Religion, Politics and Green Speed

As indicated by Wikipedia, the Stimpmeter was designed in 1935 by golfer Edward S. Stimpson, Sr. (1904–1985). The Massachusetts state amateur champion and former Harvard golf team captain, Stimpson was a spectator at the 1935 U.S. Open at Oakmont near Pittsburgh, where the winning score was 299 (+11). After witnessing a putt by a top professional (Gene Sarazen, a two-time champion) roll off a green, Stimpson was convinced the greens were unreasonably fast, but wondered how he could prove it. He developed a device, made of wood (now aluminum), known as the Stimpmeter, which is an angled track that releases a ball at a known velocity so that the distance it rolls on a green’s surface can be measured.

In 1976, it was redesigned from aluminum by Frank Thomas of the United States Golf Association (USGA). It was first used by the USGA during the 1976 U.S. Open at Atlanta and made available to golf course superintendents in 1978. The 1976 version is painted green.

In January 2013, the USGA announced a third generation device based on work by Steven Quintavalla, a senior research engineer at the USGA labs. A second hole in this version enables the option of a shorter run-out. This version is painted blue, and is manufactured to a higher engineering tolerance to improve accuracy and precision.

The 1976 device is an extruded aluminum bar, 36 inches (91 cm) long and 1.75 inches (4.4 cm) wide, with a 145° V-shaped groove extending along its entire length, supporting the ball at two points, 0.50 in (1.27 cm) apart. It is tapered at one end by removing metal from its underside to reduce the bounce of the ball as it rolls onto the green. It has a notch at a right angle to the length of the bar 30 inches (76 cm) from the lower tapered end where the ball is placed. The notch may be a hole completely through the bar or just a depression in it. The ball is pulled out of the notch by gravity when the device is slowly raised to an angle of about 20°, rolling onto the green at a repeatable velocity of 6.00 ft/s (1.83 m/s). The distance travelled by the ball in feet is the ‘speed’ of the putting green. Six distances, three in each of two opposite directions, should be averaged on a flat section of the putting green. The three balls in each direction must be within 8 inches (20 cm) of each other for USGA validation of the test.

I remember some years ago at my club a debate ensued about the speed of the greens. Some thought they were too slow and others just fine. After a few beers in the bar one night a large group of us carted out to the sixth green (most level on the course) with my Stimpmeter to measure the greens. As I expected, they were slower than many anticipated. Nowadays, even with often sloping greens, the all-important Stimpmeter reading is the topic of discussion at many clubs.

Since it’s generally perceived that faster greens are preferable to slower speeds, the pride many members take in their golf courses has led to many superintendents being encouraged, if not directed to achieve and maintain high green speeds. This is despite the fact that often these higher speeds are unplayable for the majority of the membership and cost more money to achieve, especially on a consistent basis.

While certainly, everyone likes to brag about their club, these higher green speeds do not come without a cost. Not only do greens maintained at faster speeds require more water, supplements, labor and attention, they also slow play.

According to the USGA, higher green speeds have the following impact on golf courses:

• Increasing green speed leads to slower pace of play.
• As little as a 1-foot increase in green speed can slow pace of play by more than seven minutes per foursome.
• Increases in green speed can significantly reduce golfer enjoyment.
• Green speed plays a significant role in the overall health of a golf facility by directly impacting revenue, expenses and customer satisfaction.

Personally, I love fast greens. I once heard a speaker at a Golfweek Raters event suggest that “when the greens are slow the hamburger tastes bad.” He’s not wrong. That said, given the slope and undulation in some greens, there is a point of “too fast” where they become almost unplayable, even for the best players. Just ask those who played in the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, where even the world’s best players were embarrassed by excessive green speeds. Like everything else, moderation in green speed is important, especially considering climate conditions.

In order to de-emphasize speed in the evaluation of putting green quality, the USGA has recently developed GS3 Technology, which not only measures speed, but also firmness, trueness and smoothness. The combination of datapoints can be used to score the overall quality of a green, and I am most interested in seeing if there becomes a correlation between putting green quality and a club’s economic performance, especially given that the perceived quality of greens has always been regarded as the golfer’s primary criteria for judging the quality of a golf course.

While it’s unlikely that debates about putting green quality will ever reach the intensity of debates on religion and politics, we will still seek to claim our course has the best greens. At least now, superintendents will have additional measures to utilize in showing their green chairmen and owners that not only are the quality of the greens desirable but also being maintained in an environmentally sensible, agronomically sustainable and economically feasible manner. Bottom line: Super fast green speeds, as much as some of us like them, come with a cost, economically, environmentally and agronomically.