[Adrian_Stiff]

The greens look more like they are stimping 12 to me, possibly 11. Not the 14 that was hyped. 12 is probably about right and 12 still equals extremely fast of course.

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

I agree.  They don't appear to have the amount of "trickle" that they would have at super fast speeds.   I gotta say that the greens really don't look good on TV.  I sure hope they hang in there for the weekend.

[David Camponi]

12 is super fast

[Terry Lavin]

12 is super fast

Not for players at this skill level.  Not saying it isn't fast, but it's more than manageable.  It will allow them to put the holes in some slopey areas of the greens that would be unusable at 14, which is good.

[jeffwarne]

12 is super fast

Not for players at this skill level.  Not saying it isn't fast, but it's more than manageable.  It will allow them to put the holes in some slopey areas of the greens that would be unusable at 14, which is good.

Terry,
That's the USGA groupthink that allows talk such as 14.5 to even be mentioned or thought of.
With slope and pins on sloped areas, 12 would be a great speed and 11 and more slope would even be better.
When we start saying "skill" and raising speeds we either see altered greens or boring pins (or both)
Put real slope in a green and we'll see skill return (and strategy)
...and the greens won't look like theyr'e rotting

[Randy Thompson]

I agree, 12 or 11.5, I am sure the rain slowed them down, will be interesting to see how much they speed up as they dry out and how much grass will remain as they dry out, that compacted dirt can really putt fast and smooth.

[Terry Lavin]

12 is super fast

Not for players at this skill level.  Not saying it isn't fast, but it's more than manageable.  It will allow them to put the holes in some slopey areas of the greens that would be unusable at 14, which is good.

Terry,
That's the USGA groupthink that allows talk such as 14.5 to even be mentioned or thought of.
With slope and pins on sloped areas, 12 would be a great speed and 11 and more slope would even be better.
When we start saying "skill" and raising speeds we either see altered greens or boring pins (or both)
Put real slope in a green and we'll see skill return (and strategy)
...and the greens won't look like theyr'e rotting

There's all sorts of groupthink on this subject, just depends upon which group you admire!

[Tim Martin]

I don`t know what the current speed is but putts don`t seem to be running out like in previous Opens.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I still think they are between 11 and 12. I agree not so fast as we have seen and probably a good thing.

[Jason Topp]

From Geoff Shackelford's notes about the Sunday setup:

"The greens are rolling nearly 14 feet after preparation and losing about 5-6 inches an hour after that."

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/

[Doug Siebert]

Why would they lose speed that fast?  Is it solely due to the grass growing, or because of other stuff as well, such as the ground "springing back" after rolling?

I assume that 5-6 inches per hour is only true for a few hours, otherwise they'd have been slower than the greens just about any of us normally play by the time Rory putted out on 18

[Adrian_Stiff]

Crazy statement. As Doug eludes, if they are 14 after the cut then 14 hours later they are stimping 7. Those greens were pretty similar all week... quite simply they were fast but between 11 and 12. Unless a green is virtually flat it cant stimp at 15, unless greens are virtually flat its almost impossible to stimp them properly, an uphill or downhill stimp should not read more than 1 foot difference. Mid-day or heat can add to a reading despite grass growth.

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

   It's hard to believe they slowed that much during the day.  I doubt that they ever had the greens at 14 at any point during the week.  If you watch some of the video from the 97 and compare it to what they had this year I think you will conclude that the greens were faster in 97.  This year I don't think you ever saw the players in fear of any putt,  this is very strange for an Open.  It's also hard to see the greens getting that soft.  Yes they had some rain but you didn't see any softness in the fairways.  Maybe the greens were just a bit young,  maybe the rootzone is not quite the right mix?   The greens should drain and stay firm otherwise why would anyone want to build them?

[Doug Siebert]

I don't know exactly what stimp the greens I'm playing on usually are, but even on my home course I see way more "trickle" on those days when the greens are fast enough to make me putt defensively than I saw any of the days at the US Open.  Based on what I saw on TV I'd say Congo didn't look much faster than what I'm normally seeing on a day to day basis, which sure can't be 12.

In fact the only time I ever saw the players with a really difficult short two putt on the greens all week was the 17th green on Sunday, where some players who were back/right of the hole were putting at or slightly more than a 90* angle but couldn't get the ball to stop by the hole because it picked up too much speed down the slope on the way to the hole.

I don't recall a single situation all week where the ball looked like it nearly stopped and then continued to trickle a few more inches over several seconds.  That's what you see when they are truly on the edge of insanity.

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