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Practice Greens vs Course Greens

PhillyV

PhillyV

Original Ass-Cap : G15' & G18'
Albatross 2024 Club
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Are your practice greens kept up like the course greens? This comes up because my local course has two greens to practice on and both typically have zero relation to the course in terms of speed and neither really have break to them. It seems like they are there almost because they're supposed to be there.
 
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No, not even close.

Our practice green is in the open and very flat - the course greens are over half deeply shaded and many of them are slanted one way or another.
 
One of my biggest pet peeves in golf is when they are a complete 180 from each other. I get it in some areas, but so glad at our recent trips they have been dead on.
 
PhillyV said:
Are your practice greens kept up like the course greens? This comes up because my local course has two greens to practice on and both typically have zero relation to the course in terms of speed and neither really have break to them. It seems like they are there almost because they're supposed to be there.
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Our putting green is cut similarly to the greens on the course. It also has slopes and breaks so that one can practice different putts.

My prior club had a large putting green that was remarkably flat and the course had greens that had lots of slope.
 
Our practice greens are usually pretty spot on compared to the courses.
 
For most the places I go play they are pretty close to what is on the course. I do hate when the practice greens are nothing like the greens on the course.
 
Our home course is as close as you can get, both the putting green & short game area.
We have a debate going on now about our upcoming renovation, if they go with a different grass on approaches & short grass areas, they'll have to shut down a good bit of the practice area to make them match.
 
Practice greens aren’t treated any different than the rest of the course and they take a hell of a beating.
 
The four courses I primarily play keep the putting greens in good shape consistent with the course.
 
Very rare that they come close really anywhere I've played. Have given up even considering it will relate to course.

One of the reasons why I intentionally put it close on the first green. So I can see others putt and get an idea.

That last part is total BS, but I do prefer watching a roll before my first countable putt of the day😜
 
Ours is very close in prep and representation. It has flat putts, either straight or with break. Some with modest slope. Also has a severely sloped lower portion that helps to simulate putts that you may find on a few of the more dramatic greens out there.
 
PhillyV said:
Are your practice greens kept up like the course greens? This comes up because my local course has two greens to practice on and both typically have zero relation to the course in terms of speed and neither really have break to them. It seems like they are there almost because they're supposed to be there.
Click to expand...
No, not at all. In fact our course greens can change from hole to hole through out a 3-4 + hour round.

We have two practice greens. One for putting only, the other for chips, and shorter pitches.

The putting only green is similar to the course greens, but the greater foot traffic on it, make it not representative of our course greens.

The chipping green gets mistreated by users, so it's not a good putting green.
 
My course does pretty good with the practice greens. I can usually count on the speed to be similar to the course greens. Before a round that is the one thing I focus on. The speed. I hate it when I had no time to test it and have no idea the speed on the first hole.
 
Our practice green rolls remarkably similar to most of the course greens. I mean a couple of our greens (#4 and #17) are notorious for rolling a little different than others but our new greens keeper has done and excellent job in less than 2 years. Greens roll true, are faster than they've ever been, and are very consistent.
 
the practice green on my home course is most often a match for speed to the ones in play.
the issue i have it that it's got way more shape and slope than you find in play. it's a fine distraction while you're waiting to tee off, but there's not really even enough flat space for genuine practice of putts over 10' before you're into crazy slopes and breaks. it's a shame too as it's a huge area, they just got a little too crazy designing it.
 
The Practice greens I play are rarely like the course greens, both in design & speed. :eek:
 
I'd say my home course does a pretty decent job at keeping them relatively the same. I hate when a course doesn't even TRY to make them close though. That is frustrating.
 
lambeau said:
the practice green on my home course is most often a match for speed to the ones in play.
the issue i have it that it's got way more shape and slope than you find in play. it's a fine distraction while you're waiting to tee off, but there's not really even enough flat space for genuine practice of putts over 10' before you're into crazy slopes and breaks. it's a shame too as it's a huge area, they just got a little too crazy designing it.
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That's a good point. A course we play from time to time is just like that. 20 of us played it a couple days ago and there was still plenty of room because it was so massive. Ours was the 3rd foursome and that green sits right by the 1st tee. When I asked my cartner if he was going to putt a few his response was "why? it's so much steeper than anything you'll face and fast like the course greens, so you'll just be trying meaningless 'trick putts'"
 
Practice greens are the same speed as those on the course. The putting green is relatively flat, in comparison, and without a ton of break. It is fine since i'm mainly concerned with getting speed right on lag putts.
 
I've noticed a distinct correlation on this. As you go up in price and exclusivity, Practice Greens and course greens will match. Yes, there are "some" exceptions or are somewhat close, but in general...
 
Our practice green is a tad bit slower than the course.
 
Almost never match in my experience. For that reason I rarely even bother putting on them
 
Ours never seem to be even close... the green for the chipping are is even worse.
 
Yes and no. Our practice green is pretty true as far as speed, but they don't move the cups often enough. They get hogged out around the rims and trampled around the cup from people retrieving their balls, so they're almost like funnels. It makes putting deceptively easy compared to the greens on the course.
 
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