Rocket Mortgage Classic: Detroit Golf Club is a known test at a new course

The Rocket Mortgage Classic is one of the PGA TOUR’s brand new events, but players know the challenge they can expect from a legendary designer.

Any time the PGA Tour goes to a new golf course, there’s uncertainty as to what golfers can expect. That was the case this week with the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

One key to help them acclimate was knowing that the Detroit Golf Club was originally a Donald Ross design. There may have been some tweaks to it over the years, but it’s likely there’s still a lot of Ross left in it.

Ross, who died in 1948, was a prolific designer and has been credited, some say, with nearly 600 courses. Others put the number closer to 400. However, Ross did not personally build most of them.

He sent designs to clubs or individuals who requested them. Then they could build per his design. His most famous course is Pinehurst No. 2, which has hosted a number of prestigious events, including recent U.S. Opens.

PGA Tour players have seen just about every kind of course imaginable. They are hard to trick when it comes to course know-how. Once they knew it was a Ross design, they had an idea what it would be like, as Dustin Johnson said before the Rocket Mortgage Classic started.

"“Obviously, it’s an old Donald Ross course, and it’s a golf course that’s a lot of fun to play,” Dustin Johnson said to media before play started on Thursday. “It’s not real long, but the greens are very challenging. Off the tee it’s not too difficult, but where it plays difficult is going to be on the greens.”"

What he left unsaid is that Ross often designed using what are called push-up greens. In the days before sophisticated drainage was built into courses as it is today, Ross made greens that were elevated from the rest of the course so that they would drain faster after a rain. And he didn’t make them flat.

In addition to being slightly elevated, the greens needed internal slopes so that they could drain. Pinehurst No. 2 has many push-up greens, but not all of them are that way.

"“It’s a lot of slope, a lot of different locations on the green,” Johnson continued. “It’s all little quadrants, and you want to be in the right quadrant.”"

Gary Woodland focused on another aspect of the course. The tee shot.

"“The greens have a ton of slope, so, that’s going to just kind of be how you feel there, but you’ve got to be in the fairway to attack these pins,” he explained to media. “The rough isn’t too bad, but there’s so much slope (on the greens) you’ve got to find a way to get below it (the hole), and you need to be in the fairway to do that.”"

Bubba Watson offered an interesting detail regarding the mowing pattern on the course.

"“What I saw on the fairways is you’ve got the fairway cut one way, down grain; you’ve got the fairway cut into the grain. So, on the tee shots the right side looked better to me just because I could see the fairway a lot better,” he explained to media. “I like to cut the ball anyway, so I’m looking at that right side and trying to cut it back to the center.”"

The grass will probably look lighter down grain and darker into the grain.

But Watson also knows the Ross greens are a challenge.

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“The greens are going to be very difficult. Trying to get the speed of the greens, trying to leave the ball in the right positions if you miss the greens,” he added.

Johnson noted that his wedges were going to be important this week because the course is not long.

"“We’re going to have a good many wedges, so being able to control the spin, it’s going to be difficult to get it close to the hole,” he said."

The good news is that there are scoring opportunities, at least according to Woodland.

"“Four par 5s that I can get home to,” he said. “There’s a lot of scoring opportunities. But with Donald Ross, you’ve just got to make sure you’re in the right spot, because those greens, you could be in some nasty spots and have some trouble.”"

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While Donald Ross courses are challenging, the best players in the world know what to expect. Ross designs are spread all across the country, and that means most PGA Tour players have run into them more than once in their playing careers. The Rocket Mortgage Classic is a classic challenge, even in its first week on the big stage.

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