The Rocket Mortgage Classic is played every summer at the historic Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. While the name is simple, the course itself is a unique composite track, blending two classic Donald Ross layouts to create a distinct test for the world's best golfers. We’ll break down the course's history, its key features, and offer coaching advice on how you can tackle a design like this to score your best.
Detroit Golf Club (DGC) is one of the most storied golf clubs in the Midwest, founded way back in 1899. After moving to its current location, the club commissioned the legendary golf course architect Donald Ross to design its two 18-hole courses, the North and the South, which opened in 1916. Having both courses designed by the same mastermind gives the club a wonderfully cohesive feel, even as each course possesses its own character.
For the PGA Tour event, the professionals don’t just play the North Course. Instead, they play a composite course specially routed for the tournament. The layout consists of 17 holes from the North Course and one hole from the South Course to improve flow and spectator viewing. Hole #3 from the South Course is inserted into the routing as hole #3 for the tournament, creating a seamless loop that brings players close to the clubhouse multiple times. This thoughtfully crafted layout ensures a challenging and entertaining experience for both players and fans.
To understand Detroit Golf Club, you have to understand Donald Ross. Ross was a master of subtle, strategic design. He didn't believe in penalizing players with extreme length or tricked-up hazards. Instead, his genius lay in the parts of the game that require intellect and precision, particularly around the greens.
The defining feature of both the North and South courses is the green complexes. Ross is famous for his "turtleback" or "crowned" greens, which are elevated and tend to slope away on all sides. A shot that lands just a few feet off center can easily be repelled by the contour, rolling off the green into a tightly mown collection area or a strategically placed bunker.
This design feature makes DGC a quintessential "second-shot golf course." The challenge isn’t necessarily getting the ball off the tee, it’s hitting your approach shot to the correct portion of the small, undulating greens. Success here requires excellent distance control and a clear understanding of where to miss. A player who misses on the "correct" side, leaving a simple uphill chip, will fare much better than one who misses on the short side with no green to work with.
While not overly long by today's standards, the courses are framed by mature trees. This places a premium on finding the fairway. More importantly, however, it’s about finding the correct side of the fairway. Ross designed his holes to reward the player who thinks one step ahead. A tee shot placed on the right side of the fairway might open up a much better angle to a back-left pin location, taking bunkers and severe slopes out of play. A tee shot down the left might leave a player "short-sided" or blocked by overhanging trees. It's a thinking person's course, not just a bomber's paradise.
During the tournament, a few key holes always seem to produce drama and excitement. They perfectly encapsulate the risk-and-reward nature of the course.
The most electric part of the course is a three-hole stretch affectionately named "Area 313" after Detroit's area code. This is where a lot of the tournament’s action unfolds.
Playing a Donald Ross course is a rewarding experience if you approach it with the right mindset. While you may notice the pros shooting deep into the red numbers, the course design holds subtler defenses that you need to respect. Here’s a coach's guide to navigating a classic design like this.
Remember that the golf swing is a rotational action meant to create power, accuracy, and consistency. On a course like Detroit GC, you can lean more heavily on accuracy and consistency. Instead of swinging out of your shoes trying for maximum distance, focus on a smooth, full-body rotation that finds the fairway. The fairways are generally flat and inviting, so your primary goal isn't to get it down there as far as possible, but to place it on the side that gives you the best angle into the flag.
Before you tee off, walk back and look at the pin position for the day. Is it on the left? Then playing from the right side of the fairway is probably your best bet. Think one shot ahead. This is a game of chess, not checkers.
This is where the battle on a Donald Ross course is won or lost. His greens demand respect. Here are a few things to remember:
The breaks on Ross greens can be confusing. They often feature many subtle undulations rather than huge, obvious tiers. The breaks might defy your eyes. A key piece of advice is to look at the overall landscape.Often, the big picture - the main slope of the land the green is built on - will dictate the final, subtle turn of the putt near the hole. When in doubt, play a little less break than you see and make a confident stroke.
It might seem odd that a course designed by a master architect yields such low winning scores, often deeper than -20. This "birdie-fest" happens for a few reasons that an amateur can learn from.
First, modern equipment and professional skill levels are far beyond what existed in 1916. Today's players hit the ball farther and with more control. Second, the course conditions for a PGA Tour event are pristine. The lies are perfect, and the greens roll so purely that pros feel they can make everything they look at. Finally, because the course isn't punishingly long, players have shorter irons and wedges in their hands for many approach shots. For the best players in the world, this is a green light to attack pins. When you combine their supernatural precision with ideal conditions, the result is a flurry of birdies, which makes for an incredibly exciting tournament to watch.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic shines a spotlight on Detroit Golf Club, a timeless Donald Ross design that proves a course doesn’t need overwhelming length to be a great test. Its genius lies in strategic positioning and complex greens, rewarding thoughtful, precise golf and producing an thrilling birdie-fest each year.
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