Sam O'Brien
9 minutes
If you've played at Streamsong, you know… The greens are CRAZY. If you haven't played at Streamsong, I am telling you from a first hand account, the greens are CRAZY. These are likely the largest greens you'll ever play on, but its not the size that makes them challenging. The greens have some of the most absurd undulation you can find on a golf course, requiring extreme precision in terms of distance control and start line.
I was able to play in TheGrint Tour's 2023 Streamsong Cup this past weekend, and since I also work for TheGrint, I get the unique ability to compare the rounds I just played last weekend with the tens of thousands of tracked rounds at Streamsong by Grinters. By "tracked rounds", I mean Grinters that launched the app on the first tee, and recorded their hole-by-hole scores and putts. The data I looked at only focused on high level stats - scoring averages, fairway and green accuracy, total putts, and putt distribution. I'm not a data scientist, and we aren't looking at strokes gained or proximity data here. More on that some other time… But with that in mind, it is a fun exercise to see how Grinters stack up at a course like this, and the data surfaces some pretty cool stories. Here are some of my favorite takeaways:
While this is an average across all skill levels at each course, the key takeaway here is that these are very high rates for 3-putting. For reference, a 10 handicap will typically 3-putt at a rate close to 7-8%. For a 25 handicap, the 15% range becomes more of the norm. So seeing 20% at the Black course as an average across ALL skill levels is definitely abnormally high.
*3-putt rate defined as 3 or more putts on a hole.
Kudos to you, Grinters who diligently logged a 7-putt without throwing your phone or watch into the swamp. The 7-putts were recorded at the 15th hole at the Blue Course, and the 2nd hole at the Red course. We do have a trash talk notification for a 4-putt, but none for >5-putt. We'll save you the shame and not fire a notification for those.
This is one of the coolest areas on the property, as the 16th hole on Red sits nearby to the 7th hole on Blue - showcasing two dramatic par 3's. This hole is a long par 3 that plays about 160 yards from the middle tees, and almost 200 yards from the black tees. The memorable Biarritz green (a deep valley or swale in the middle) is wide, but extremely long; a trap for many tee shots that hit any part of the green. Misses on the left and right are punishing. While many players may hit the green, pin placements on the front or back can lead to 50+ foot putts, and likely explains the higher 3-putt rate.
Many consider this the most impressive hole on the entire Streamsong property (I would argue that title belongs to the par 5 18th on the Black course), with a beautiful view of the clubhouse from an elevated teebox. The elevation change is severe, with the green significantly below the teeing ground. The hole plays around 140 from the middle tees, but can play a long from the back tees (~180+). Golfers must carry the water the entire way, and there are bunkers and false fronts that are very problematic if you don't hit the green. It would make sense for most golfers to just try and play to the center of the green, and try and get home in 2 for par. But the green map below shows the dramatic undulation on this hole, and "hitting the green" at Streamsong absolutely does not mean an easy par. No matter the pin placement, you're not going to be looking at a straight or flat putt.
Check out our post here to learn more about how to read green maps. Recall that reds, oranges, and pinks indicate severe slope.
When this showed up in the data as the hole with the highest 3-putt rate on the Black course, it didn't surprise me. From the middle tees, this shot is 158 yards straight uphill. Many golfers will bail out to the right in the bunkers, because you simply can't miss left. This is the one thing the forecaddie in our group told us -- don't go left. A massive ridge (several feet of steep undulation) collects any balls who head left. For most pin positions, if you miss left, par is very unlikely on the hole, even with a GIR.
Naturally, when I played this hole I ignored the caddie and pulled it left over what looks like an actual mountain on the green, barely catching the left edge of the putting surface. From the left side of the green, playing your second shot at really any of the possible pin placements means you must make the putt for birdie, or else the ball will roll off the green as the elevation change is too severe. So you will find yourself putting sideways to a safe place on the green, and try and get home from there. Miss the green, and a par feels like a birdie. Hit the green, and par still feels like a birdie.
Runner-up: Hole 14 on the Black course at 25.3% 3-putts or worse. Not surprising, that green is also a nightmare.
This is not an exhaustive analysis. There are a million layers to go more and more specific, and there are TONS of caveats when interpreting data based on tracked scores. For example:
Still, it's fun to compare the course to what the data looks like, even at a high level.TL;DR - Streamsong is wide and the greens are large. You might hit more greens than usual. But you're probably gonna 3 putt WAY more than usual as a result. That’s just how it goes at Streamsong…
