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Fast or slow greens

Slow or fast greens

  • Slow

    Votes: 3 3.6%
  • Fast

    Votes: 54 65.1%
  • Slow but true

    Votes: 13 15.7%
  • Don't care, I'll adjust

    Votes: 13 15.7%

  • Total voters
    83
I mainly prefer fast greens as I am someone who strokes the putt rather than hitting at the ball. It is much easier to keep the putter on the intended line when you are not having to take a long stroke.
 
Don't really mind, provided they roll nice then I am a happy bunny.
 
Fast for me too, although I am able to adjust reasonably well to most paces. But I do hate bobbly surfaces!

In general I prefer greens to be receptive to an iron shot too, so this time of year they can be frustrating when what you think is a good shot doesn't hold and runs long.
 
my putting improves massively in the summer (Especially from short range) as i have always been someone that dies the ball in the hole rather than banging it in.

One thing i would say is that people MASSIVELY over estimate what a 'fast' green actually is. Fast in the UK in the summer would easily be under 10 on the stimp. so when people say 'my greens are running at 12' i would generally call your bluff.

Ealings greens are arguably the best/quickest in the country, but they are very flat. even in the summer on a normal day they wont be running much more than 11.
 
I voted 'slow' which appears to be an unpopular choice. But I didn't know what you mean by 'slow but true'. I can't read a green to save my life, and the faster it is, the more that seems to exaggerate my mis-reads and make them into absolutely horrendous putts. On a slower green you can just bang it up there and take some of the read out of it I think. If you're an inch off-line it doesn't sail 8 feet past the hole.

But yeah, I can totally see how someone who isn't useless at putting like me would prefer a fast green. :p
 
Has to be a fast green, faster the better.

I lose my stroke and pull putts when I have to "hit" them. Much prefer just having to stroke a putt and know it's going to roll out.
 
Fast can vary from course to course, our greens if they get them up to about 11 (which they will be this weekend) on the stimp, they're pretty much unplayable in places because of the severity of the slopes, but on other courses with flatter greens 11-12 is perfectly manageable!

About 9.5 is best at ours, even then it's 13+ downhill and 6 uphill.
 
Fast can vary from course to course, our greens if they get them up to about 11 (which they will be this weekend) on the stimp, they're pretty much unplayable in places because of the severity of the slopes, but on other courses with flatter greens 11-12 is perfectly manageable!

About 9.5 is best at ours, even then it's 13+ downhill and 6 uphill.
I have never heard of these number ratings before in my life? How do you know what they are??
 
Consistent in pace over the 18 - I've found at certain courses this isn't always a given.
Reasonably quick, receptive, and most of all True.

I usually know on the practice green if I'm going to putt well on the day.. Tough to find something once out there though.
 
Our greens run around 9-10 during normal play and medals etc - they go up to around 11-12 for the big Comps. I enjoy them when they are a bit quicker

this is a real bugbear for me, hate it when courses do this. all it does is make the bigger comps about who adjusts best to the changes that have been made rather than who plays best (not to mention embarassing most of the higher handicappers and plenty of the low ones too and making play slower). why not add a few paddling pools as extra water hazards
 
Shouldn't courses be tougher for the bigger comps though ?
 
Shouldn't courses be tougher for the bigger comps though ?

Depends what you mean by tougher, if all you mean is tricking them up by speeding up the greens then no. For me you set the course up sensibly, similar conditions to normal, variety of pin positions (some clubs seem to think the have to save all their toughest pin positions for club champs etc), include some risk/reward options etc. Tougher isnt usually better and for 90%+ of the field is usually worse
 
I definitely putt better on fast greens.

Hate slow greens especially as the ball slows up near the hole and can wander off in either direction. I just seem to find putts on faster greens seem to hold their line.

Maybe because the clubs that have faster greens have smoother, truer putting surfaces.
 
Not a fan of slow greens, but very fast greens with big breaks not great either. Very fast sloping greens can add to slow play as it is so difficult to get the ball dead.

Our greens are usually medium fast for comps, which is fine as I know most of the breaks. Greens like St Andrews Castle course when they are fast are no fun.
 
Shouldn't courses be tougher for the bigger comps though ?

By just increasing the greens stimp, no!

Pin positions and variable (left, right & distance) block positions on the tee's are the 2 main criterias IMO, you shouldn't rank up the greens from what they normally are all week just because it's a bigger comp!
 
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