GC of Houston Key Fantasy Stats

Houston Open

March 29th – April 1st, 2018

Golf Club of Houston (Tournament Course)

Humble, TX

Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,441

Purse: $7 million

with $1,260,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Russell Henley

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

We are basing this on the most important stats for the Golf Club of Houston, based on data from last years Shell Houston Open, and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2018. What we do is take their rank for each stat and then add up the four categories.
The scoring average of the field at G.C. of Houston in 2017 was 71.98, so with par being 72, that means the average score was just about par last year, making G.C. of Houston the 24th hardest course to score on in 2017. It’s also important to see how the weather could play a factor, last year’s conditions were overcast with some showers over the weekend with the wind blowing 10 and 20 mph. This year no rain to speak of but the winds will be up Friday through Sunday.  So the significant factor for the players, it will be windy which gives the course some bite.

In looking at the stats for Golf Club of Houston from last year, one thing is apparent, the course is for bombers. Of the 11 in the top-ten, seven of them are in the top-50 of driving distance for 2018. Look at some of the champions at Golf Club of Houston, J.B. Holmes, Matt Jones, Phil Mickelson hit it long. So those that know how to beat it out there has a significant advantage since accuracy doesn’t come into play. So for our first stat, we pick Strokes Gained from tee-to-Green because this is a good barometer if a player is considered a “bomber.” Last year in his Shell Houston Open win, Russell Henley, who isn’t considered a long driver, more in the middle of the road in distance was 7th for the week in SG Off-the-Tee and 8th in SG Tee-to-Green. So you can see one of the keys for Henley’s victory Our second stat is Proximity to the hole because the greens are smooth (34th hardest last year) to hit, but it’s essential to get it close to the pin from the fairway. For the week Golf Club of Houston was T-17th for the year with the players hitting it an average of 36 feet, 8 inches away Henley was 4th in Greens hit and 31st in proximity to hole Next is scrambling if you miss the green you have to get it up and down. One of the things that the folks that run this event do is get conditions on the course to match those at Augusta National, site of next week’s Masters. One of the most prominent elements of this is giving those that miss the greens the same challenges that Augusta National has, so scrambling is very important in the Shell Houston Open. It ranked 30th on Tour, and even though Henley was T-43rd the year before the 2016 champion Jim Herman was T-4th showing the importance of getting it up and down from off the green. Last is par breakers because you have to make a lot of birdies and eagles to do well. Last year the course ranked 22nd as Henley was T-1st in this stat because he made lot’s of birdies (27) with ranked him T-1st so you can see the importance of this and all of our stats for this week.

*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: The per round average of the number of Strokes the player was better or worse than the field average on the same course & event minus the Players Strokes Gained putting value.

*Proximity to Hole: The average length that a player hits from the pin with shots from the fairway.

*Scrambling: So which course is tough to get it up and down on holes players miss the greens. Since all of the areas’s around the greens are mowed short, making it a lot like Augusta National it should be easier for players to getting it up and down.

*ParBreakers: The course allows a lot of birdies and eagles to be made, so par breakers is important for the players.

The 127 players of the field of 144 that have stats from 2018:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.