Fast greens, help or hindrance

[cookelad]

Amazed this week to read that ours are 'only' 9.6 on the stimpmeter, makes me curious about 2 things - 1 what actually was the speed at my old place? can only have been 2 or 3! and 2 what must it be like to play somewhere like Augusta with speeds of upto what 14?

Personally I think if the greens are true then you can learn the speed - fast bumpy greens would be a massive hindrance!

 

[louise_a]

I am more interested as to whether the greens are consistent, I do prefer them to be on the fast side though.

 

[Foxholer]

the faster the green, once beyond this magic 'easy rolling speed', the harder it is to putt in absolute terms. the reason for this is that the difference between any given uphill and downhill putt increases with the speed of the green ie a stroke that goes 6ft uphill might go 30ft downhill @10 relative to 5ft and 15ft @8.5

Agree whole-heartedly with this. Not only is the putting stroke liable to be jerky/decelerating, but the mental side of those distances important too. The days I've putted particularly well on the ultra quick greens not only when I've 'seen' the line well, but also not been afraid of how far past the hole I might go. Must mean that the club-face is aligned pretty well at impact too - 2* will miss the hole a 6 feet.

 

[garyinderry]

I prefer them on the quicker side of things. that said, I had my worst putting performance of the year on the fastest ive played. Bolton old links. I 3 putted the first 3 and nearly putted off the surface twice!