With only one week until the year’s third major at the U.S. Open, the PGA heads to Muirfield Village, one of the more iconic courses on Tour, as it hosts the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. “Jack’s Place” is a beautiful championship venue that has become one of golf’s premier events. Five-time winner of the Memorial, Tiger Woods, summed up the meaning of this tournament and how it’s connected to the respect players have for Jack Nicklaus. “I’ve always tried to play at Jack’s events. What he’s meant to the Tour, I’ve always tried to support his events. This one in particular is very special to him, it’s very special to us as players.”
Designed by Nicklaus himself in 1974 during the midst of his playing career, it is the only venue in history to host the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, and Solheim Cup. It’s a demanding course that is bold and long, and one where players must perform well tee-to-green to have any chance at success Those who get out of position in the thick rough, either with wayward drives or poor approaches into the firm greens will struggle to make par. Muirfield Village will provide a stringent test of short-game skills as it ranks as the second toughest course (behind Augusta National) to gain strokes around the green.
After toughening the course in 2020, Nicklaus described his philosophy on the renovation and Muirfield Village in general. “My belief is that tournament golf should be a test to find out who is the best golfer that week. Far too many tournaments have eliminated the rough and firmness of greens, and that is just not my idea of what the game of golf should be. So I’m going to stick with my old-fashioned beliefs about how the game of golf should be played and the way golf courses should be set up. The whole gamut of all shots is what the game of golf is all about. The game should challenge every facet of every club in the bag.”
There has been a diverse group of winners over the past dozen events with some of the elite players rising to the top in recent years. The strokes gained profiles of the last two winners have exemplified the need for “the whole gamut of all shots”. In 2022, Billy Horschel succeeded throughout his bag, gaining 8.4 strokes ball-striking and 9 strokes with his short game. Last year, Viktor Hovland won a low-scoring event by gaining 6.2 strokes ball-striking and 7 strokes on and around the greens.
The Field
Typically an invitational event with a 120-player field, The Memorial is a “Signature Event” containing only 73 players this year. It is one of three player-hosted tournaments along with “The Genesis Invitational” and the “Arnold Palmer Invitational” that feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties plus any player within 10 shots of the lead. With a total purse of $20 million, the winner receives $4 million and 700 FedExCup points.
Muirfield Village typically hosts one of the strongest fields on Tour, and this year is no different with only the best players qualifying. Every eligible player within the top 35 in the world rankings will be in attendance including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy, winner of this year’s PGA Championship, Xander Schauffele, two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay, and defending Memorial champion Viktor Hovland. The only player turning down the invitation to play is last week’s Canadian Open winner, Robert Macintyre, who is choosing to return home to Scotland to celebrate his first PGA Tour victory.
Muirfield Village Golf Club – History
Located just a few miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio, Muirfield Village was founded by golf legend, Jack Nicklaus. He named it after Muirfield, Scotland where he completed his first grand slam in 1966 after winning the British Open. Situated on 220 acres, the club officially opened in May of 1974. As far as why he chose the site, Nicklaus remarked, “It’s a pretty site. When I saw it, I liked the way it flowed through the valleys, and I knew I wanted to create a gallery golf course. The valleys were wide enough to accommodate that goal.”
With Augusta National in mind, Nicklaus built a course that epitomizes his design philosophy. It is a brawny style of modern architecture that favors players with a high ball flight and those with a left-to-right power fade off the tee.
Jack Nicklaus is the type of course designer who is never satisfied and is always looking to modernize his creations. This is nowhere more true than here at Muirfield Village. Since it opened, Nicklaus has remodeled every hole on the course at least once. His main reason for doing so is to keep up with the distance and talent of current times.
After the 2020 event, Nicklaus oversaw an extensive course renovation that saw new tees added on five holes, a complete reconstruction of the green complexes with bentgrass surfaces, and recontoured bunkers. The 15th hole was also completely rebuilt. This renovation also lengthened the course by close to 100 yards. In 2023, new tees were added on No. 16 and No. 17 which further lengthened the course by around 40 yards. The only change this year is the tee on No. 16 was moved 25 yards to the right and a greenside bunker was removed.
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Finish Position and Strokes Gained Course History (2015-2023)
This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2015 for each of the categories. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Muirfield Village is the 12th most predictive annual course on Tour.
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Course Features
Muirfield Village Golf Club is a par-72 course that measures 7,569 yards. The recently added length makes it the fifth-longest annual course on Tour. This classical parkland layout is characterized by elevation changes, wide tree-lined fairways, challenging bunkers, firm and fast green complexes, and penal rough. There are also 12 holes with water danger.
With so many areas that the course defends itself, the margin for error is minuscule. Even slight mistakes can compound matters quickly leading to bogey or worse. Looking back from 2016-2020, Muirfield Village played to an average score of 0.75 over par. When analyzing the last three years of data since the renovation, it has played significantly more difficult at an average of 1.12 strokes over par ranking it as the second-toughest non-major course on the PGA Tour.
Said 2020 Memorial champion Jon Rahm after the renovation, “It’s a test out there. It’s more how golf should be. I’m glad for once we’re not having a week where it becomes a putting contest and see who shoots 20-plus under par. I do think the redesign has made it a better golf course.” Because of the penal rough, players who drive it well have a much better chance of finding success with their approach shots than those stuck trying to hack their ball out of the thick grass.
Muirfield Village’s design is typical of one of Nicklaus’s core philosophies. With wider fairways, each hole gets more difficult the further it gets from the tee box. Nicklaus believes in challenging players on approach and into the greens so that those who hit quality irons and can scramble to save par will rise to the top. Similar to how the “Golden Bear” himself played the game, Muirfield favors a power fade off the tee with a high ball flight apex into the greens which typically get dramatically firmer as the weekend progresses.
Tiger Woods confirmed this advantage a few years ago. “So over the course of my career, I’ve done well on Nicklaus courses. And I’ve always felt maybe just the high fade or just high shots in general, because I’ve always hit the ball high has always been advantageous.”
Known for its immaculate grass and fantastically manicured grounds, Muirfield Village is one of the most picturesque golf courses on Tour. Fairway grass and greens are made up of Bentgrass, while the rough is a 4″ blend of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue. The greens are very pure and consistent throughout rolling at around a fast 13 on the stimpmeter. They rank below average in size at 5,000 square feet and are also known for being some of the toughest greens on Tour with broad sweeping contours and numerous pin locations that will funnel back toward the hole when hit to the proper quadrant.
Hole Preview
The course doesn’t have one iconic hole but instead is made up of 18 magnificent ones. A good majority of the scoring at Muirfield comes on the four par-5s. They make up the only four holes that play under par and are each in the 550-600 yard range. In the most recent renovation, the four par 5s were each lengthened to make them more difficult to reach in two shots. This resulted in them being the toughest group of par-5s on Tour since 2020. Excluding the 561-yard 15th, the other three can typically be reached in two shots. In the last three years combined, 59 of the top 65 players on the leaderboard gained on the field on the par-5s.
Three of the par-3s are over 200 yards and play a combined 0.62 over par. And the shortest one, the 180-yard 12th hole has the highest bogey-or-worse rate at 26%. They are the third toughest par-3s on Tour. Players will be hitting long irons into small and firm greens and will have their patience tested.
There is not a single par-4 that plays under par. The only par-4s that are even close are the two holes that are under 400 yards. Seven of them play between 450-500 yards. Overall, they rank as the seventh-toughest par 4 group on Tour.
The closing stretch at Muirfield Village, featuring holes 16-18, is one of the most punishing on Tour. The 16th includes a 200-yard par 3 over water. The 17th is a monstrous 485-yard par 4 with a tight corridor off the tee. It concludes with a 480-yard finishing hole that features an uphill dogleg with multiple hazards to maneuver around.
Strokes Gained Analysis
Off the Tee
In the years preceding the 2020 renovation, Muirfield was one of the easiest courses to gain strokes off the tee (OTT). In the three years since the, however, it has ranked in the top five for OTT difficulty thanks to added length, placement of bunkers closer to landing zones, and slightly tighter fairways.
While fairways are generous, averaging 32 yards wide, there is a damaging penalty for wayward drives. Not only does water lurk throughout the course, but the 4″ thick rough is among the most penal on Tour. In fact, the course ranks as the toughest to play when missing a fairway or hitting into the rough. There is a premium for driving the ball in the fairway this week leading to one of our favorite Rabbit Hole metrics, “Distance From Edge of Fairway” being vital once again. In the last three years, 32 of the top 35 players gained in Good Drive %, and 33 out of 35 gained strokes OTT.
Player after player has commented on the importance of staying out of the rough at all costs. Said Patrick Cantlay, “There’s a huge premium on driving the golf ball long in the fairway.” Jordan Spieth said, “If you get yourself out of position off the tee, and all of a sudden you’re left, you can’t really take much of a chance because then you get above the hole and you’re out of it. So there is a premium on positioning off the tee.”
With the course being so long, distance off the tee is also a definite advantage. Longer hitters can then attack the greens with wedges and higher-lofted irons. As mentioned earlier, many of the holes demand something Nicklaus was great at himself – hitting a high power fade. Many players have commented about that type of ball flight working well here.
Approach
Muirfield Village is the ultimate shots-makers course that demands precision on every stroke. Yet birdie opportunities can be gained if players can find the right quadrant on the greens. Rickie Fowler commented, “It’s a second-shot golf course. You have to control your ball coming to these greens, and you have to be able to put yourself on the right side of the hole on the right section of the green.”
The top-6 on the leaderboard both in 2021 and last year gained an average of 4.8 shots on approach. In 2022, not a single player in the top 13 gained less than 2.1 strokes with their approaches. Long-iron play will be paramount with 49% of approach shots coming from over 175 yards. This is well above the Tour average of 44%.
Along with some of the firmest greens on Tour, there is also water danger on approach on 11 holes. A GIR rate of only 52% last year shows just how tough these green complexes are. And with the fifth-smallest greens on Tour, even good approaches can go unrewarded as balls will bounce and roll off these firm and fast surfaces. Players who short-side themselves on approach will have difficulty scrambling as they will be putting downhill, making a 3-putt all the more likely. It is no wonder that Muirfield ranks as the fourth-toughest course to gain strokes on approach.
Another key factor this week that players have been heavily quoted on is leaving your putts below the hole in the proper area of the green. Said 2017 winner Jason Dufner, “Being underneath the hole is huge out here. When I play good rounds, I seem to be putting uphill all week. I’m struggling from above the hole.”
With the greens sloping so severely in different areas, there are specific spots where the ball will feed towards the hole. Much of this is learned by course experience and is another reason to target players who have been battle-tested at Muirfield Village. Learning where you can and can’t miss will be paramount to success. Finally, players with a higher ball apex who can land their ball softer on these greens will be crucial for a higher GIR%.
Around the Green and Putting
Scrambling and around the green play will be critical this week. Much of the scoring difficulty at Muirfield Village comes from the challenge of these green complexes. Over the last decade, it has ranked inside the top eight most difficult courses in around-the-green difficulty. With players missing greens almost half the time, scrambling opportunities will be plentiful. SG: ARG is the fourth most correlated stat to having success here. And it’s not just the 4-inch rough that gives players trouble, it’s the 68 bunkers that surround these greens, many of which are massive and deep.
With the greens at Muirfield Village being so fast and undulated it seems to level out the playing field in terms of putting skill because everyone has to putt so defensively. Since the renovation, the last three years have seen Muirfield become one of the easier putting courses on Tour, whereas beforehand it had always ranked in the top half of the most difficult.
Jordan Spieth has remarked on how important imagination is on these greens because with all the ridges and slopes you have to find creative ways to lag your ball to the hole. “The greens are arguably tied for first or second only to Augusta National as far as speed and how pure they are consistently each year. I love putting on greens where you have to have imagination. You have to play these ridges. Speed control is so vital.”
Most Important Stats For Success at Muirfield Village GC
*In order of importance
- SG: APP
- Scrambling (Rough)
- Good Drive % (Rough)
- SG: Par 5
- Proximity 175+ yds
- Bogey Avoidance
- Distance From Edge of Fairway
- SG: Putting (Bentgrass)
- Driving Distance
- SG: Course History + Other Difficult T2G Courses
Key Rabbit Hole Filters
- Course Region: Midwest
- Scoring Conditions: Very Difficult
- Course Length: Very Long
- Field Strength: Very Strong
- Field Size: Small Field
- Water Danger: High
- Greens Surface: Bent
- Green Speed: Fast
- Green Size: Small
- Rough Surface: Bluegrass
- Rough Length: Long
- Fairway Accuracy: Difficult
- Missed Fairway Penalty: High
- Rough Penalty: High
- Gain APP: Very Difficult
- GAIN ARG: Very Difficult
- Scrambling – Rough: Difficult