lack of danger allows players to swing away with their driver. The Country Club of Jackson is also one of the straightest courses on Tour with only four holes that have “skinny doglegs”.
Driving distance off the tee has increased every from the previous year in five of the last six events. In a similar vein, strong drivers of the ball have fared quite well at this event with six of the last seven winners having been longer than average in the distance department. In 2019, Cameron Champ bombed his way to victory by leading in driving distance at 308 yards. In 2020, Sebastian Munoz finished third in the same category, while 2021’s winner, Sergio Garcia finished ninth. Luke List, last year’s winner, is one of the longest drivers on Tour.
But there have also been high-accuracy and shorter players off the tee like Ryan Armour and Mackenzie Hughes who have also won here in Jackson. Armour’s average driving distance in his victory back in 2017 was only 264 yards. Traditionally, Ross courses encourage precision off the tee, including hitting to the correct side of the fairway to set up the best approach angle to the green. The fairways are the seventh narrowest on Tour and have a fairway accuracy rate of just 54% over the past five years. That is well below the average. But again, because it is not true Bermuda rough (it is mixed with zoysia grass), the threat of unpredictable lies and fliers to the green from balls that miss the fairway is much less here. This encourages players to swing freely and bomb away from the tee box. In fact, the penalty for missing the fairway here is the third-least penal on Tour.
The bottom line is that while distance off the tee is an edge for players who have that skill, there are almost just as many players surrounding the top of the leaderboard in past years who are shorter hitters.
Approach
With an above-average GIR rate of 67.6%, players will not gain separation from the field by simply hitting greens here at the Country Club of Jackson. Overall, this course is the 11th easiest on Tour in which to gain strokes on approach. One would think proximity to the hole would be a huge edge here, but when looking at proximity rankings from past leaderboards, it simply is not. This in turn means that the Sanderson Farms Championship essentially does boil down to a putting contest.
There are two key approach ranges to focus on for this week. 34% of approaches are from the wedge range of 100-150 yards. The Tour average from this range is only 27%. Also, thanks to the lengthy par 5s, 18% of approaches will come from 250+ yards which is well above the average of 10%. Accuracy when “Going for the Green” with second shot approaches on the par 5s will be crucial. This is where the longer hitters have a definite advantage in attempting to set up birdie opportunities on the four par 5s. The par 5s here rank as the second toughest on Tour in “Hitting the Green %” when going for the green on the second shot.
Around the Green and Putting
Gaining strokes around the greens is the 10th easiest on Tour here at the Country Club of Jackson. Many of the greens are raised and have run-off areas similar to other Ross designs. The greenside bunkers rank as the most undemanding of all measured courses on Tour. With greens being hit at such a high rate, combined with the ease of rough and bunkers surrounding the greens, the effect of a poor short game will be somewhat mitigated this week. In each of the past three events here, one-third of players in the top 15 actually lost strokes around the greens.
The data backs up the notion that putting is the most difficult area from which to gain strokes on this course. That being said, it still ranks in the middle of the pack overall. The Champion Bermuda greens are among the fastest on Tour at 12.5 on the stimpmeter and are allowed to push 13 on the weekend. Hole locations are known for being placed in some of the most sloped parts of the green complexes. As a result, these greens are the ninth toughest on Tour in which to gain strokes putting from inside of five feet.
Even with some challenges on the greens, this event is well-known for bad putters having success. Sergio Garcia is one of the worst putters in recent history and managed to gain almost three strokes in the year he won. Cameron Champ is also not known for his putting skills, yet he managed to gain over nine strokes in 2019. Luke List ranks outside the top 100 in putting yet spiked on the greens last year in his victory.
In general, those who finish high in putting for the week typically have a great chance to contend. Six of the eight winners at this course have finished in the top six in putting for the week. Shockingly, three years ago, Sam Burns lost two strokes putting, yet was able to rely on a staggering 14.4 strokes gained with his ball-striking to pull out the victory.
Most Important Stats For Success at the Country Club of Jackson
*In order of importance
- SG: Approach
- Birdie or Better %
- SG: Putting (Bermuda)
- Driving Distance
- Par 5 Scoring
- Proximity: 100-150
- SG: Easy Scoring Courses
- Proximity: 200+
- Scoring Chances Gained
- SG: ARG