Green speed

The greens were running at around 13ft on the stimpmeter yesterday, these were the highest stimpmeter readings we've ever measured.  Whilst putting on greens this fast has some novelty value, it probably represents the limit of playability for contoured greens like ours.  The high green speeds we've had recently have happened as a result of drying out fescue dominated greens not because we're chasing speed.  We're taking opportunities to dry the greens out this year to put the Poa annua under stress and when our greens are dry they are fast.  The height of cut on greens is still 5mm and we reduce the cutting frequency when the greens are dry.

As a general rule we don't alter our day to day maintenance work to attain a particular green speed apart from when we have a major tournament.  We do have targets of 8 to 10ft for regular play and 10 to 11ft for tournaments but these are used to help us formulate long term maintenance plans rather than dictate daily work.  Well drained greens with a high percentage of fine fescue grasses enable us to meet our targets consistently throughout the year.

The greens were irrigated last night and this morning the stimpmeter reading is around 9ft in slightly drizzly conditions.  This demonstrates the significant influence that moisture levels have on green speed at Aldeburgh.

Danny measuring green speed
Down to a more manageable 9ft today