Stopping the ball on firm greens

[garyinderry]

can I ask how your scoring has been with the greens hard? I remember last year back home in Ireland we had a scorching week and the greens and fairways went bone dry.

I came joint 1st with 39 points. nothing out of the ordinary you say, 39 wouldn't get you in the top 10 around my old place.


its not just even holding greens. its chipping too. working out where to land it or how hard to hit it is very difficult. a slight overhit may result in the ball running 20 ft past rather than 7ft.

Ive taken action and put a 64 wedge in my bag. we have lots of raised greens at lee park. ive used the 64 this last 3 days to pop the ball up and use the trajectory to make it sit down.

I would say that they conditions could add you to 4/5 shots to peoples games.

 

[In_The_Rough]

Ask your ground staff :thup:

Seems like it is more than me that needs to do that though that's the issue here it is not just an isolated case. Summat wrong somewhere. Anyway never get a straight answer so whats the point.

 

[Alex1975]

yep thats pretty much ours described (just slightly cheaper lol). Get to see what they should be like tomorrow though

It feels like they have been bad for a while now but we really have had no rain to speak of. As you say, it will be worth it in the end and they are usually pretty good though the year.

 

[srixon 1]

The condition of the course will always be determined by the weather conditions. You just have to adapt your game to suit. If the greens are bone hard then you have to accept that you cannot aim at all the pins. Aim to land just short, or at the very front of the green and accept that you might have a few longer putts than usual. Personally, I would prefer to have the greens a bit firmer than the mushy things that most of us have been playing on for the last few months.

 

[CMAC]

ours can spin back a 3 iron they are that soft, we can only dream of firm greens this year:angry:

 

[garyinderry]

the rains have returned to merseyside! happy days

 

[One Planer]

the rains have returned to merseyside! happy days

We had quite a bit of rain over night and having a light shower at the minute.

See what moaning about hard greens does to the weather!!! You should all be ashamed of yourselves :smirk:

 

[craig_chesterfield]

If you are good at running it in, go with it whilst the greens are hard! I know it doesnt look as good but your par/birdie will feel better than a bogey after the hole!!!

 

[garyinderry]

raised greens make it mighty difficult to run the ball in. not impossible but a lot more difficult. my home course in Ireland is pretty flat around the greens but at lee park in Liverpool, every green is rasied a few feet or so making this a little more tricky.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Chip and runs and take your punishment. Miracle shots do not work...

Our greens are usually very good for holding a shot with a long iron, but you've got to be very careful atm with hitting anything but a wedge. There is a lot more skill needed to play into hard greens than soft receptive ones.

With you on this. Wondering why folk think they should get 'stop' on their short approach shots. You'll get it if you hit the ball right and if you don;t or the greens are less receptive then ddon;t play a shot expecting it. Easy answer to keeping a ball on the green - adapt the shot you play to your ability and the playing conditions. Or am I missing something?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If you are good at running it in, go with it whilst the greens are hard! I know it doesnt look as good but your par/birdie will feel better than a bogey after the hole!!!

Doesn't look as good? - who cares what it looks like...And besides - I think little bump and runs look fantastic - show real skill and judgement - much more than simply chucking the ball up in the air. So beauty surely is in the eye of the beholding player.

 

[stevelev]

Doesn't look as good? - who cares what it looks like...And besides - I think little bump and runs look fantastic - show real skill and judgement - much more than simply chucking the ball up in the air. So beauty surely is in the eye of the beholding player.

So back to the original issue........How do you play a bump and run to a small green with a pond between you and the hole when your 40 yards out. And even a 60degree doesn't stop on it. If its short your in the water, if its long you roll off the back oob. The green slopes towards you but still wont hold, seen very low hcappers struggle to hold it, so me off 21 how should I approach it...

Some have said course management.........At my level that can only help so much I still duff and slice/hook shots now and then and am always looking to improve...........

 

[garyinderry]

another merseysider who knows what these drought conditions was like. don't worry chap. I was out playing football there now in light rain. hopefully we get a good plump tonight.

 

[Evesdad]

My course has been the same for the last 3 weeks, nothing holding. It's a real shock to the system after the long wet spell. On Monday I had a shocker everything running through but knew most was my fault for flying the ball up at the green. On Tuesday I took the run the ball up or play shorter. Still ran a few through but much better results plus I'm adapting more. 32 points with 4 blobs which is quite good for me at the moment! Gave me 8th place in the mid week stableford winner only had 37 out of 60 odd entrants. Prob be all change again as rained today and the same forecast for tomorrow!

 

[Region3]

So back to the original issue........How do you play a bump and run to a small green with a pond between you and the hole when your 40 yards out. And even a 60degree doesn't stop on it. If its short your in the water, if its long you roll off the back oob. The green slopes towards you but still wont hold, seen very low hcappers struggle to hold it, so me off 21 how should I approach it...

Some have said course management.........At my level that can only help so much I still duff and slice/hook shots now and then and am always looking to improve...........

Why are you 40yds out? Is it a short par 4, long par 4 that you can't get to in regulation, a par 5 or is it because of a miss-hit 2nd shot?

With the conditions as firm as they are at the moment, I can get to within 50-60yds of our first green if I nail my driver, so I'll take a look at the flag colour on the way to the tee. If it's red (front) I'll deliberately lay back a bit in the fairway because I know I can't stop the ball on the front of the green from 50yds, but a full shot from 100-120 I can hit hard enough to spin it and stop it near the front.

Is it an option in your scenario to leave your previous shot 100yds away instead of 40?

 

[JustOne]

So back to the original issue........How do you play a bump and run to a small green with a pond between you and the hole when your 40 yards out. And even a 60degree doesn't stop on it. If its short your in the water, if its long you roll off the back oob. The green slopes towards you but still wont hold, seen very low hcappers struggle to hold it, so me off 21 how should I approach it...

Some have said course management.........At my level that can only help so much I still duff and slice/hook shots now and then and am always looking to improve...........

Accept that you're best to play it to the back of the green and get down in 2 from there. Simple.

Of course the plan is to land your first shot straight in the hole to save you 2 shots..... or you can hole the one from the back of the green and save only 1 shot... either way it's better than 'getting cute' and being in the pond.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Accept that you're best to play it to the back of the green and get down in 2 from there. Simple.

Of course the plan is to land your first shot straight in the hole to save you 2 shots..... or you can hole the one from the back of the green and save only 1 shot... either way it's better than 'getting cute' and being in the pond.

Good plan - especially if it is a hole you get a stroke on - use the stroke and treat a par as a bonus - a shot gained.

 

[garyinderry]

ive combated the hard conditions by using a 64 wedge. I tell you what. my 60 is going to have its work cut out getting back in the bag. up and down from everywhere.

at times it feels like im showing off. oul Slazenger 64 with 6 degrees of bounce. perfect

 

[JustOne]

ive combated the hard conditions by using a 64 wedge. I tell you what. my 60 is going to have its work cut out getting back in the bag. up and down from everywhere.

at times it feels like im showing off. oul Slazenger 64 with 6 degrees of bounce. perfect

Also great for spreading butter and wallpaper scraping :thup:

 

[MadAdey]

See Region3's advice. A couple of holes at my place are much better attacked from further back so you can hit a nice full shot that you can load up with some back spin. Good example is the 5th, 320 yard par 4, big bunker at the front of the green stopping you from running it in, go long and you go down a 10 foot slope. My way is to hit a shot that leaves me around 100 yards as that it leaves a nice 3/4 SW that I can fly in and stop as like in your case if you get too close it is hard to get enough spin to stop the ball.