Golf
You don’t often hear a golfer say, “Wow those greens were amazing, they were so slow!” However, for turf managers, whilst speed is important (especially for bragging rights), smoothness is undoubtedly the key ingredient for top quality greens. Personally, I hate slow greens. As a former decent golfer (yes, I used to hit a fairway once), if I went to play a golf course where the greens were sluggish I would be counting down the holes waiting for the 18th to get off the course. But, far worse, were quick, bumpy greens that you get in the English springtime with those northerly winds. A round of golf in March, when the greens were lightning fast but bumpy as hell, would produce putting strokes where, if you watched carefully, you could just about see a backswing! Such was the speed of them. So, even though I still detest slow greens, if they are true and firm they are still preferable to quick, bumpy ones.
How do we measure these attributes?
Speed is easy. Get on the phone to your local rep and request a £50 stimpmeter. Once it’s delivered, go to a green with a tape measure and record the distance the ball travels from a given distance. Bingo. Green speed! What about smoothness and firmness? How do we measure the trueness of ball roll and firmness of greens when the ball hits the deck? Luckily there are two tools available to us. With the assistance of the R&A, the STRI brought out a measuring device called the ‘Trueness Meter’ some years ago which measures the deviations of ball roll. It costs around £12,000 to buy. The Clegg Hammer measures the firmness of the soil and costs £2,000. If you have a spare £14,000 floating around in your course budget, you can buy these two accurate tools which will give you the information.
When setting out my greens performance assessment programme, I didn’t have an extra £14,000, but I did have £50 to buy a stimpmeter. I still wanted to measure ball roll and ball reaction on my greens, so I went about devising two tests to give me feedback for both. They are by no means as accurate as the two scientific tools, but do give me enough information to judge whether my greens are improving from a playability point of view. My tests are cost effective and require only a stimpmeter (£50), three golf balls (£10), good eyesight and the golfers’ golden rule, no cheating!
Smoothness
I thought long and hard about this one. I wanted a test that could give me an accurate reading, taking away as much guesswork as possible. So, I came up with the following test and a ten point scoring scheme:
Go to a flattish location on one of your greens close to the hole cup.
Place the stimpmeter on a small bracket, so that it is at roughly set at a 15% degree angle. A small bucket (as shown) or an old hole cup will do.
Measure a distance of six feet, or slightly
more if the greens are quick. To gauge the distance, send the ball down naturally. Adjust the location of the stimpmeter until the ball finishes one foot behind the hole. Once you have this measurement then you are at your optimum distance (remember, it must be greater than six feet).
Now adjust the meter so that the ball travels in to the centre of the hole on a regular basis. This may mean that the meter is facing the right lip position, for example, so that it takes a slight break and drops in the middle of the hole. Once you have this done you are ready for the test.
Send down 10 balls and score accordingly:
1 point if it finishes in the centre of the hole, 1/2 a point if it goes in the right or left half and zero points if the ball misses.
After ten balls you should have a score out of 10. So, for example, if you sent down ten balls, with eight going in the middle, one slotting in the right half and one missing, you score 8.5 out of 10, a perfectly reasonable score. On the other hand, if you send down ten balls and three go in the middle, three in the right half, one in the left half and three miss, you have only scored 5 out of 10. Time to get that topdresser out to smooth those greens out a bit.
This system may not be as scientific as the STRI’s trueness meter, but it certainly costs a lot less! If you perform this test weekly, you will very quickly see how smooth your greens are. As with speed, measuring smoothness is a crucial element in judging how your greens perform on a daily/weekly basis.
Firmness
Firmness is a lot harder to gauge. I play on many greens where they become so firm or hard that hitting to them is like trying to stop a ball on a cricket wicket and not a golf green! You can measure firmness without having to purchase a Clegg Hammer, but will need a good critical eye and unbiased judgement.
“Even though I still detest slow greens, if they are true and firm they are still preferable to quick, bumpy ones”
Greg Evans, Course Manager, Ealing Golf Club FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 PC 47
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