Sad greens.....

Smiffy

Smiffy

Grand Slam Winner
Joined
Oct 17, 2008
Messages
24,075
Location
Gods waiting room.....
Visit site
Due to my obsession with playing different courses I haven't played much at my new "home" course this season. Joined on April 1st, and yesterday afternoon was only my second visit since then.
I've got to be honest, I'm really, really disappointed with the state of the greens at the moment compared to other tracks I've been playing. They were bad enough the last time I played there (about 4 weeks ago) but I honestly thought that they would have improved massively since then.
One of the main reasons I joined Highwoods was that it was always presented in superb condition and the greens, whilst not being the fastest around, were always evenly paced, had a great putting surface and looked superb.
Yesterdays round was an absolute joke as far as the greens were concerned. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the course is immaculate, the fairways are some of the best I've played off this season, and the tees are in great condition. But where the greens are concerned it's like playing a links course. They are bone hard and impossible to stop a shot on. Added to that some of them are so bobbly you don't have any confidence at all with the putter. I know that they have done a lot of work on them during the winter, removing a lot of thatch and moss...but I've never seen them this bad. They were always so good. God knows what the members who play the course more regularly than me are thinking about them. I went with two mates yesterday and found myself continually apologising to them over the state of the bloody things. They were as disappointed as me, because they have played the course a few times in the past and couldn't wait to get back down there and knock it around.
Is it just Highwoods or are anybody elses greens as bad???
 
Is it just Highwoods or are anybody elses greens as bad?
Click to expand...
Two weeks ago, ours were very poor.
NOW, they are fabulous.
Pot luck with the weather and green keeping maintenance.
Our green keepers are saints.....they do their best and at times, out greens are class.
 
Greens at my old club are like sponges! So bouncy to walk on but fly a wedge in and you don't even leave a mark!
Greens at a club I'm hoping to join are splendid - if a bit quick. Took some time to adjust to the pace but quite true.
 
Ours are that bad, one of my mates hit a 7 iron into a par 3, hit the green with a clatter and bounced through. I reminded him to check for a pitchmark, he replied "I think I stand more chance of denting my ball"
Kinda summed it up and as I say, it's a complete lottery at the moment.
I played the 2nd (long par 4) and collared a good drive down the middle left me a 7 iron in. I couldn't have hit it any sweeter, it hit the green and bounced about 20 feet in the air. I thought it had hit a bloody sprinkler head.
 
My old course has a sprinkler system but they hardly ever use it. They drive around with a bloody great tank of water and do each green in turn. No wonder they're bone hard after a spell of dry weather.
 
Played at a muni last week, £8 was the green-fee and the greens were softish, receptive, let the ball check-up very nicely and were incredibly true when putting.

Very impressed and at a green-fee so low at a council owned place, it really does heap shame on some courses.
 
Doesn't a lot depend on what the greens were built on? I'm certainly no expert, but I'm sure i read somewhere that on my course, the greens were built using the American system with a sand type base, or something along those lines.

Maybe one of the greenkeeping experts on here could explain.

Golfmmad.
 
Doesn't a lot depend on what the greens were built on? I'm certainly no expert, but I'm sure i read somewhere that on my course, the greens were built using the American system with a sand type base, or something along those lines.

Maybe one of the greenkeeping experts on here could explain.

Golfmmad.
Click to expand...

The greens at Highwoods have always been good in the past. That's one of the reasons I joined.
Have never had a problem with getting the ball to stop on them, certainly never experienced the type of bounces that I experienced yesterday.
I expected it at Lydd (links course) the other week when I played with Medwayjon.
But from an established parkland course???
 
Our greens are awful to look at due to a meadow grass infestation but the greenstaff are winning the battle to remove it but they are really goo to putt on. They are fast (well for RA anyway) and more importantly very true. If you pick the line, especially on 3-6 footers you can be confident over them that they won't move.

They are also very receptive to a well struck iron shot or a spinning pitch or chip so if you forget the looks and go for the quality its happy days
 
Its funny how we expect our parkland courses to be soft, yet we accept links greens to be firm. When parkland greens become firm we then complain… I don’t get it.

Firm greens are the norm in dry conditions… or should I say, they should be!!!
Golf is the only natural sport we play that the conditions change the way we play, work with it, if the greens are firm adjust your game.

Its not down to the greenkeeper to make the greens soft just to accommodate those who don’t like or cant play firm greens.

Those greenkeepers who bow down to the pressure and water just to get them soft are those who have
Thatch – can result in reconstruction
Shallow roots – dryout quick requiring more water
Disease problems- to spray 19 greens cost around £800 - £1000 and this could be monthly
Meadow grass problems (weed grass)
Pitchmark problems
Poor winter play
And this will cost you ‘the member’ a lot to put right!

I like firm greens, the firmer the better, I don’t think target golf it is less challenging and thought provoking. Playing firm greens has become a lost art. We are not playing DARTS!

With the current economic and environmental situation you will find more clubs following the same path of Highwood GC. Soon you will have little choice, soon water will be restricted, chemicals are getting banned, and fertiliser has become very expensive.

This subject is massive in the greenkeeping industry at the moment, have a look at the R&A website, google sustainable golf or fine golf. Some very interesting things happening in the greenkeeping world that will change the way we manage our courses.

I for one, congratulate Highwood

Cheers
 
Totally disagree with greensman.

Hard greens give no reward to skill.

For example, at Lydd I hit a scorching drive and then a 5 wood into a par 5. The ball pitched front of the green and ended up miles away.

At gillingham last summer, you could hit a towering 9 iron into the par3 16th, pitch it bang online on the front of the green and it would be OB through the back.
 
I've got an idea....

All those lovely courses out in the Algarve, Spain, Turkey and even the USA.
Let the greens go dry. Let's go back to golf in it's "purist form".
Let's all laugh as we watch the ball go everywhere.
And then cry when golf courses all go bust because nobody wants to play that particular lottery.
I expect firm greens on a links course. I pay my money and take my choice, and will try bump and run shots and low punches into the wind until the cows come home.
But I don't agree that a parkland course's greens should be the same.
 
Watch a 7 iron bounce over a hedge at the back of the green in the monthly medal and you wouldn't.
Click to expand...

Maybe just maybe you took the wrong club or shot?

As I said earlier playing firm greens has become a lost art, instead of looking at how we can improve we blame someone else. Anyway its going to rain soon so you can play darts on soft greens again
 
I'm in agrrement with greensman.
Our greens are to USGA spec, large greens and firm.
If you are playing to a firm green that isn't going to leave an inch deep pitch mark, don't fly it right up to the flag.
You HAVE to allow for the run and play it short. Part of the challenge for me is how to play into the greens and hold the ball there. If it's soft, pitch it up, if it's hard, run it in.
 
I know what you mean there Vig but what myself and Rob are getting at is greens that are so hard you have to pitch it 20 yards back up the fairway to have a chance.

Honestly a green that you simply cannot pitch a ball on anywhere without it bouncing off is a bad thing in my eyes.
 
If I am playing a course with firm greens, I tend to club down, hit it harder, more height and more stop. If your ball flight is low, you have less chance of one "sticking".

A bobbly green is more of a problem. Some of our members were complaining of bobbly greens a few weeks ago, these are the same members that can't be arsed bending down to repair a pitch mark. The same pitch marks that are causing the bobbles????????????? go figure.

I know the dep head greenkeeper fairly well and he pulls his hair out with them.
We have a problem with some of the irrigation system that have been working on for a year.
The rain that we have had in the last couple of weeks have allowed them to bring the greens back to something like.
I know KeefG quite liked them. They can get much better but everyone has to play a part and this includes the ignorant ******* that don't repair their own pitch marks. Rant over!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Crazyface
Spiking Greens
Replies
16
Views
2K
Deleted member 18645
D
Kennysarmy
What's the state of your greens currently?
4 5 6
Replies
104
Views
6K
clubchamp98
clubchamp98
Billysboots
How is your course shaping up after winter and the dry spring?
8 9 10
Replies
184
Views
20K
clubchamp98
clubchamp98
C
Thinking of a new course
Replies
15
Views
763
Crazyface
Crazyface
T
Playing proper golf whilst trying to change your swing
2
Replies
22
Views
2K
timd77
T
Top