I played in a match at Wolf Point this past Saturday with the greens no faster than 7 feet. A wet/mild winter leave the greens needing some filling in, as most everyone with bermuda in Texas is dealing with right now. Don positioned the pins in some ridiculously aggressive areas due to the speed. But one key aspect remained, the greens were very hard. I struggled with speed all day, missing A LOT of really well struck putts (inside joke).
I learned Saturday that really good players don't know how to handle slower, hard greens with lots of contour. I wonder how much easier and less expensive it is to manage Wolf's greens at 8-10 ft and keep them very firm as compared to flat, fast, soft greens that must be stressed to keep at speed.
You never see "ridiculous aggressive" areas used for pins on courses that stimp 11-12.
That's sad.
and Jim, I know we've discussed this before, (slow vs. fast) but does a ball really grind to a halt on a 4 % slope with the greens at 8?
(i have no idea what exactly a 4% slope is but from what I think I know
that's a pretty good slope)
the reason someone would worry about missing right on 16 at Augusta would be if the green(still) had enough slope to make the speed used (in this case 8 ) relevant.
When i worked at Long Cove the greens routinely ran at 8 for everyday play--I had plenty of fast/ difficult/sloping putts.
My guess is they have to use less interesting pins now.
The other thing is, if greens are designed for everyday play at 8, and the super amps them up to 10 for an event, you get something exciting and different (albeit perhaps at the loss of certain really sloped pins)
But if the greens are routinely run at 12, how useful, or fun, or different,( or possible) is it to suddenly get them 25% faster? (as the jump from 8-10 is).
and are any good pins left?
food for thought .
as Ben says, if you want to identify the good putters, slow down the greens, and use the slopes.
Those who can't hit it solid and have imagination have no chance