In partnership with

The eighth and final stop on the FedEx Fall Swing takes us to Sea Island, home to a handful of pros and the RSM Classic. Not a ton to say about this, but as we get to the time of the year when the daylight grows scarce, I do appreciate that they split the field up on Thursday and Friday in order to make sure they get the full rounds in. Once we hit the weekend, everyone who’s made the cut will play the Seaside course two more times.

The bigger news came down from the PGA Policy Board yesterday. I’m always tragically behind on the news like this and hate to jump to conclusions until I’ve read up a bit, but this seems bad at first glance.

I’ll catchup a bit on it and maybe help lay out exactly what will look different going forward over the next few weeks, but for now, I’ll be focusing on Sea Island!

A look at the courses via Ron Klos’ course preview. The full article can be viewed at BetspertsGolf.com, including a breakdown of each of the main SG categories and how they matter at this event.

Sea Island (Seaside & Plantation Courses)

The main course at the RSM Classic that will host three rounds this week is the Seaside course. It is a par-70, 7,005-yard course that meanders along the coastal marshlands of St. Simons Sound. It ranks as the 10th shortest course on Tour and mitigates any distance advantage that some players have on longer tracks.

It was created as a links-style course surrounded by tidal creeks, man-made sand dunes, elevation changes, and the Atlantic Ocean. While it does help to use the ground game when winds increase, it does not play anything close to a true-links course. It features the fourth widest fairways and the seventh largest greens on Tour.

Seaside has played a quarter of a shot tougher than the Plantation course mostly due to its 13 holes with water danger and its location off the coast which makes it vulnerable to the wind. Players will see the same type of greens on both courses with Bermuda being the main surface. The course usually plays quite soft this time of year and was overseeded back in October. The fairways on both courses are ryegrass, while Seaside is listed as having overseeded rye for rough this year, perhaps due to the cooler conditions.

Even with only two par-5s on the Seaside course, they must be taken advantage of as they are two of the easiest scoring opportunities. It does feature four somewhat challenging par-3s that measure between 175-225 yards and includes two of the most difficult holes on the course. But ultimately, performance on the 12 par-4s will determine who contends on the leaderboard. These holes include five of the seven toughest on the course, each of which plays over par. Seven of the par-4s play under 420 yards which is one of the reasons nearly 67% of approach shots come from under 175 yards.

Compared to Seaside, Plantation is more of a tree-lined parkland course and is much less exposed to the coastal winds. Players have remarked that it has a definite “Carolina” feel to it and have compared it to Harbour Town. It features 1.5″ Bermuda grass rough and greens that will roll between 11-12 on the stimp meter. Ever since it was renovated by Davis Love III back in 2019, it has drawn rave reviews from players. and requires much more thoughtfulness and creativity than before.

Plantation also boasts wide fairways, and at only 7,060 yards is the sixth shortest course on Tour. While the course does play easier overall compared to Seaside, it has gotten tougher since the renovation. Tidal creeks and lakes are in play on 10 different holes. While it does have four reachable par 5s, the par-72 course has much more difficult green complexes that have distinct quadrants with much more undulation than it did previously.

Betting

One Shot for me this week.

Ludvig Åberg +1051

I don’t care that he’s the defending champ and it’s a full field birdie fest. Not only is he a top-5 golfer in the world in a weak field, this sort of course matches all of his skills to a tee. I may bet a few names live at a some big prices, but for now, it’s just one bullet.

There is not much up in the way of matchups on the legal sportsbooks as of right now, which is a bit disappointing. I’ll dig back in tomorrow morning and if there’s something that looks good, I’ll post it on Twitter.

Are you interested in advertising with us? We’d love to connect.

Model

With another easy course and a relatively weak field, we put together a Rabbit Hole model based on some filters we thought would help set some golfers apart this week.

• Form over the last 12 months on Short courses

• Form over the last 12 months in easy scoring conditions

• Ball-Striking on “less than driver” courses

• Approach overall, last 2 years

• Overall putting and putting on Bermuda-only

• Birdie of Better Rate

Ludvig and a few names that have had some nice results over the swing season near the top. Killa Keith is way up there on the back of his ball striking and, honestly, quite a few “bad” putters near the top.

If you want to check this model out or build your own, we can get you in the door via one of our sponsors for just $10. This is a limited-time offer, so check it out.

Weather

For now, the weekend looks pretty calm, with the high winds hitting us on Thursday and Friday afternoons. It’s not unusual to be this windy here. Maybe folks playing the inland course (Plantation) on Friday afternoon and Seaside on Thursday morning are in the best shape.

It will be pretty damn cold in the mornings, especially with the winds bringing some extra wind chill factors. The rains preceding the start of the tournament should have the course playing fairly soft to start as well.

News and Notes

I’d probably agree with anything Ms. Hull said if she asked nicely, but I doubly agree with this.

Good reminder ahead of the holiday season, especially for those of you on Social Media

A fun moment in Bermuda to close things out

As always, bet responsibly, have fun, and we’ll see you next week to start previewing the 2025 majors.

Twitter | YouTube | Website | The Rabbit Hole