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Do you prefer fast greens or slow greens?

Fast greens provided they also hold. Fast greens where the ball just bounces through are about as much fun as a COVID 19 swab test!
 
punched...sanded = just what we all hate but unless it happens, we get crap surfaces and that's just no fun. It is 2020 and surely Elon Musk can come up with a new grass that no longer requires constant maintenance and ocean-loads of water! Greg Norman has been working on this and maybe they already have something which is just too costly right now?
 
Tenputt said:
My answer is “it depends.” The courses I play most frequently are on the benches of a pretty good sized mountain range. On some of them, if they let the greens get quick, you have no chance of two putting if you are above the hole. The last round I played, I was hole high and 30 feet from the pin. I made my putt and watched the ball keep rolling down the slope, coming to rest 80 feet from the hole. I four putted. I honestly do not remember the last time I four putted. On those types of greens, the superintendent needs to slow them down. On fairly level greens, I like them to be very fast.
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Played Dinosaur Mountain in AZ and this is exactly as you describe -- they have some really crazy sloping greens and if they were on the quick side you'd simply never keep the ball on the green - which is bloody ridiculous. Fortunately they are aware of this design quirk and keep the greens at a reasonable pace - but even then you are lucky to keep the ball on the green if you are putting from above the hole. This comes down to the architect causing unnecessary problems and he or she should be horse-whipped.
 
Fast. All day every day.
 
I like quicker greens but I played a course a few weeks back that the greens were like putting on marble with a whole bunch of slope and grain. that wasn't fun but the greens held shots into the green which was good but I 3-putted my fair share of greens that day. Here in the northeast our courses were punched anywhere from the day after Labor Day to end of September so they are all pretty much healed at this point. My home course has some really hard greens that don't hold shots right at the pin but play it short and let it run up to the hole you are golden. Most of my 2nd/3rd shots into greens will either land just before the green or just onto the green depending on where the pin is. Plus the course is built on gold old clay soil so if its dry its as hard as a rock and you get some really long drives and run on your ball.
 
I only prefer fast greens if the greenskeeper has a clue what he is doing.

Here's a hint for you Spackler: If you can't DROP a ball at the location where you want to put the pin and have that ball stop within 3 feet of the hole but cut the cup there anyway, then re-evaluate your competence as a greenskeeper. Because, as it stands, you're not a greenskeeper. You're a hack and a joke.

I got spoiled from the beginning of my relationship with the game. Every course on the mountain wanted to "keep up with Torreon" (who stimped at, typically, 12 daily). So I've been putting on fast and frequently rolled greens since the day I took up the game. I've showed up at other courses around the state where the starter will give the "fast greens" warning only to get on the course itself and find that they consider "8" as fast. And for that particular course it may be. But a lot of them aren't "fast" to me. The faster, for me, the better in most cases. They typically roll truer.
 
I love a multitude of green speeds. Old school architecture is the bomb and lends itself to slower greens quite often. Or I'd play links style all day with fast fairways and slow greens to keep the ball on the surface.

Green speed should not be there just to suit your preference. ;)
 
Fast. My worst putting rounds are always on slow greens. Granted, sometimes the pins are put in outrageous positions given the speed of the green but I don't think I've ever played on greens that I felt were too fast. Fast greens offer two big advantages IMO:

1. Putts roll more true
2. The ball tends to be going much slower when it reaches the hole increasing the catch radius.
 
blueonblack said:
I love a multitude of green speeds. Old school architecture is the bomb and lends itself to slower greens quite often. Or I'd play links style all day with fast fairways and slow greens to keep the ball on the surface.

Green speed should not be there just to suit your preference. ;)
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exactly -- it should be dictated by the designs of the greens.
 
I don't really care unless they are super slow. That said I have a really difficult time adjusting to slow greens if I played fast greens the day before.
 
Fast greens for me. I hate slow greens
 
Doesn't matter to me as long as they are the same for 18 holes. If I can get the speed down on the putting green then I will be good to go.
 
This is kinda why I tried to never play the same course all the time and make sure my game could travel. (y)
 
The faster the better for me.
 
Tenputt said:
My answer is “it depends.” The courses I play most frequently are on the benches of a pretty good sized mountain range. On some of them, if they let the greens get quick, you have no chance of two putting if you are above the hole. The last round I played, I was hole high and 30 feet from the pin. I made my putt and watched the ball keep rolling down the slope, coming to rest 80 feet from the hole. I four putted. I honestly do not remember the last time I four putted. On those types of greens, the superintendent needs to slow them down. On fairly level greens, I like them to be very fast.
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You actually bring up a great point. I've played on greens that were never built to be stimped at 10+. And they never should be stimped that fast but A LOT of times, a superintendent's and members' egos end up outweighing what's actually best for the course/pace of play, etc.
 
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They re-did a local course and "modernized" the greens. Much faster, but totally flat now in comparison, and totally lacking character.
Broke my heart.
 
I prefer a fast green as I find myself too short more often then long. Also, when putting having a shorter backswing for me is more consistent. I rarely 3 putt fast greens vs the same on slow greens.
 
wristcock said:
Played Dinosaur Mountain in AZ and this is exactly as you describe -- they have some really crazy sloping greens and if they were on the quick side you'd simply never keep the ball on the green - which is bloody ridiculous. Fortunately they are aware of this design quirk and keep the greens at a reasonable pace - but even then you are lucky to keep the ball on the green if you are putting from above the hole. This comes down to the architect causing unnecessary problems and he or she should be horse-whipped.
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Not necessarily true. A lot of these courses were built before 12+ stimp readings were all the rage. If these courses kept the stimp levels in line with the original intent of the course design, those courses can actually be a lot of fun. But you've got 20+ handicaps that think they should be playing on "Tour level surfaces" to their own detriment and unfortunately a lot of those hacks are "paying members" that make sure their squeaky wheel is heard.
 
OldandStiff said:
Fast please. Slow greens drive me crazy. They wiggle.
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yes! The wiggle! I had a birdie putt today that would normally be about a 6 inch break to the right. I was trying to putt through it, but the ball did a wiggle a couple times left and right then dying just left.
 
I prefer consistent, fast or slow don’t matter.
 
xThor said:
yes! The wiggle! I had a birdie putt today that would normally be about a 6 inch break to the right. I was trying to putt through it, but the ball did a wiggle a couple times left and right then dying just left.
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Maddening.
 
The standard argument is that it is easier to putt on fast greens then slow greens.....So riddle me this....When they set up the courses for the US Open to do their best to befuddle the players......why don't they have the greens rolling at 8 vs 13? When greens are relatively flat faster is better....when you have severe slopes slower is better....Courses where they play top events like the US Open usually have challenging slopes on their greens. Making them faster magnifies the breaks.
 
GolfTravelDude said:
The standard argument is that it is easier to putt on fast greens then slow greens.....So riddle me this....When they set up the courses for the US Open to do their best to befuddle the players......why don't they have the greens rolling at 8 vs 13? When greens are relatively flat faster is better....when you have severe slopes slower is better....Courses where they play top events like the US Open usually have challenging slopes on their greens. Making them faster magnifies the breaks.
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Well pin placement plays a pretty big role too. The slopes and speeds can be made nearly irrelevant or practically unfair to even pros based on where the pins are located, and that's the main thing that works against pros and amateurs. Even little munis make pins much tougher than normal for something as simple as a scramble usually. Putts within 8ft of the hole might be peachy, but hitting and holding that area, or putting into it from most other green locations might be a complete nightmare made significantly worse by speed. Two players can play the same lightning fast greens and have completely different opinions on how difficult they were based on where their putts came from. With really fast, challenging greens it's the position game that determines fates more than putting skill sometimes.
 
Two way street for me. I prefer putting on quicker greens, but I find my approach/chip proximity is a lot tighter on slower greens. Likely because I can stop the ball much more easily. I probably score better overall on slower greens.
 
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