You didn’t answer the question. What is not true?
I wasn't even addressing anything you said there (because none of what you are talking about is at all provable, and falls under "myth" or "anecdotal" headings). I was addressing Ben's incorrect comments about skill and randomness.
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve been playing on Poa greens for nearly 50 years.
People used to think "drive for show, putt for dough" was true, too.
Increase randomness and you decrease the separation in skill. Just logical.
What we're saying is that the bumpiness that occurs in putting greens doesn't so much create actual randomness, as it creates a situation where truly good putters' roll of the ball is affected less than the roll of poorer putters.
The explanation I have used that gets the most resonance with good players is that it's like playing in the wind. Well-struck shots are less affected by the wind, and perfectly rolled putts are less affected by the surface.
What I have seen playing tournaments against even good players who have all or most of their experience on smooth, fast greens is that their strokes are good at two things, line and speed. But many, many of them don't get the ball turning end over end very effectively.
I don't have access to putting lab equipment, but I would love to see the effect of a stroke like Dave Stockton's on balls rolled on "imperfect" greens vs. a stroke of someone who didn't roll it like he did.
They measure the amount of skid and bounce, but everything I have seen from the labs leaves out what that means on various "quality" of surfaces.
I figured it out for myself when I moved from a town where the only course had small, fast greens that were walk mowed seven days a week, to one that had huge greens that were triplex mowed.
And the first course was in an area where cool nights all summer long, and reasonable humidity and precip. meant that the greens weren't very stressed. My new home had hot, dry, windy weather in the summer, and a lot of exposed, elevated greens, so the superintendent was very cautious about height of cut.
As a consequence, at age 28 I almost had to start over with my putting technique. But the exercise taught me a lot about how my stroke determined the roll of the ball, not the surface.