Your Home Club's "Greens"?

[Smiffy]

One of the attractions of Highwoods for me was the general quality of the course. It has always been immaculate when I have played there in the past.
I have only played a couple of times there this year, the last time about 3 weeks ago.
The tees and fairways were fantastic, some of the best fairways I have seen this year. But the greens...
They have never been ultra fast, but have always been in good condition and looked superb. This year they have had problems with them and apparantly about one ton of a mixture of thatch and poor root growth have been removed from each one! That's a lot thatch and root growth!
Hopefully this will pay dividends over the coming months. Three weeks ago they were not very good at all but I understand from a workmate who is also a member there that they are coming on again. He played there on Sunday and was very impressed with them.
So hopefully things will be looking up now. I hope so 'cos I hate slow greens.

 

[greensman]

Hello all

I have been reading this with great interest, my first question…who in the right mind would want to be a greenkeeper??? Well me, I love it, I have been in this industry for 20 years and one thing for sure it’s a great occupation, but we need skin like a rhinoceros at times.

Some will know me under a different name (greenkeeper) but I lost my password and had to use a different name, so those who know ‘greenkeeper’ its ME!!! I am a keen golfer 9.5 handicap and have the luxury of playing some of the finest courses.

Anyway, GREENS and the condition. I understand no one is having a direct pop at the greenstaff but let me put some things into perspective.

The poor condition’s that some have described is understandably frustrating. However, on every situation mentioned on this thread ‘your greenkeeper’ is trying to rectify a problem. If he was to ignore the problem whilst trying to appease everyone your greens could be in serious trouble and your greenkeeper would not be doing his job. So give the guy credit, he knows punching holes is unpopular, he knows some are going to be upset, yet he is brave enough to stick his head on the block to fix ‘your’ greens and safeguard the future.

As I said, 20 years in this great industry and one thing for sure, I have never met a fellow greenkeeper who doesn’t care massively about his course. We are a very proud bunch. At times it feels more of a vocation than a job, but a job it is, and one that is very, very complex and just when you think you have cracked it Mother Nature hits us with another problem.

Try and find out WHY your greenkeeper does certain things, then hopefully you have a little more empathy for your greenkeeper and you will feel less frustrated with the condition.

Keep smiling the sun is out!

Regards

Greensman AKA the ‘greenkeeper’

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Greensman,

Welcome back in your new guise. Our greenkeeper has been mini tining and cutting regularly to deal with the meadow grass problem as it is one type of grass that doesn't deal well with stress especially to the roots. I have to say that he is winning in terms of putting quality if not in looks

 

[mono217]

The greens arnt too good but im putting the best ever lol

 

[viscount17]

my course does flood but it doesn't adversely affect the greens once they've drained and had a chance to dry out.

currently still awaiting a razor cut, but like a short tufted smooth carpet, and getting quicker with the wind drying them further.

the odd bobble is inevitable due to heavy footed bag carriers

 

[andiritchie]

They aint half bad

Went down this evening the putting green was a bit wooly but all of the 10 holes i played the greens where very nice,and we getting a nice definition between fairway and rough now so all looking rosy

 

[theeaglehunter]

My clubs greens are finally starting to improve after a fairly poor spell by the courses own high standards. We have two 18 holes courses and on one the greens are now thick, fluffy, true and reasonably quick. On the other there are still a few bare patches, but they are mostly running true and are starting to loose the 'diseased' look of a few months ago. I'm not complaining, I have great faith in the greens staff preparing the course to its full potential by the summer.

 

[roccokj]

The people at my club say they are very bad at the moment but I find them good, it's possible to hole a putt on them! I have a stellar putting average for the course (31.3257 putts to be precise!) and if I do miss the odd one I simply blame the greens!

 

[thecraw]

Ours are crap, worst greens I have ever putted on in May. I will have a go at our greenkeeper as he is clearly clueless and a lazy so and so. Greensman, you can stick up for your fellow kind all you like however I have written my second letter of complaint in a month to the committee in relation to our greens.

Granted the weather has been apauling and sometimes that will set you back, however when the greens are softer than a sponge due to the amount of rain the alst thing you should be doing is taking a bloomin toro over them, leaving big fat sunked tyre tracks and taking chunks out of the fringe where previous big fat tyre marks have resulted in ridges and depressions.

Hand cut and roll when they are that soft its not rocket science instead of leaving three inch deep tyre tread marks on the greens.

We also have a few very badly diseased greens as well as the worst attempt I have ever seen to re-turf two tees over the winter. I have seen flatter areas on Ben Nevis! My friend and I built a decking area last year and I helped him including re-turfing a large area of his garden and I swear to God we made a better job of it than the greenkeeper has done of the new tees hes done.

Might sound nasty given the current ecconomic climate but I seriously hope that the greenkeeper is sacked and sacked fast.

 

[RGDave]

Right rant over, What are your clubs greens like at the moment?

Liam

Shocking (our greens), never looked so bad EVER. I don't know what's gone wrong.......just as the grass starts to grow and I expected some colour, they are terrible....

I'm hoping is temporary.....

 

[stevek1969]

Our greens are normally like bowling greens at this time of the year but we have a new greenkeeper who wouldnt no a good green if it hit in the face ,this time of year our greens are normally spot with the open ,pro am and club championship coming up but no, the front nine are bobbly and the back are marginally better.Its the worst i've seen them in years.

 

[Doh]

Concidering we play on our greens all year and three weeks ago they were treated they are now begining looking to look very good infact the course is looking great.

 

[fastmover2]

Well as a member of our Greens Committee I have to say that our greens are really not what they should be and have not been for several years.

I would in no way blame our Greenkeeper for this who does a great job within the limits that are set for him. Our main problem is our General Committee who seem extremely reluctant to put in place policies to enable our Greens staff to do their job. Also they will not spend money on much needed equipment.Any decisions made by the Greens Committee are overuled as soon as it involves any money being spent or even the slightest inconvenience to "those and such as those".

The Greenkeeper is forced to keep the course open in adverse weather and the same people who want this are the first to complain about the condition.

Our greens used to be among the best,if not the best, in the area.Last week I played on two courses where the greens were terrific. I actually remembered how much I enjoyed putting. Our greens are pants by any meaningful comparison.

Due to our location being very windy it is not generally possible to have very quick greens as they could become unputtable but at least we always used to have a very consistent roll.

The latest nonsense complaint is that the Greens staff are working on the course during the day and this supposedly gets in the way of play. When they are supposed to work God alone knows.

I would say in general the membership at any club probably get what they deserve. If you have poor greens then you should all write in or complain to the appropriate entity at your club. Moaning in the Bar is not enough. Be proactive.

Remember that the you may be unaware of factors that are affecting your greens adversely. Unless the weather has been extremely poor I would not accept that as an excuse in itself.

 

[Faldo_Fan]

I have said i think our greens are ok, thecraw mentioned tee boxes......now that's a whole different matter, ours are awful. I often have to move around the tee up to my permitted two club lengths back just to try and find a level spot! None of our greenstaff play golf and it shows! All of our tees are huge but they rarely move the markers around until the patch is threadbare! The tee markers are always on the skew, never pointing up the fairway or at the green. Small things like that are all about attention to detail. It takes the same amount of time to put them in level as it does to put them in on the cock!

I do however understand where greensman is coming from and that it is a demanding job, also that you can't please everyone. But as i member i'd be happy if common sense was applied!

*No Greenstaff were harmed during the making of this posting*

 

[Robobum]

We have the reputation of some of the best and most consistent greens in the county. They are usually excellent at an early stage of the season, hence our club champs in the 1st week of June.

They just aren't there at the moment. I understand that the snow that lay on them for almost 2 weeks was not a great thing to happen and they were pretty "mossy" for a long spell after that.

With the increased temperatures and the rain that is due over the next few days I would expect a stark improvement by the middle of next week.

 

[rgs]

Ours are slower than this time last year and are not in as good a condition--hopefully they will improve over the coming months.

Played in an Open comp on Sunday at another club, the practise green was beautiful, smooth and bloody quick---bore no resemblence to the 18 greens we subsequently played on. The main greens were slow, hairy and bumpy. As a playing partner observed a putt did the 110m hurdles heading towards the cup.
Am heading back to this club shortly to play in an inter club comp. Cant wait.

 

[janmolby]

I've only joined this year & don't have a lot of experience but they seem in good shape to me & some of the people I've played with think so too.

I noticed a sheet on the wall last night saying that people weren't repairing their pitch marks & seeing as the number of visitors this year has been low it must be members that are to blame. They've also started a thing where people can adopt a green & anytime they play on that green they're responsible for repairing any pitch marks on it.

 

[Faldo_Fan]

I always make a point of repairing at least 2 pitchmarks on every green, if everyone did that we would all have perfect greens!

 

[GRAEMBO]

Three of our greens got diesel sloshed on the a year or 2 ago, so we got 2 new greens and they are awesome. Sand based, good design in terms of shape and slope. The best greens on the course last season.

This season, one had to be ripped up because the mover was too heavy, so it has been repaired and is looking good again, and the other is still is immaculate condition.

Unfortunately though, as is the case throughout most of lanarkshire we have been told, our greens are diseased and have become really patchy and bumpy. Hopefully it gets sorted soon, I finish uni on thursday and have 10 weeks off!!!

 

[Faldo_Fan]

Three of our greens got diesel sloshed on the a year or 2 ago, so we got 2 new greens and they are awesome. Sand based, good design in terms of shape and slope. The best greens on the course last season.

This season, one had to be ripped up because the mover was too heavy, so it has been repaired and is looking good again, and the other is still is immaculate condition.

Unfortunately though, as is the case throughout most of lanarkshire we have been told, our greens are diseased and have become really patchy and bumpy. Hopefully it gets sorted soon, I finish uni on thursday and have 10 weeks off!!!

Our course has one public footpath right through the centre of it, leading from a huge housing estate up to the local beauty spot, usually under the cover of darkness the scumbag kids do there best to wreck one of the greens, throw all the divot-fill boxes into the undergrowth and smash the occasional tee marker!

P.S. I'm loving that collection of sticks in your bag!