What's wrong with encouraging grain in classic courses?

[wsmorrison]

I know the mention of grain in greens causes winces on the faces of most superintendents and low handicap players alike.  Some of the good players like Jack Connelly, former president of the PGA, would rather see the best overall player win rather than one that is better able to read and putt the grain in the greens.  Most superintendents, if they want to keep their job are strongly encouraged to keep grain out of greens.  Well, what's wrong with grain on courses that used to have them all the time--the classic courses?  Wouldn't they defend par better and require less drastic and more costly changes to the golf course?

Here's a photo of the 15th green at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.  You can see the grain as a darker area amid shinier grass.  Tom Paul and I were over there today, and at Philadelphia Country Club and Merion East (it looks very much like it will be just fine for the Am) with some superintendents from Virginia.

I guess the fact that there's so little grain in greens these days make the HVCC greens a nice change of pace and a lot of fun to play and be challenged by.  What do you guys think?  Anything wrong with a little variety in having a club or two in a district (especially one with a history of champions and championship playability) have grainy greens?

Scott Anderson, the superintendent says grain is a result of grass type, light, gravity and maintenance.

[Craig Sweet]

I would think its more difficult to have "grain" in most of those new bents, say compared to good old Penncross.

[JESII]

Craig,

I've heard the same but do not have the knowledge to understand why.

Why do courses select the new bents in their grassing and regrassing efforts?

[wsmorrison]

Good point Craig and good question, Jim.  I'm not convinced these new bents are the solution to all problems.  They certainly don't seem to be the right grasses at collar lengths and approaches; especially with a lot of foot traffic and sand splash.

How much of grain is a result of the type of grass strain vs. maintenance practices--cutting height, verticutting, etc.?  Can/do the newer bents have grain?  It seems there is some at Philadelphia Country Club (A-1).

The grasses at HVCC are a mixed bag.  Correct me if I'm wrong, Jim.  I think there are some older bents (L-93), poa and others.  The greens are doing well under some enormous climatic stress.  Much of this has to do with the overall integrated system of maintnenance practices.

I really enjoy playing courses with bent in the greens.  Not that I need any more added challenges, my game is enough of a challenge.  But I really enjoy the grain and the greens at HVCC and would like to see more of it.  I guess it is by far a minority opinion.

[JESII]

Yeah Wayne, it certainly looks like the greens have a nice variety of grasses. At least if you can assume that by the variety of colors. I think part of their philosophy is to let the strongest grasses (so long as they are primarily bents) thrive in the low-as-possible moisture conditions Scott encourages. I do think the dominant grass is Penncross Bent but I am not 1005 on that.

[Mark_Fine]

Wayne,
My favorite comment about grain on greens and types of grass was from the superintent at The Old Course back before the 1995 Open.  He was asked about grain and the type of grass on the greens.  He said he didn't know much about grain and didn't know exactly what kind of grass was growing on his greens.  He said their were numerous varieties.  As far as he was concerned it was just grass cut at a different height than the rest of his golf course.  
Mark

[wsmorrison]

I admire links courses and the use of nativel grasses--less remediation and more useage of the Darwinian or natural selection of grasses in a given region.  Accepting the differences of courses in the Old Country is part of the charm and experience of going overseas.  Must we go overseas for this?  What's wrong with some of the iffiness and natural selection of turf here, even if the colors are not uniform nor all that familiar to the Augusta syndrome sufferers.  The playability is sure more interesting and varied.

Here in the US we have long had a different mindset about agronomics and lots of other things.  Are the super bents super?  Why do we seem to want to make things so uniform and predictable?

What do you think of grain in classic courses?  Or for some modern ones for that matter if it fits the overall look and feel of the place.

[Ian Andrew]

The short version is the new grasses have been developed to foster consistant speed. If you want a long winded answer, send me an email.

People don't like grain because they have to guage more than the speed of the green, and understanding growth habits helps too. Not too many players are that interested in learning about that, and they hate looking like fools even if it is there own ignorance.

[Mark_Fine]

Bill,
I assume you liked the "brown" grass because the course played firm?  As you know, the firmness of the surface is more important then the color as far as playing conditions go.  You should have asked the super if he liked it as well    This summer (at least in the Northeast), the goal has been to just keep grass alive.  Brown has not been something many supers want to see.

One more thing to remember about grain and the smoothness of greens is that ever since Old Tom Morris, greenkeepers have been trying to figure out ways to make their putting surfaces smoother and truer.  Old Tom discovered that putting sand or "top dressing" his greens dramatically improved them.  That is also why they created teeing grounds away from the putting surfaces, and so on.  

I guess removing "grain" is just a continuation of this old practice to make putting surfaces more perfect.    

One more thing, most warm season grasses still have grain  

[Craig Sweet]

My take is this:  New bents are grown because they can take lower mowing heights (among other advantages) which means faster speeds. The grass blades with most of these new bents are more rigid/upright/stiffer....which means less grain and more speed. People want fast greens. The super gives his people what they want.

Oh but wait!  You could have something like Penncross and it could be mowed a little higher and it might be grainy, and it could be managed for faster speed with some rolling etc....but still be grainy...but again, people want fast, and very short grass....some people even want brown grass!
 

[cary lichtenstein]

I always loved the grainy greens at Pebble and Cog Hill, but by the time the tournaments come around, they moe the stuff so tight, there is very little left for the tournament.

[PjW]

Redanman:

You need to go back farther.  Dont you know every 'member' wants to be just like Augusta!

Iam surprised that the 'Darwinist' amongst us even like bent grass greens as we all know 'poa anna' is the natural selection.  

Phil  

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Is this a Kyle Harris hole location?  

[Kyle Harris]

Yes, that's a Kyle Harris hole location.

[Kyle Harris]

One of the frustrating things about grain is keeping it in the same direction when changing the hole plugs.  

Otherwise, it's much fun playability wise.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Kyle,
It's not frustrating at all, the guy cutting cups faces the back of the green when removing the plug and faces the back when filling the old cup. Not a big deal at all.

[Kyle Harris]

Don,

The grain at HVCC changes direction based on the slope and location of the green. You just have to be cognizant of which direction the grain is in the hole cutter. I always cut the hole with the handles perpendicular to the grain to assure this.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Kyle,
I know the grain direction can be different from green to green, but I can't say I've ever noticed the grain growing in different directions within one green. Are you saying it does that at HVCC?  IMHO, as long as the cup plug is removed and replaced with the same orientation, the plug usually knits well with the green.

[TEPaul]

The whole world was on a mission to remove grain from greens and some years ago HVGC went on a mission to cultivate grain back into their greens. Basically this was this initial brain-child of Linc Roden. He liked that old-fashioned "playability". From Linc's on mouth came the explanation that deeper roots should logically foster longer surface roots (grain). Linc does not like verticutting and actually thinks even HVGC does too much of it today!  

Why doesn't the world like "grain" in putting greens? Probably for the very reason a guy like Linc Roden likes it so much---it's more complicated to play!

The new "A" and "G" strains? They're both a whole lot more dense than what preceded them (more leaves by far per square inch than their predecessors) (or at least that's the way they were developed to be).

The good news with the "A" and "G" strains is they love dryness and the fact that they're denser allows them to keep out poa longer. At least that's the reason we went to the "A" strain about three years ago----it was basically an added insurance program against constantly fighting anthracnose, or the prospect of it!

A grass that likes dryness and keeps out poa longer can be a whole lot less stressful for supers to maintain day in and day out. At least that's the theory.  

Can the "A" strain have grain? Definitely. We saw some of that last year at Philly C.C. and definitely this year at White Manor. Obviouisly those clubs had not gotten into as regular verti-cutting programs as some of the other clubs that went to A1 and A4.

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