The Lack of Subtlety on Modern Greens

[Andrew Summerell]

Being blessed to play a lot of different courses, both old and new, I have noticed that many of the newer courses don't have the subtlety in the greens that the older courses do. The newer courses will often have large swales, but will not have the subtle borrows around the cup that many of the older courses that I play do.

I find putting on these newer courses easier, because long putts are easier to read & putts inside 10 foot tend to have a relatively obvious line. This often makes the chipping easier because there is generally an obvious landing zone for the chip.

Obviously, this is a generalisation that shouldn't cover all architects, but seems to cover many of them. Is it laziness or is it what the public demands ? I know that I often putt better on modern courses, yet prefer the challenge that many of the older courses bring.

My thoughts are that courses these days need to look hard but play easy. I often see people miss putts on a more subtle course & blame the course when it was actually the fault of their poor putting.

My belief is that if you divided up greens into 5 foot squares, you would find less borrow in the square the cup was in on modern courses.

Andrew

[Tom_Doak]

Andrew:

This is parallel to the discussion of rumpled fairways.

You are right that there are generally less tiny borrows in modern greens, built in layers and finished (prior to seeding) with equipment, than there were in older greens which were finished by hand raking.

You are also right that most architects think players prefer the putting surfaces smooth and simple without those little borrows.  Therefore, contractors are used to finishing the greens this way, and it's difficult for an architect to convince them NOT to take out all the little stuff.  We're supposed to be satisfied with whatever random subtleties are left by the guy on the machine.

Building greens with more small borrows takes more time and attention from the architect.

[Jason Topp]

Is this also due to USGA green construction?  I am under under the impression that many of the subtle breaks on old courses is due in part to changes over time due to settling or buildup from bunker sand.

[Dunlop_White]

Tom -- good point. To take it a step further, this is also the case with some types of bunker construction nowadays. Too many come with slick, clean, smoothed-down shoulders. The dirt faces are soft to the eye, particularly when grassed-over, and appear one dimensional. What ever happened to those  boney-looking, visually imposing bunkers which were finished by hand? The ones which bulged with spines and muscle, with a random "dent" here and there for character.

[Tom_Doak]

Dunlop:

Silly man!  You might get a bad lie in a bunker like that!

[David_Elvins]

Andrew,

100% agree with you, especially knowing the courses you have just played.  You just don't see too many double breaking 10-15 footers on most modern courses.  At first I thought it was due to age, that greens became more random after years of rolling and top dressing, but after being driven nuts by the greens at Barnbougle, I agree with Tom, it just comes down to attention to detail.

[Mike Hendren]

Tom,

Are such hand-crafted, tiny borrows skillfully designed and constructed or are they equally effective if random?

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:  To be sure, there are some of both on my courses.  But most modern contractors try to eliminate them to the extent possible.

[texsport]

I don't know about you guys but I consider a smooth putt across grain and across a 2* slope a brutal subtlety.

[Mike Benham]

... there are generally less tiny borrows in modern greens, built in layers and finished (prior to seeding) with equipment, than there were in older greens which were finished by hand raking.

Tom -

Interesting comment you make.  I was chastised by Mr. Mucci at one point when I made a comment about greens made with modern equipment being too flat.  Your description is more accurate and to the point ...

Mike

[Don_Mahaffey]

Mike,
The thing to keep in mind is greens are created by men, not machines. You don't have to smooth out every little imperfection, nor do you have to use large machines, it's all by choice.