Skip to main content

Green Speed @ HCC

Green speed is a hot topic at any golf club. At HCC we strive to maintain our greens at a minimum of 10' on the Stimpmeter. This is a speed that allows us to utilize a number of pin positions on our already smallish greens. Attaining speeds higher than 10' on a daily basis would not only limit usable pin positions, but also limit the amount of enjoyment some of our members would take away from a game of golf. Consistency and trueness of roll has proved to be more important than speed.
During periods of hot and dry weather and in preparation for competitive events you will see the green speed increase. This is also true for roll in the fairways and approaches. It is the nature of our soils...fast and firm.
Green speeds are like anything else when dealing with mother nature...there are so many variables that things can change within the course of a day. This is in part why we do not post stimpmeter readings...stimpmeter readings are just a number. Our putting greens are treated the exact same as any other greens on the golf course. In my opinion, that is where we should be testing greens speeds before a round.

Please read this article from the USGA regarding posting of green speeds...
http://turf.lib.msu.edu/1990s/1990/901117.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Practice Range Tee

Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS,  fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research  shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.
Post a Comment
Read more

Cultural Greens Maintenance...

With the cooler temperatures this week, we will be performing some all important greens maintenance procedures. Monday evening (after the outside event) we will be doing a light grooming on both our greens and collars. This task will help to reduce the amount of lateral growth, therefore standing up the plants (for a better cut) and smoothing out the surfaces. Following the grooming we will be dry mowing all areas tonight to help clean up the debris. Tuesday morning we will be applying our biweekly light topdressing prior to play. Once the sand has dried, we will use our cocoa matt to drag the sand into both the canopy and the shallow grooming channels created by tonight's procedure. These practices in conjunction help to create a smooth, firm and healthy surface to putt on.
Post a Comment
Read more

Spring Greens Aeration...a week later!

A week has passed since our annual spring greens aeration. We have had a mixed bag of weather, hot, dry, cold, wet and even frost! These conditions make it challenging to aid in healing, but with the more recent consistent warm temperatures we are seeing solid recovery. We were fortunate to have decent weather to complete the process on time, allowing us to fill all the holes created by the 1/2” hollow tines. As there are some minor depressions within some of the holes we will be beginning our bi-weekly topdressing program early next week. Our team is mowing and rolling our greens daily, while slowly lowering our height of cut to our summer norm. We all know that spring cultural practices are not popular among golfers, but these all important tasks are the building blocks for high performance greens conditions throughout the heart of the golf season. Check out this video produced by the USGA on Aerations effect on putting...
Post a Comment
Read more