I wonder what our friend Neil Regan, he of the "challenge putt" when playing Winged Foot thinks about this thread? I suspect that the price of interesting greens is the occasional putt where a poorly positioned approach leaves one with a nearly impossible putt and/or a very difficult 2 putt. I am prepared to make the trade off.
Shelly,
I agree with your trade-off, but with a heavy preference for “very difficult” over “nearly impossible.”
And an even stronger preference for always being able to get within tap-in distance.
One of the reasons the greens at Winged Foot are so wonderful is that there are almost zero impossible putts,
even at the fastest modern grass speeds.
There are 2 greens that have some topologically impossible putts.
And at very fast speeds, there are numerous common pin positions on many greens that can become impossible.
But all those greens have other excellent pin positions that work fine at high speeds.
Often, however, some golfers will think a putt is impossible when in fact it is not.
Sometimes, (actually, quite often) the proper line for such a putt is radically different than the instinctual line.
Sort of like the “line of charm” applied to putting greens.
And the difference in lines can be a full 180 degrees.
The great beauty of the Winged Foot greens is that once you discover the line you can get even the longest putts to stop very close to the cup, or in, with a stroke that needs to be good but not extraordinarily so.
That’s because all the slopes on the greens are continuous sweeps from the perimeter that dissipate somewhere in the interior,
and blend almost invisibly with each other. You can always reduce the acceleration on even the steepest slopes by going across the fall line, because there is always another contour that will bring you back towards your target.
There are no abrupt or random bumps or ridges or dips, which can add significant randomness to every putt and make a difficult putt virtually impossible or as much luck as skill.
This is definitely a design style or choice. There are many great greens in the world that do this, and many that do not.
I think it is a great skill to be able to design such eminently puttable greens and still have such steep slopes as the greens at Winged Foot.
It is very rare to have such greens that actually work well at any grass speed, including the fastest modern speeds.
And maybe close to unique to have every green like that.
Perhaps my favorite factoid from the recent recovery of our original green perimeters is this:
The greens have significantly more pinnable areas, and significantly greater average slope.
Here are the (amazing) numbers from West #15:
Square Footage increase = 41% (now restored to the original perimeter)
“Pinnable Area” increase = 43% (somewhat arbitrary <= 3% )
Average Grade INCREASE = 14%
Ask our good friend Dr. Childs about that green.
One day, we putted to an “impossible” front pin from the back of the green.
Most golfers would degreen, and say there is no way.
But in fact, there were at least 3 ways.
After some trial and error, Geoff and George B. and I putted simultaneously on 3 hugely different lines, almost 180 degree difference.
All 3 stopped within inches of the cup.
TLDR:
Sometimes,
putts that people think are impossible
are actually very possible,
even at the fastest green speeds,
if you can discover the way.
Like the line of charm applied to putting greens.