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Large Greens vs Small Greens

It depends really. The course I played in high school had "postage stamp" greens. A lot of the teams we played against hating playing our course because the greens were so small. It was our advantage. I enjoyed playing on small greens then since I got to practice & play on them all the time. Also hitting to a smaller target makes you focus more on the shot at hand.
Nowadays, with my lack of playing on a daily basis, I guess I'd have to say I'd prefer larger greens. You may hit more GIR but there is also more of a chance of 3-putting. So you have to make sure your putting is good as well.
Golf course architects these days seem to be building larger & larger greens taking up acres, with loads of undulation. I'm sure the newer courses have greens with a larger square footage than older courses. :unsure:
 
Small greens. I don’t mind large greens as they are bigger/safer targets but small greens are better as you’re never left with a 65 foot put for birdie.
 
For me it depends on the speed of the greens. If they are fast I prefer smaller greens but if they are slower I will the big greens very time!
 
Smaller green for me. Larger greens I find are too "tricked out" with unnecessary undulations that arent appealing to me.
 
I go back and forth on it and relate it to the distance of each hole/course. If the course is tight, working the ball alot and alot of mid/short irons into the greens then small is fine, but if you're having mid to long irons in i would much prefer a larger green. So in short 50/50 small to large greens.
 
Since I play on them 200 or so times a year, I would have to say I prefer smaller greens. When I go to a course with larger greens and am faced with a 50 or 60 foot putt, it is pretty overwhelming after almost never having a putt in excess of 30 feet where I play almost all of my rounds.
 
If I had to choose I would say I prefer to play small greens. While I enjoy hitting more greens when they are larger than normal, I’m not a fan of having multiple 60+ foot putts during a round. The two courses in my area that I like to play the most are Tillinghast designs with small well-guarded greens.
 
Sox_Fan said:
Since I play on them 200 or so times a year, I would have to say I prefer smaller greens. When I go to a course with larger greens and am faced with a 50 or 60 foot putt, it is pretty overwhelming after almost never having a putt in excess of 30 feet where I play almost all of my rounds.
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But here is what Im not getting....
in missing your target by the 50/60 feet so now your chipping or pitching from that same 50/60 feet anyway. And there is potential to have more go wrong when chipping/pitching even if your good at it. I mean sitting 2 on green at 55 feet or off green at 55 feet. Even if your better chip/pitcher than you are a long lag putter there is still potential for more of a poorer scenario. bunker, rough, hilly, bad lies and stances, tight tucked pin to hit to, etc.. This can all prove to be more overwhelming than the 55 foot lag. Not to mention even if being the better chip/pitcher than lag putter that (when collectively counting many greens played) your still putting with more opportunities at pars and birds vs the pitch/chip from same distance and unknown scenarios. No?
 
small, when I blade a chip through the green, it can't go as far.
 
cherrysgolf22 said:
Small greens. I don’t mind large greens as they are bigger/safer targets but small greens are better as you’re never left with a 65 foot put for birdie.
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^^^^ This. Small greens are my choice. Smaller target smaller miss.
 
I actually prefer smaller greens. I don't want to be stuck with an 75ft putt. I'd rather chip from that distance.
 
rollin said:
But let me ask.... how often is your target area on a large green something that is as big as an entire small green? I mean regardless the green size are we not still trying to hit a similar size target area?
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I maybe should have expanded more on my original post - with a small green I feel I have to focus more as I have less margin for error, especially at my home course where the greens are protected by bunkers, water and in some cases out of bounds, so on some greens if you miss the target you can be left with a very difficult short-sided shot

When I get to a larger green, I still have the same focus to hit a particular portion of the green, but my margin for error is a lot bigger, and misses aren't always punished as much as they are with small greens in as much as if I miss my target on the correct side I will still be on the green rather than in the greenside rough (or worse)

The course I played on Saturday has some very small greens - one of the par 3 holes has a long thin green probably about 4-5yds wide and 10yds long with bunkers either side of the green, water short and rough behind the green, and it is not the smallest green on the course either
 
I'm a better putter (terrible) than chipper (really terrible) and i prefer the feeling of getting a GIR. Bigger greens!!!
 
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For me it really depends on the architecture of the large greens. We have smaller greens at our home course, but they're not tiny. You can still 3 putt certain greens if you miss in the worst spot. However, we larger greens I can feel like I can play certain shots a little more freely. For example, I hit a fade with my hybrid-7 iron. So if I have a larger green and the pin isn't tucked way left, I feel like I can really aim at the left side of the green and work it back to the pin. If I over do it, I'm still on the green, just on the other side of the pin and if I don't cut it enough, still have a shot.
 
I would prefer a larger green. As a new and struggling player, hitting a shot onto the green would just give me a boost in confidence I think.

The greens at my local muni are rather small.
 
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