really FIRM and fast conditions ?
Not long ago Ran and I played Seminole and the greens were so firm that when I went to fix what looked like an indentation in the green, I couldn't move my medal two pronged fixer once it had penetrated into the putting surface. No matter how much effort I expended, I couldn't move anything. They were FIRM
Throughout the round, none of us could find ball marks from our approaches impacting the green.
On # 1 after a good drive to the center of the fairway, into a slight crossing breeze (NEN), I hit a horrible short iron into the right hand bunker with the hole cut far left. I hit what I thought was a terrific bunker shot. As soon as I hit it the caddy said, that's too much. I looked at him like, "what, are you crazy, that's a great shot"
I watched as the ball landed far short of the hole and rolled, slowly and agonizingly past the hole to the downslope and then off the green into one of the tightly mowed areas. I was shocked. Shocked at the firmness more than the speed. The greens were quick, but not super fast. But, they were incredibly firm, firmer than I had ever seen. Throughout the round, many bunker shots, chips and pitches rolled past the pin, to the perimeter and down into either bunkers or tightly mown areas. As frustrating as each golfer found it on occassion, everyone liked the conditions and tried to more carefully plan and execute their shots.
On # 12, one fellow, short and left of the green, took his putter and aimed 20 feet left of the hole because he knew he couldn't hit an L-Wedge over the fronting bunker and stop the ball on the green. Unfortunately, he hit his recovery putt a little too hard and it went on the green then rolled slowly into the right side bunker. Now he was faced with a downhill, down wind recovery to a front hole location. That resulted in him hitting his bunker shot to easy, it went up, hit the face of the bunker and rolled back into the bunker. He repeated that process several times. It was really a difficult shot under those conditions.
These conditions presented unusual playing dilemas.
Where to land the ball on approaches was a fairly easy decision since I could get the ball relatively high and use the wind when it was in my face. But, with downwind shots and recoveries, the greens perplexed everyone.
On # 5, the hole was cut in the front, the hole was playing with a slight wind.
One fellow hit a high draw, probably a 7 or 8 iron. It landed short of the hole, just onto the green.
And ended up in the back of the green a good 40+ feet away.
Now, he was putting down hill, but into the breeze, with a gaping bunker behind the hole.
Needless to say, he left the ball 6 feet short of the hole.
On # 14 I hit a good drive and tried to get my second shot into the front bunker since the hole was cut way up front.
I succeeded.
But, I made a dumb mistake. Knowing how firm they were, with the hole cut way up front, I tried to squeeze my bunker shot so that it would land just onto the green. I had a nice uphill lie in the bunker, I couldn't have placed it better by hand, But, my nice high bunker shot had some spin on it, hit just onto the green, into the upslope, and slowly, agonizingly began to roll back... back off the green, down the slope and into the bunker. So, I tried it again. Same result. Then, I tried it again. Same result. Then I hit the bunker shot to land near the hole and left myself an 6 foot downhill putt that I missed. I went from a good chance of making birdie, par at the worst, to a nice triple bogey 8. And all because of the firmness of the green and my forgetting about the very front of the green which slopes back into the bunker.
I can't remember playing greens so firm.
Our foursome consisted of an 18 handicap, an alleged 11 handicap who tried to claim a 16, a 1 handicap and me.
So there was a broad spectrum of golfers, hitting different flighted balls, different distances.
All of us seemed to find the range for approaches, but, recoveries were brutally difficult, mentally and physically.
I noticed that most of the courses we played (only 3) had fairly firm greens, but, none of the firmness of Seminole.
So while we claim to prefer FIRM, FAST greens, should we be careful of what we wish for ?
At another course, Pine Tree, the Superintendent informed us that he had gotten his greens where he wanted them and that his mission for the coming year was to get the approaches and the rest of the golf course very firm. The greens were fast and firm.
Neither Seminole nor Pine Tree where the Superintendent spoke to us, overseed.
That tends to produce browner conditions, with imperfect but good fairways that generate fairly tight lies.
While Ran, myself and the other fellows loved those conditions, I'm not so sure they'd be that popular with the great majority of the membership at other clubs and the golfing world at large.
Pine Tree's Superintendent told us that December's temperatures were 10.5 degrees below normal, which may have had something to do with these courses being able to get their greens firmer than in the past.
Very firm greens would seem to be fun to play, provided the size of the green is adequate.
This may be another example of where the "maintainance meld" needs to be site specific.
I can't imagine greens as firm as Seminole's on a course with smaller or tiny greens, they'd be unplayable.
What are the firmest greens you've ever played ?
What's the culture of the membership at that club ?
And, were the conditions a product of the weather or at the direction of the membership ?