Firm greens

[Greenkeeper]

I’ll be honest; I am somewhat surprised and delighted by the comments. Maybe target golf during dry spells will be a thing of the past, but we can still enjoy target golf in the winter.
Firmer/ dryer greens defiantly produce smoother/ truer greens. They are normally quicker (without lowering the cut to detrimental proportions) we will have less pitch marks, foot marks,disease scars and uneven growth. As stated before the main criteria has to be trueness.
I feel positively upbeat

Many thanks

 

[Nico]

I do know that when our place opened we had to "syringe" the greens in the middle of the day to stop them burning.

Was told by the then GK that if you put a 10 min spray of water on them in the height of the sun tha a cooling mist forms directly over the green.

 

[Greenkeeper]

This is a good technique to cool the surface down; heat stress is different from drought. Syringing the greens purely cools down the plant and the soil surface. Both drought and heat stress are damaging to greens, but with deeper roots and better grass species the greens become more resilient and tolerant.

 

[MVP]

Im not 100% sure what firmness the pros play on but the nearer to there greens the better as id like to experience there level of conditions as much as possible. That would give me a better idea at what level i am at in comparison.

those who think think that amateurs should get a softer green so they can get bite, because they cant spin the ball enough, should 1. Get a lesson to improve there spin, or 2. Play a different shot!

 

[viscount17]

Firstly, the R&A have employed some boffin (former NASA scientist) to invent and tool to register firmness of greens. It’s called the thumper, rubbish name but it’s very clever in design. Hopefully when its developed further it can be available to all clubs. Watch this space.

1 Typical yanks, they've nicked a Brit invention! This sounds like the tool the COPPS (Combined Operations Pilotage Parties) used in WW2 to assess the firmness of the Normandy beaches.

2 Having just returned from Spain and my first experience of, to me, bl**dy quick greens, I'm not greatly concerned at meeting firmer faster greens over here.
I'm not a consistently accurate hitter (not surprising off 24!) and backspin is a word not a deed, but they're nothing to be afraid off - it's just something else to learn.

I do like the idea of green speed being advertised though. It might take a while but eventually we would build our knowledge base.

One plea though, match the practice green to the average speed and firmness of the course greens!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I agree. The practice green at my club bears no resemblance to the speed of the actual greens. Also it is bobbly and horrible to putt on so serves no real purpose. Can't use it for serious practice especially on short putts and not worth using to warm up as it encourages the wrong feel for the speed