Ideal green speed?!

[TEPaul]

Don:

After that last post of yours--we might need to discuss in detail the concept of "comfort zone".

[Dan Kelly]

With the wind at my back I just tapped my forty foot putt as if it were 12 inches.  It stopped rolling 40 yards from the pin back down the hill in the fairway.  

This is going to sound like a smart-aleck question -- but it's not: What if you had tapped your putt as if it were 6 inches, or 4, or 2? Would that have made a difference? Would it have stayed on the green?

Yesterday, on a course with very fast greens, my playing partner faced a downhill putt of 30 or 40 feet -- the last 10 or 15 feet of which was more severely downhill to a small relatively flat area, beyond which was another dropoff. (This green is a bit like one of those roller-coastery carnival slides that you slide down on a potato sack.) The trick, obviously, was to hit the putt so that it would

JUST

ABOUT

STOP at the top of the slope and then trickle down to the hole. My playing partner thought he would have trouble keeping it on the green. He hit a very good putt that

JUST

ABOUT

STOPPED at the top of the hill, then plunged downhill and ended up 3 or 4 feet past. The merest touch of a harder stroke, and he'd have been off the green.

I walked over to the top of the ridge, put a ball down, and tapped it with my index fingernail -- the lightest possible touch that would get it moving. It rolled down the slope and ended up 4 inches short -- proving, to my eyes, that the slope and the speed were perfectly matched to test putting skill.

I believe that if one had hit a putt from the top of that ridge as if it were 12 inches, it would've gone off the green -- but if one had hit it to go 2 inches, he might've made it.

At any rate: Those were the best, fastest greens I've played this year. What a pity: They began aerification yesterday afternoon.

[JDoyle]

Dan,

When I made my post I almost typed 6 inches instead of 12.  Thinking back I suppose I could have tapped the ball more like a jewler.  But I had to get the ball off the fringe....which I just barely did.  Where was Crenshaw when I needed him!

I appreciate a super challenging putt and enjoy those moments on a round where you have put yourself in a position on the course where the architect clearly told you not to go.  Because when you pure a three iron over the water and sand from 225 away and drop it on the flag you feel like a God.  And that great feeling is one of the reason I play golf.  And when you tap that putt from "the dead zone" and leave it inches short of the cup instead of in the fairway you get the feeling too.

My point was that I probably hit that putt one turn too many...and the result was that my ball traveled at least 60 yards!  The next club I pulled was a 9 iron.  Now, I smiled all the way to the ball and was enjoying this crazy ride, but Tom's post started me thinking about that shot and questioning whether or not those condition make any sense.  

I also think many golfers equate those kind of green speeds and putting conditions as an indication of greatness.  I think we have Augusta and CBS to thank for that.  And I don't believe that to be true.

[Steve Curry]

At any rate: Those were the best, fastest greens I've played this year. What a pity: They began aerification yesterday afternoon.

Dan,

You make a good point, some crappy golfers blame fast greens when the reality is they have the touch of a brick layer.  

As for your quote about aerification, well the faster the car the sooner it needs an oil change!  

Regards,
Steve

[Don_Mahaffey]

Tom,
It was my first "big deal" tourn. and I was trying to show off and it bit me. I no longer get out of my "comfort zone". The other problem was we had two fairly severe greens and those were the ones that turned goofy. Not many lower budget courses have the time to manage individual greens in respect to speed. They can only be as fast as the most sloped green can handle, unless your the USGA.

[A_Clay_Man]

Don- I'm curious about your reaction to those lambasting you? I'm sure you felt bad, but what did these guys think you could do about it now? I recall having true insight into a person by the way they bitch, did you?

[Dave_Wilber]

Adam...

I can't speak for Don....but I can tell you that when this happened to me, the middle finger you _wanted_ to put in the air could never have been long enough.

And it is had to tell yourself that today you got "King Hit" and there might be a tomorrow. In a business where you are only as good as yesterday's green, those tomorrows can be pretty upsetting.

Imagine your whole career, self-esteem and your entire livelihood coming down to one extra turn of the ball as it speeds off a contour and heads for the fairway.

[Mike_Trenham]

"This is going to sound like a smart-aleck question -- but it's not: What if you had tapped your putt as if it were 6 inches, or 4, or 2? Would that have made a difference? Would it have stayed on the green?"

I am a smart a$$ at heart also but ...could you have turned 180 degrees and hit the putt 6 inches up the hill and gotten the heck out of its way in hope of it coming backwards and on to the hole?

[Don_Mahaffey]

Adam,
The pros pretty much always want fast greens and my goal was to get them stimping 11. Like I said, it was my first big rodeo and I over did it, and the weather got dry and windy. By the time the afternoon groups were going off they were stimping at 12'8". Too fast for a couple of the greens, but only if you were above the hole. They couldn't keep the ball on the green unless they were below the hole. This was before the tour staff sent guys out for Monday qualifying, so there wasn't any real "official" tour guys to chew me out. But a lot of the players were on my ass big time. But as always, the guys who played well were fine with it. As a supt. you learn pretty quickly that the guys who whine the loudest are the ones who played the worst.