Completely flat green

[astavrides]

Has anyone ever built a completely flat green?  I imagine with USGA green drainage it would be possible.  But if the secret got out that it was completely flat, people would no longer line up putts, and it would take the fun out of it (or would it?)

[JohnV]

It would be great for a practice green.  You would find out the flaws in your stroke pretty quickly.

[JBergan]

There's a book out there called something like, "The Worst Golf Course in America" and I recall one of the "featured" courses having a perfectly flat green.  If I could only remember what I did with the book...

[Doug Siebert]

I've always thought the best practice green possible would be one third wild contours, one third gentle contours and one third as flat as it is possible to make.

Not sure if you'd necessarily find the flaws in your stroke, as if you aren't lining up exactly right a perfect stroke will still miss.  But at least it'd take one variable out of the equation, and it'd be perfect for settling bets with those annoying people who claim that reading greens is the only thing holding them back from being a great putter.

I remember reading something years ago that Dave Pelz had built a robot with a perfect putting stroke and tested it on a perfectly flat green and found it still could only manage 50% success on 10 foot putts.  I wonder what the "50%" distance would be on today's much truer putting surfaces?  For that matter I wonder how it would do on a perfectly flat liquid pour floor surface, like bare gypcrete?  Maybe the dimples would be enough to keep it from hitting 100%?

[Tyler Kearns]

Alex,

We played our national junior championship at Riverside CC in New Brunswick about a decade ago. The course was designed by Donald Ross and is situated on some higher ground overlooking a river (hence the name!). The 16th green is located on ground that is gently falling away towards the river, but the green is built up at the back to meet the natural elevation at the front portion of the green. Ross designed an extremely flat green here, because optically, it appears to be pitched back-to-front. Therefore the challenge does not lie in successfully negotiating contours, but in negating the visual sense.

TK

[David Sneddon]

I've always thought the best practice green possible would be one third wild contours, one third gentle contours and one third as flat as it is possible to make.

Not sure if you'd necessarily find the flaws in your stroke, as if you aren't lining up exactly right a perfect stroke will still miss.  But at least it'd take one variable out of the equation, and it'd be perfect for settling bets with those annoying people who claim that reading greens is the only thing holding them back from being a great putter.

My business is the design and installation of artificial turf putting greens.   The majority of our installs are for homeowners, with the average size being around 240 - 360 sq ft.

Even with those size restrictions, I always try to design three distinct areas within the green, as you mentioned above.  There should always be one hole where he can practise 10 ft straight putts on a flat surface, from at least one side of the cup.

I'd certainly love the opportunity to design a 3k - 5k green.  

[Robert_Walker]

I am not a bowler, but I have heard that alleys are not perfectly level. I have heard the same about snooker tables.
I suspect that a perfectly level green would be impossible to build, and that, if attempted, the thing would be loaded with hidden breaks.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Alex,

It couldn't be built and it wouldn't work.

You'd have to build a sieve to handle a downpour.
The perc rates could never match the rate of rainfall.

[Mike_Young]

I think one can build a flat green but not a level green.  IMHO flat putts can be some of the most difficult.

[Doug Wright]

Alex,

IMO the poster course for flat greens is TPC at Heron Bay (McCumber), the recent (and one of the many) former home of The Honda Classic. I was shocked how flat many of the greens were. I mean several were as flat as a pancake. Even the Tour pros, who like easy/go low, got too bored to stay there.   The switch to Mirasol was quite dramatic.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Poster green for flat greens should be #2 at Bethpage (Black).  I think they confused a tee with a green, since it seems laser-leveled.