Adam,

The answer is quite easy...the tour pro's would scream bloody hell.  And, I really couldn't blame them.  I don't really care for this as a viable option to challenge the golfer.

For me, there are enough other factors to worry yourself with when playing golf, especially tournament golf.  Trying to guess if one green is 11 on the Stimp while the next one might be 7 is not a true test during the round.  I honestly don't see the point to it, or think it would be that much fun.  Would it be frustrating?...You bet.

Ahhh, from day to day.  That's a bit easier to handle.  Actually, I'm sure that for many tournaments, the green speeds do vary from Thursday to Sunday.  Ideally, they'd be a bit quicker come the final round if that was what the tournament officials wanted.

Also, given the excellent condition of most tour greens and the preparation for the tournament, it would be very difficult to have a green 11 on the Stimp one day, and then have them slowed down to 8 the next.  There probably is not enough growth to accomplish enough of a speed change in just one day, it would seem to take more time.

I'm not sure you could do that....go from 8-14 over 4 days.

I know from the perspective of my course that we begin tuning the greens for the Montana Open a good month in advance and shoot for 10.5-11.5 over the course of 4 days....we shoot for greens that will roll at those speeds....if we wanted  them to roll 8 we would do things different...we would do things different if we wanted them at 14.....we want them on the down side of a fertility boost...

Has there been a recent Masters where there was not varying green speed due to rain in recent years?

Wind, sun and rain provide more than enough variables, why have artificial variables?

AFC,

Because it's a bad idea.

Ahh, that's a thoughtful response. And why is it bad, Patrick?

Adam:

I realize Patrick simply said it's a bad idea and that's not a very satisfiying answer but it is a bad idea. A few of the reasons why is firstly there's little question hardly anyone would like it or accept it and secondly going from 8 to 14 during a tournament is not only agronomically very difficult but also extremely agronomically dangerous.

Would you accept these rather obvious answers or do you just want to continue to push the theory?  

Just asking.  

Adam:

There you have it. Can you now see how much more insightful, common-sensical and leveled-headed I am than Patrick Mucci?

Not to be a smarty pants, but there are variable green speeds every day on every green.

Uphill and downhill putts, into the grain and with the grain, all effect the distance the putt will travel.  The challenge is with the golfer to predict how firmly to strike the putt with each variable.

AFC,

Because you can't go from 10 to 8 to 12 to 9 over four days.

There's more to creating desired green speeds than just penning them in.

Craig and Patrick,

You're not reading. Patrick, I never suggested fast-slow-fast-slow over four days. I'm not quite that stupid, but thank you for assuming that I am and neglecting to actually read what I wrote.

Craig, I asked about the IF IT WAS POSSIBLE to vary of speeds changing from 8 to 14 over four days on one course, but when Tom Paul said it was not agronomically possible (which is understandable) I suggested the idea to consider not such a drastic change, but one more drastic than what we generally see from day to day, on tour.

If you're so dead set against thinking about an idea, or so bent on speaking that you can't take the time to read what has been said, then focus your attention on something more comfortable for you.

AFC...Typically during the Montana Open we double cut the greens each morning....the green speed will vary from day to day by anywhere from 6 inches to a foot.

We do nothing different...the weather can remain constant, yet the speed will vary day to to day...

Adam:

I'm sure a super could probably vary the speed of his greens by 2-3 feet during a tournament if he wanted to. All he'd have to do is just not mow the greens at one end or the other of the tournament.

Also rolling generally adds up to a foot to speed. Rolling may even do more than that. At a regional USGA agronomy conference our Regional USGA agronomist mentioned a USGA Senior Amateur Championship where it was so wet they couldn't mow the greens for a few days and so they just rolled them every day and apparently noone could tell they hadn't been cut.

So, it's certainly possible, I guess, to vary the speed by maybe up to 3 feet by just not mowing and then mowing and rolling on the other end. But I don't see any way a super could go from 8 to 14 in four days or maybe even in two weeks or a month, if at all. I'd thinking taking greens from 8 to 14 would begin to cut and destroy the plant crowns at the high end.

So agronomically it's probably possible to vary speed during a four day tournament by 3 feet or so but I just don't think doing something like that would be endorsed by anyone. What's the point of doing that? Is it to make it more difficult by attempting to confuse players more? Supers and set-up people could also do that be attempting to make greens more bumpy, or maybe culivate grain back in them to make them more complex to read and putt.

There's probably a number of things that could be done to make putting and chipping harder but I doubt any of that would be acceptable to golfers.

Maybe I'm wrong, and only I feel that way. If somebody ran a tournament like that I'd view it as a dumb gimmick, and I'd wonder what their purpose was.