What do you think is a good green?

harpo_72

harpo_72

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I know that my experience is limited and I have never played a PGA tour course the week of an event, but have played some qualifying course etc. The course I am currently a member of claims to have very good greens, but I have my doubts. Yes they are smooth and the ball follows the breaks but you cannot play golf shots onto them without the ball pinging around like a table tennis ball. Hence my opinion of them being not very good, now I know some of you will say your not hitting the ball correctly and not generating spin but guys I generate spin in abundance but I have never had my ball come back or drop and stop on these greens. I have looked at golf balls I have used ones I know just spin massively for me and had no stopping power on these greens.
In the end it's frustrating because, I feel it's a lottery as to whether you stay on the green or not, let alone get close. The course is mainly on chalk, so is well drained but surely there would be a layer that absorbs impacts ... I dunno I really am getting miffed with it especially when the pins are put on down hill slopes ( and no you don't get an up hill putt because it will roll off the green !! ) I like a fast green and these are great for pace but they are like trying to land on a living room carpet the ball dissipates little energy and has no time for the imparted spin to work. I am thinking of going for a course lesson or just challenging the pro to see if he stops the ball dead etc ...
Or am I just being a grumpy old man and just not rising to the challenge by throwing all my lofted clubs in the secondhand bin and learning to scuff it round the course with a sequence of tops/mi*****/fats/shanks ...
 
What type of course do you play on? A parkland course is more likely to hold a shot into the green than a links course, heathland courses can also run pretty firm and quick.

Maybe it's just a question of resetting your expectations to match the type of course you play?
 
'Good greens' should be consistent and a reasonable speed.

I love fast greens, but generally score best on medium paced ones. this is probably because I play mostly on medium-quick paced ones. My very best putting was actually on greens that were shaved that morning (Sunday) in preparation for a big Ladies tournament on the Thursday. My first putt on the practice green actually went twice as far past the hole and off the green!

The key though, to me, is consistency of pace!

If you haven't learned how to organise your game to get your ball close on your club's greens, then that's a failing on your part imo. Whether that's by landing on the green and spinning or landing short and running on is up to you - hopefully there are tests/opportunities where both are tested. I certainly had to (try to) use both on a 'modern links' course - with many 'buried elephant' greens and loved the challenge.
 
Fast and true. I'm not a great fan of greens that look like they've had a couple of elephants buried under them but I do like a green with subtle borrows that you have to work hard on to read. Not fussed on very grainy greens where a ball can appear to go up hill, or maybe not take a genuine borrow.

As for MacKenzie's... I like them to look at but because I haven't played many of them I usually struggle and leave the ball a couple of feet short if putting up the levels.
 
there's also the small matter of the difference in speed that contributes to the 'action' you see as a result of spin by elite golfers on TV.

watching tour pros play our course, in pretty much the same conditions we normally do, is a bit of a revelation in this regard - and there's a huge difference between our +2 player and the club pro's (for example) in this regard as well.
 
Well the course looks like parkland , it has lots of trees. However the greens are links like but the surrounds are parkland, so running a shot in like a links course is not a strategy that can be employed. I learnt my golf on the links so I am used to playing low wind avoiding chip and runs. At first I thought I had lost it but when I went somewhere else I was up and down virtually all the time.
The pace is generally consistent green to green and you'll get a good roll unless your a jabber ...
 
harpo_72 said:
Well the course looks like parkland , it has lots of trees. However the greens are links like but the surrounds are parkland, so running a shot in like a links course is not a strategy that can be employed. I learnt my golf on the links so I am used to playing low wind avoiding chip and runs. At first I thought I had lost it but when I went somewhere else I was up and down virtually all the time.
The pace is generally consistent green to green and you'll get a good roll unless your a jabber ...
Click to expand...

Seems like you are going to have to learn how to spin shots into greens! Something I certainly had to do when I returned to Parkland from Links. Surely, not all entrances to greens are rough though.
 
Fast and true for me = good greens.

If they are rock hard I imagine even the best players in the world would struggle to stop on that type of green. Just because you see tour pro’s spinning the ball back, doesn’t mean you will. When we get those sorts of conditions in the UK even the best won’t be getting the ball to stop on the greens. Land it short and bounce on, simples, what links golf is all about, so unless every green is raised and surrounded on all sides by hazards that’s you main option.;)
 
Not rough as such but mushy and dead ... So hit them and the ball dies. I can spin the ball obviously not enough but I don't think any one can for these greens. But are these good greens ?
 
KJT123 said:
How do you do this? :(
Click to expand...
you hit the ball first and take a divot after, you can get a little steeper if need be, but sometimes it will cut. A fade lands softer than draw normally. Club head speed is key, full shots will give more spin due to the speed.
 
Not sure should say may get blackballed! :( I have mentioned it previously though..
what is depressing is watching a sweetly struck shot drop onto the green and then bounce 6ft up in the air and go off into some horrible position. The most succes I have had is firing in on the side of a green and letting trickle down onto the green, but there isn't that option on all the greens.
The other thing is, they have put in a new irrigation system and not used it ...
 
Something in the middle of soft/hard and fast/slow if that makes sense? I really like the greens at Alyth, they are just right! :thup:
 
You can always tell if a course has good greens by the sound the ball makes when hitting the green.
If you get that hollow thud they have no base and are usually very hard in summer and soft in winter.
If you get that slap sound and the ball hops and rolls rather than jumping with joy 6ft in the air they have a good sand base.
 
Any green that rolls true is good in my book, however I would say in my experience its not been often slow greens have provided a good roll, whereas fast greens tend to roll much better.
 
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