Green speed - 13ft 4in

After a couple of wet summers we've recently had the first opportunity for a while to dry the greens out properly.  We do this to stress out some of the weed grasses but also because our greens perform at their best when they are dry.  The breezy spell over the last few days meant that no dew formed overnight and the greens started the day dry.  This resulted in the green speed reaching 13ft 4in on Tuesday.at a cutting height of 5mm.  Whilst greens of this speed have some novelty value and some players enjoyed them immensely, others found them far too difficult.  It's worth noting that we never actively manage the greens to get the speed into this range, the speed comes as a result of a combination of grass species composition and very dry conditions.  For the first 10 days of August green speeds have averaged just over 11ft.  Anything much above 11ft severely limits pin placement options on our undulating greens and 13ft probably represents the upper limit for playability. Irrigation overnight has settled the greens down to a much more manageable and sensible speed of just over 10ft.