What's the most efficient three feet in golf ?

[Patrick_Mucci]

A case can be made that it's the amount of green elevation above the fairway.

A slightly elevated green promotes drainage and penalizes misgaged or mishit shots.

A shot that lands just a few feet short of a green would normally roll onto the green, leaving the golfer with a putt of varying length.

That same shot, hit to a slightly elevated green, will not bound forward, but, will either stop or roll back, leaving the golfer with a dicey recovery.

It would appear that elevating a green slightly promotes and provides for tremendous efficiency in challenging and thwarting golfers.

It presents a unique configuration of the land that must be accounted for in other than the normal fashion, especially on recoveries.

This feature seemed more common pre USGA greens.

Has/will it make a comeback ?

[Doug Ralston]

It's the distance of my gimmee!! Efficient putting.  

Doug

[Tom Jefferson]

Patrick........In the spirit of the recent posts regarding Bandon Trails, the style of green you describe HAS made a comeback............at the Trails' very first green.

Elevated just a foot or so above the ground leading in, the green neatly repels shots misjudged by either too much hight or by too little distance.  Combined with the typical fast and firm, shots constantly roll back down the slope just far enough to complicate the challenge of up and in.

Other examples.........5 at Bandon Dunes, and 17 at Pac, a green front which compounds the penalty of a shot played short into the summer winds by kicking the ball left & down the gathering slope near the bunker.

Tom

[Bob Jenkins]

Patrick,

At first I thought you were talking distance to the hole so had the same response as Doug. I find the flat, 3 foot putt to be the most necessary to practice and perfect because if you cannot deal with that, you are not going to deal with any other putts. Perfect the straight 3 foot putt and the stroke will fall into place.

On your real topic, that is the 3 feet of elevation to the green, there is a course in this part of the world which takes that to a ridiculous extreme. Richmond Golf Club. Very, very flat terrain on a river delta and all of the greens are elevated 2-3 feet above the fairway. Problem is that it seems to reject almost every shot. The approach that takes a bounce in front and then on to the green will invariably roll off to the side, etc. I figure on a good day if you hit20% of the greens you are doing well. I HATE that place as a result. Not a bad layout, well conditioned but the 3 feet of elevation just ruin the course. I fully appreciate the drainage issue but the 3 feet must be used wisely and only some of the greens should be so elevated. No??

Bob Jenkins

[paul cowley]

Patrick,

At first I thought you were talking distance to the hole so had the same response as Doug. I find the flat, 3 foot putt to be the most necessary to practice and perfect because if you cannot deal with that, you are not going to deal with any other putts. Perfect the straight 3 foot putt and the stroke will fall into place.

On your real topic, that is the 3 feet of elevation to the green, there is a course in this part of the world which takes that to a ridiculous extreme. Richmond Golf Club. Very, very flat terrain on a river delta and all of the greens are elevated 2-3 feet above the fairway. Problem is that it seems to reject almost every shot. The approach that takes a bounce in front and then on to the green will invariably roll off to the side, etc. I figure on a good day if you hit20% of the greens you are doing well. I HATE that place as a result. Not a bad layout, well conditioned but the 3 feet of elevation just ruin the course. I fully appreciate the drainage issue but the 3 feet must be used wisely and only some of the greens should be so elevated. No??

Bob Jenkins

Bob....good post.

Always remember...its not the size of the 3', its how you use it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom Jefferson,

Almost every green at Hidden Creek, another C&C course, is slightly elevated, thus, shots hit just short aren't rewarded, it's certainly a clever way to create a feature that helps resist scoring.

[wsmorrison]

"What's the most efficient three feet in golf ?"

Tiger Wood's putter.

[Brad Klein]

Raise it three feet, but better make sure, like Ross, that you drain the surface outwards to other areas as well, otherwise all the surface water will run forward, soak the approach and make a muckery of your short game options.

[Gary Slatter]

Dick Wilson certainly used that 3 foot green elevation well, all 18 holes at Lucayan are at least 3 feet, cleverly not always at the edge of the green, some are raised from 15 to 20 feet in front.  This deception constantly causes the players to under club to a front pin, and prevents the aprons from getting soaked.

[D_Malley]

poor example
Pocono Manor West