I’ve always been a golfer who thought he preferred the fastest greens possible.
Growing up, fast greens were usually a sign of the best courses in my area. Did I prefer to play nicer courses with smooth, fast greens? Of course I did. The sooner the better, honestly.
“I putt fast greens better,” I’ve told dozens of people over the years.
But like many other parts of life, age has complicated my once simplistic view of green speeds.
Now I find myself yearning for more interesting complex greens—married with reasonable speed—that make the game more enjoyable for all skill levels.
Obstacle of fast greens
On a recent trip to Bandon DunesI was hit with green rushes all over the property.
More than anything, I struggled to get the ball the holes instead of seeing it go through the hole. I was also struck by how much rest I ever had to play, even on shots within 10 feet.
This is a luxury afforded to courses with slower paced greens that have ripple.
Managing shots to the greens turned out to be a pleasant experience. Being over the hole wasn’t a death sentence, but it felt like a lot of creativity was required due to the dramatic slope. The hole locations were more adventurous than you would find on courses with lightning fast surfaces. (If the greens are too fast, many holes are unplayable).
Being along the Pacific coast, where the winds can be wild, Bandon is a place where green speeds must be kept in check. Add in the resort element where many handicap players play and it makes sense for them to be conservative with the green speeds.
However, it got me thinking that some of my favorite golfing experiences in recent years have been on greens that were slower than I expected. When I say “slow”, I don’t mean a thin carpet – I just mean closer to average.
One day I think I was repeatedly playing Elie Golf Club in Scotland, a course where the greens were probably running at 9 on the Stimpmeter if I had to guess. The real skill there was navigating all the hard bumps and hollows on the approach – and the slower green speeds allowed that challenge to be interesting.
I would also highlight a final round at Chambers Bay (host of the 2015 US Open) where the greens were getting closer to 10. The durability of the greens, combined with a reasonable speed, made approach shots fun while allowing for a manageable layup.
For me, it’s gotten to the point where playing really fast greens is significantly less fun than more reasonably fast layups. Having greens that run like concrete has become fashionable in golf over the years as courses — mostly private clubs — compete in an arms race with the fastest greens, but it has come at a cost.
- Faster greens are more expensive to store, says the USGA. Lower mowing heights, regular top dressings, verticuting and hand watering are just a few of the practices involved in maintaining faster greens. Courses with faster greens typically invest heavily in improving green health by doing things like removing trees and increasing drainage. This type of maintenance is beyond the budget of most golf courses. It also puts the health of the greens at greater risk as the courses push speed to the edge.
- Playing the green faster makes the game slower. According to a 2017 USGA studyeach foot of increased green speed increased the average pace of play by 6.4 seconds per player per hole. This resulted in an increase of more than seven minutes in the total round time for a foursome. So if a course went from 9 to 11 on the Stimmeter, the round took 14 minutes longer.
- Current playing conditions of faster greens may make play significantly more difficult for high handicap players, while at the same time lowering the game for better players. Faster green speeds often require less rest to play because fewer hole locations can be used on the greens. Also, the more time a ball spends rolling—which is usually the case on faster greens where players need to hit softer shots—the more likely it is to be affected by imperfections on the green. When top pros face slower greens that have more rest, it’s often more difficult for them than when they play lightning fast greens with less rest..
Green speeds used to be much slower
How much faster are the greens?
In 1978, the USGA standardized the Stimpmeter and began taking measurements of many golf courses in America. They measured more than 2,000 golf courses and found that the average Stimmeter reading was 6.5.
More than 40 years later, there are many free way across the US that go above 6.5.
Mowing heights for greens in the 70s were generally higher than today. The maintenance element has also been improved to allow for greens that go well beyond 6.5. In fact, today’s greens average beyond 9 on the Stimpmeter, nearly three feet faster than they used to be.
The high end of the green speed chart is more populated today as some of the world’s best clubs push for 11, 12, 13 and beyond on the Stimpmeter.
But only because of the greens it can be faster does not mean that they it should be taken at those levels.
Many courses in the US and around the world are designed specifically with slower green speeds in mind. Their greens are bent and undulating in a way that caters to slower green speeds. Having those greens run to something ridiculous like 12 or 13 on Stimp is not what the architect intended. These courses would be better – meaning more fun with faster rounds – if they just dropped the speed a few yards.
Unfortunately, ego gets in the way. Clubs compete to see who has the fastest greens in town. Some golfers associate slower greens as a sign of weakness – it’s like a badge of honor on their course to dish out maximum penalty on the greens.
Hopefully, that mindset is starting to change as golf welcomes an influx of newbies. Playing the game faster and getting lower scores is fun.
I’m not suggesting that every golf course should slow their greens to 8. There are some places that should be to 10 or 11, especially if their greens are flatter and less interesting.
And I think most of us can agree with that GENTLY of greens is the most critical factor for satisfaction. In the same 2017 USGA study I cited earlier, players surveyed ranked softness as their top priority in deciding which greens they like.
That being said, when a course has a lot of slope and the greens are very fast, I don’t see how interesting or fun it is. I prefer slower greens with more rest.
What is your ideal pace for green speeds? Let me know below in the comments.
Main photo caption: Slowing green speed can be useful at all levels of play. (GETTY IMAGES/Michael Reaves)
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