Rock hard greens that are slow

[Jim Franklin]

I played in a tournament over the weekend and the course had greens that did not hold approach shots at all so you had to play short in order to get the ball on the green. I enjoyed that feature. But when putting, the greens were ridiculously slow. Is this a sign of a good green or not? I hit 15 of 18 greens and had 40 putts. Very frustrating to hit that many greens and putt so poorly.

[Dan Byrnes]

My home course is like that this past week.  Despite a week of good weather in a Spring full of rain the greens were very firm, I was told that because they had some issues with the watering system the greens were not being cut as low as normal in case the weather changed and watering would be needed??

Last two and next 8 days are all supposed to rain so now they will be soft and slow:(

Dan

[Kalen Braley]

This happened a couple of months ago...but it was because the greens were frozen solid!!   

[Tim Martin]

I generally don't mind firm & slow -  as long as they stay true.  It makes it easier to make an aggressive stroke. 

Dave- If firm & slow catches on I`m giving you credit for inventing the phrase. You continue to be a trendsetter.

[Jim Franklin]

I generally don't mind firm & slow -  as long as they stay true.  It makes it easier to make an aggressive stroke. 

Firm and slow is okay, but these were firm and bumpy. I have never played greens like this. Plus, these greens were the first ones to shred my golf ball too.

[Carl Johnson]

In my personal experience, limited to 20 or so rounds, is that this sort of condition is the norm on links courses in Scotland.

[PCCraig]

In my personal experience, limited to 20 or so rounds, is that this sort of condition is the norm on links courses in Scotland.

Compared to the average green here in the States, yes, I would agree that most would call the greens there "firm and slow."

[Mark Bourgeois]

Yep, on a real links ballmarks are marks of shame and green speeds are as they should be. Reason # 1,562,937 links golf is the highest form of golf.

[Sean_A]

I agree, compared to high end US courses, links greens are firm and slow - sometimes too slow, but generally in what I would call the best parameters between 8-10.  I wish all greens were firm and slow.

Ciao

[Michael Whitaker]

Really firm greens should be on the slow side for normal play, particularly if they have any slope... otherwise you would have to play with a marshmallow to keep players from chipping shots back and forth over the green. Ouch!

[A.G._Crockett]

Not sure where you are, but good supers in the southeast are doing this right now (IMO) to get ready for the summer stress.  It is a great way to play golf, I think, especially on greens that have any sort of fall off in the back and that allow run up approaches. 

[Adam Clayman]

Interesting how a greater challenge, like slower greens, can be perceived as bad. It highlights our brain washed minds and our desire to ease the challenge, even though we cherish it, in concept.

[Jim Franklin]

It was in the Baltimore City Two Man event at Mt Pleasant. The greens in Scotland are firm and slow, but the grass is very consistent. These were grainy, lumpy, hard, and slow. They played differently than I have ever seen them. On Sunday, they were a little faster and more receptive due to rain overnight. Not sure why they were faster though.

[Jim Eder]

If the fronts are hard as well and you can hit short and have it bound on I don't think there is anything wrong with that. There was a certain tournament director a number of years ago (25-30) who would water short of the green so it would just stick short but if one hit the green it would either bounce over unless you had a lot of spin. It was unfair. All hard and slow is fair in my opinion. I am not a good slow green putter so personally I would struggle but it is a fair set-up in my opinion.

[Jim Franklin]

The fronts were soft too so it was a challenge. I just did not like putting though bumps on slow greens. Slow and true is one thing, but slow and bumpy is something else.

[Jim Eder]

Jim,

Ughhhhh, that is not good. Soft in front AND slow and bumpy, not good. It is so important to just accept what the conditions are (as they are the same for everyone) and focus on executing and then later with friends talking about the conditions. On a positive note, it is still better than no golf at all. I hope you played well in the tournament and above everything else enjoyed yourself!!

Jim

[Jim Franklin]

75 day 1 and 66 day 2. Not too bad on day 2 when the greens were receptive.

[Jim Eder]

Awesome, congrats, well played!!

[Carl Johnson]

In my personal experience, limited to 20 or so rounds, is that this sort of condition is the norm on links courses in Scotland.

To elaborate.  Personally, I take the course as I find it and try to adapt to the conditions.  I must say that once I figured out what was going on with the links greens, I had no problem.  For the most part the greens did putt quite true.  Mostly I had to adjust my chip and run shots.  When they were bouncing on the green they covered more ground than I first anticipated, but then in the role stage they covered less.

I've got an other idea about Scottish links greens I want to throw out, but I'll do that in a separate post.