How can you work out how fast greens are running?

I don’t see a need to match green speeds between qualifiers and The Open. They are separate competitions. Also, winds and wind speed often dictate green conditions- don’t want balls moving on greens. This can also mean that some greens on the course may receive different treatment (cutting, rolling) than others. Example would be the 11th green on The Old Course.
 
HampshireHog said:
We are hosting an open qualifier this year the only stipulation we have from the R&A is that the greens must be running at 12.

Will we get them that fast was our groups question, apparently we will have to slow them down.😳
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It's almost impossible to get greens in the UK up to 12 without causing problems with the turf afterwards. Some courses can and do cope but it can be dodgy if the turf has not been cultivated for the conditions.
 
rulie said:
I don’t see a need to match green speeds between qualifiers and The Open. They are separate competitions. Also, winds and wind speed often dictate green conditions- don’t want balls moving on greens. This can also mean that some greens on the course may receive different treatment (cutting, rolling) than others. Example would be the 11th green on The Old Course.
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My point is that I rather think the R&A are not obsessed with the pace of greens and they would see little point in such a demand.
 
rulefan said:
It's almost impossible to get greens in the UK up to 12 without causing problems with the turf afterwards. Some courses can and do cope but it can be dodgy if the turf has not been cultivated for the conditions.
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Hunstanton was that fast a few years back but then lost their greens and had to redo them all.
 
I have been using my old Aimpoint charts for a few social rounds and the greens have definitely been slow and the 8 stimp chart has been reliable. They did cut them on Friday and it was between an 8 & 9. I think ours are a good average (and in very good condition) and I love it when an 18 handicapper comes in having had 36-42 putts moaning they were so quick. Perhaps work on holing out from 2-3 feet more often and don't blame green speeds that aren't actually the issue
 
rulefan said:
Augusta no longer publish their stimp readings but they have been reported over the years as 13 or 14. A couple of years ago they were estimated at 15 by some but this was never confirmed.
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This is classic Masters hyperbole. The greens slope heavily and the ball would not stop if they were running at 14 or 15. Down hill putts at Augusta are rapid because of the slopes. Uphill the players have to give it a whack.

Older courses were built with more slopes in the greens because the grass was much longer. Advances in agronomy and mowing technology mean that modern courses are built with much flatter greens designed to be maintained at a faster speed.
 
The graph above disturbs me as I play on a course every now and again that has 3 of the 9 greens way steeper that 4.5% (checked using a dig level)

One is so bad they can only have 1 spot for the hole. It hasnt been moved in 3 years.
 
Our green staff are pretty savvy, even for club champs. However on greenkeepers revenge anything goes and good luck with some of those holes. I think our speeds are pretty consistent around 9 and then up to 11 or so for the club champs. We don't play overly fast greens outside a few big events so it seems daft to go from 9 to anything above 11 and cause eveyone grief and slow play down even more
 
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