After a thrilling conclusion to the U.S. Open, the PGA Tour plays its final signature event of the regular season. A stacked field heads to Cromwell, CT, for the 2024 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. As always, here is your early preview of the 2024 Travelers Championship and a deep dive into the types of golfers to bet for the tournament.
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2024 Travelers Championship Preview
For years, this tournament was known as the Greater Hartford Open, first played in 1952 at Weathersfield Country Club. In the 1980s, the PGA Tour bought the former Edgewood Country Club and rebranded it as part of their TPC golf course network. They brought in the legendary Pete Dye to rebuild the golf course and dubbed it TPC Connecticut. The tournament has been played there ever since.
In 1989, the golf course underwent a major renovation spearheaded by Pete Dye’s disciple Bobby Weed. PGA pros Howard Twitty and Roger Maltbie also consulted on the project. Though the thought of improving upon a Pete Dye golf course is hard to fathom, they managed to do so. Their newest design took the Back Nine down a valley near the train tracks that run alongside the Connecticut River. The renovation was completed in 1990, and the golf course was renamed TPC River Highlands.
There are some slight resemblances to the typical Pete Dye golf course experience. These include the bottlenecking of the fairways, inconveniently placed bunkers, and green complexes angled away from the hole’s directional path.
But most of the Pete Dye of the golf course was taken out of it post-renovation. While Bobby Weed is a Dye disciple, it’s not a true Dye. In fact, most of the holes Dye designed aren’t even there now. They’re mostly in someone’s basement in one of the subdivision houses.
To be blunt, the front nine at TPC River Highlands isn’t anything to write home about. There isn’t much trickery over the first nine holes. Everything is almost all out in front of the player, and besides the 2nd hole, there is very little elevation change tee-to-green. It’s a fairly boring stretch of holes.
There’s also not a lot of wow factor on the first half of the Front Nine. There are a few interesting and challenging holes, like the downhill Par 3 11th. The Par 5 13th that features water hazards right of the fairway and left of the green also can be quite challenging. But overall, holes 10-14 look very similar to holes seen every week on the PGA Tour.
However, things heat up on the back half of the Back None. The Travelers Championship has the reputation of producing very exciting finishes to their tournaments, and the stretch from 15-18 is the reason why:
Holes 15-17
This stretch of holes is one of the best viewing spots for anyone who does not own a home on one of the fairways. The best place to be is to the right of the 16th green, as the spectator can watch the players play the exciting and drivable Par 4 15th, the Par 3 16th over the water, and the 17th that features a forced carry over same said water and a green with a false front.
Here is where the tournament usually tightens up, either with a player getting red hot over this stretch or someone who makes a mess of these holes.
18th Hole – 444 Yards
While the design of the hole is nothing special, it’s the huge fan base that sits in an amphitheater setting that makes this hole memorable. Hartford has some of the best fans on the PGA Tour, and the whole community treats this event as if the Whalers have been resurrected.
As someone who also lives in a minor league sports town, I can totally relate to how passionate they are about their tournament. Whenever a huge sporting event comes into town, it dominates the headlines and creates a buzz in the city. And as shown back in 2017, they can get pretty excited around that 18th green.
Betting Strategies
Here is some general information about Muirfield Village. This will assist in optimizing betting strategies for the 2024 Travelers Championship.
Par: 70
Length: 6,835 Yards
- TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest golf courses on the PGA Tour schedule.
Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. feet
- TPC River Highlands features some of the smallest greens the players will face on the PGA Tour.
Agronomy:
- Fairways: Bentgrass/Poa Annua
- Rough: Kentucky/Bluegrass/Fescue Mix – ~4″ in length
- Collars & Approaches: Bentgrass/Poa Annua
- Greens: Bentgrass/Poa Annua
- Prior to the renovation, the greens were a bentgrass/poa mix
Scoring at TPC River Highlands
- 2023: -1.82
- 2022: -0.65
- 2021: -0.25
Scoring at TPC River Highlands has progressively gotten easier and easier over the last three years. The golf course itself hasn’t changed. But both the quality of field and equipment players use has.
Last year, Keegan Bradley won the 2024 Travelers Championship at a blistering -23. At a Par 70, that’s a very low score. The cut was -4, which typically is reserved for some of the easier golf courses on the PGA Tour. The golf course was no match for the modern player.
After the tournament last year, Rory McIlroy called TPC River Highlands “obsolete.” When a short golf course gets a ton of rain like TPC River Highlands had, players are going to attack it with the driver no matter how thick the rough is or how narrow the fairways are. Only a rollback in the golf ball and equipment, maintained or tricking up the golf course, could pose a challenge to the modern player at TPC River Highlands.
As I sit here writing this preview, I was expecting some sort of change to the golf course. There have been a few alterations. You can read about them by clicking the link here.
While some of these changes has made it a little tougher to just wail away at driver without regard on certain holes, these aren’t material changes to the golf course. It still is 6,800 yards. It always had thick rough off the fairway. The greens are exactly the same.
This golf course will still require hitting a high volume of short approach shots. These changes might make the holes play a tenth of a stroke more difficult here or there, but it’s not enough to fundamentally change the golf course overall or change one’s strategy.
Off The Tee
Historically, TPC River Highlands ranks as the 40th most difficult golf course off the tee. That’s about middle of the pack in terms of difficulty. However, last year TPC River Highlands played relatively easier off the tee as compared to typical PGA Tour setups.
As referenced above, Rory McIlroy felt that TPC River Highlands is obsolete primarily because of the lack of penalty off the tee. Statistically, he’s incorrect. TPC River Highlands is one of the more penal places to miss the fairway. Including major venues, since 2015, the difference in scores between a hit and missed fairway at TPC River Highland is +0.42, making it the 18th most penal golf course.
However, the penalty is primarily from actual penalty areas off the tee (i.e., water). In terms of rough or bunkers, it is not very penal. Missing a fairway into the rough is only the 38th most penal of all golf courses played since 2015.
This is even with 4+ inches of bluegrass rough. And finding a bunker off the tee isn’t penal at all. The difference in score is only +0.35 for those who miss it into a fairway bunker, which is merely the 67th most penal.
In addition, the average driving distance at TPC River Highlands has ballooned over the last few years. Part of that is an improvement in technology, but another part is overall strategy.
Players are attacking TPC River Highlands more with the driver than they did a decade ago. The mentality has shifted from hitting fairways to finding distance for many of these players. And given the advancements in technology, their ability to carry bunkers or other strategic pitfalls on the holes are easier.
Last year, the average drive at TPC River Highlands went 290 yards. While that’s still far below the PGA Tour average because some holes truly do force one to club down, that’s much higher than the last few years.
This was even with softer conditions that prevented any rollout once the ball found the turf. In addition, the fairway accuracy rate went down to 61%. This is an indicator that players were hitting the driver more often in 2024 than in previous Travelers Championships.
Overall, players can’t be spraying it everywhere at TPC River Highlands. This isn’t a golf course where players can’t find fairways, so hitting it as far as one can is a big advantage. But players are starting to do it more liberally. Gone are the days when players who excel with the driver are neutralized at TPC River Highlands. Big hitters who are efficient off the tee through length and accuracy are more than equipped to overrun the golf course now.
Approach
Since 2015, TPC River Highlands has ranked as the 57th most difficult golf course for approach shots, which is easier than average. It has ranked easier than average in seven of the last nine Travelers Championships.
The primary reason is the abundance of short approach shots. Here is the proximity chart from the 2024 Travelers Championship (per DataGolf):
There are significantly more shots from under 175 yards than the typical PGA Tour stop. It’s estimated that only about 5-6 shots will come from 175 yards or more in any given round. And considering the driving accuracy rates are between 60-70% in any given year at TPC River Highlands, the ability for a professional golfer to hit a short iron from the fairway (even if they’re small like the greens at TPC River Highlands are) just makes the challenge not very daunting.
And that’s played out for the most part at TPC River Highlands, especially in the last few years. The green in regulation rate for the tournament eclipsed 70% in three of the last four Travelers Championships. And when the green play soft like they did last year, players just fire at pins.
As such, targeting players who excel with short irons is a great way to pick out a betting card for the 2024 Travelers Championship.
Around The Green
Around the green seems to be where TPC River Highlands challenges players. Historically, TPC River Highlands ranks as the 7th most difficult around the green of any golf course played on the PGA Tour. That includes the 5th most difficult chipping from fairways, 19th when trying to get up and down from the rough and 26th most difficult from a bunker.
Though there’s much more Bobby Week in TPC River Highlands than there is Pete Dye, Weed is a Dye disciple and still kept much of the spirit of Dye in the golf course. And Dye golf courses typically are quite penal if players miss a green. The greens and surrounds are designed to punish a player with a very difficult chip shot or bunker shot. And the penalty is more for missing it on the wrong side of a hole.
However, with the green in regulation rate routinely hitting 70%, players aren’t missing greens all that often. As such, if players are asked to try and get up and down often at TPC River Highlands, they’re probably not going to score very well to begin with.
Putting
TPC River Highlands features the 48th most difficult greens to putt on since 2015. That’s slightly easier than the average PGA Tour golf course. It typically ranks as average to below average in terms of difficulty in any given year on the PGA Tour.
While the greens don’t roll all that true because of the poa annua in it, that hasn’t seemed to have bothered the players like other pure poa annua or fellow bentgrass/poa annua mixed greens have. And last year in soft conditions, the greens were very easy to putt on.
It does appear, however, that in years in which the golf course played windy firm (like in 2022 and 2021) that putting on the greens was a much more difficult task than in prior years., particularly from less than 15 feet Keep an eye on the weather forecast. If the greens are as soft as last year, expect players to pour in birdies as much as they did in 2023.
Optimal Player Profile
Here are course fit models, per DataGolf, of the types of players that typically do well at TPC River Highlands. In addition, below is a chart describing how players separate themselves from the field at the golf course:
TPC River Highlands hasn’t historically favored length. It typically rewards accurate players who drive it accurately in the tournament. Both the predictive model and the 2023 in-tournament performance match that. In 2023, driving accuracy significantly played more of a factor in how well players did off the tee than driving distance did. And driving distance was significantly de-emphasized in relation to other years.
One thing to keep in mind is that this model is derived from all editions of the Travelers Championship. More and more we’ve seen players your prototypical elite drivers (like Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay) do very well in the tournament. And don’t forget that Bubba Watson has won this event three times. There might be a shift in the type of player off the tee one wants to bet at the Travelers Championship.
Targeting a good iron player overall is a good strategy. But their ability to separate themselves in the tournament is significantly weaker than the typical PGA Tour setup. That is directly attributed to the abundance of short approach shots. The gap between the elite ball strikers and the weaker ones shrinks, and the more short approach shots players are asked to hit. Targeting good iron players, specifically ones who excel from under 175 yards, is key for bettors this week.
Lastly, there isn’t much predictive power in how well or poorly one scrambles or putts leading into the Travelers Championship. However, how one does on and around the greens is much more impactful than how well one does compared to other PGA Tour events. Last year, Keegan Bradley was the #1 putter in the field at the 2023 Travelers Championship despite having inconsistencies on the greens.
And while the 2022 Travelers Championship wasn’t a putting contest, nine of the Top 20 putters in the field placed inside the Top 10 on the leaderboard at the end of the tournament.
This is always challenging for gamblers when faced with a tournament where one skillset isn’t predictive of success but paramount to doing well when balls are in play. It’s probably more useful to just focus on accurate ball-strikers who excel from under 175 yards and then hope they can find a hot putter during the week.
Follow the tips in this preview, and one should be able to put together a solid DFS lineup and betting card for the 2024 Travelers Championship.
