Hard, fast greens...are you able to quickly adjust?

[jwaldrop]

Ours have become really hard, crusty and fast in the last few days, and I've putted fairly well, but have that two or three putts in a round that just seem to explode. Are you able to adjust quickly and not have the "oops" putts?

[flomarilius]

after the first hole you have to assume most greens are going to be about the same.

[300Yards]

It takes me a hole or two, but I'll adjust eventually.

[C-Tech]

I usually adjust pretty quickly.. Ours are bent and when they get quick in the summer, they stay that way.

[cosine]

Originally Posted by 300Yards

It takes me a hole or two, but I'll adjust eventually.

Same here.

[Fourputt]

It's always been easier for me to adjust from slow to fast than the other way around. Our greens got faster this week, as they were prepping the ecourse for the Foothills Invitational being held this weekend. They should stay fairly fast for the rest of the summer now... maybe getting even firmer into August, but they are pretty firm now, so I don't expect a lot of change there.

It took me a couple of holes today to dial my stroke back... I didn't get a chance to hit the practice green before I teed off, so it sort of caught me by surprise.

[Bigvivec]

Depending on the day, I will either be on or not...doesn't really matter what speed the greens are...

[deronsizemore]

Like FourPutt said...I normally don't have a problem with going from slow greens to fast greens, but if I do have a problem with adjusting, it's because of going from really fast greens to slow greens.

[Bulls9999]

I agree with that. We normally play on bent grass greens. During the winter the last two years we've gone down to San Antonio and played on bermuda greens.....geesh, are those things slow. Even by the 4th day, I was finding myself still leaving putts well short thinking, you can't possibly have to hit it any harder than this (or you'd need a driver), and still leave a 25-ft putt 6 feet short.

Originally Posted by Fourputt

It's always been easier for me to adjust from slow to fast than the other way around. Our greens got faster this week, as they were prepping the ecourse for the Foothills Invitational being held this weekend. They should stay fairly fast for the rest of the summer now... maybe getting even firmer into August, but they are pretty firm now, so I don't expect a lot of change there.

It took me a couple of holes today to dial my stroke back... I didn't get a chance to hit the practice green before I teed off, so it sort of caught me by surprise.

[coralpro]

I think I adjust quicker to fast than slow or should I say I don't adjust to slow very well at all. Fast I can lag close from long distance but slow justs seems to drive me nuttier than I already am.

[savgolfjunkie]

Originally Posted by Bigvivec

Depending on the day, I will either be on or not...doesn't really matter what speed the greens are...

Ditto for me....no rhyme or reason...fast or slow...some days a 3 putt is never a worry, other days every long putt seems to go that extra foot and make the combacker a knee-knocker rather than a tap in....that drives me crazy

In general, I putt much better on very fast greens as opposed to slower greens. I grew up on greens that were ultra fast so when I find a course with very fast greens, I tend to adapt better....the worst for me is a course with greens so slow that there is essentially no reason to play break....I inevitably leave every putt over 10 feet short...

[3puttguy]

Originally Posted by Bigvivec

Depending on the day, I will either be on or not...doesn't really matter what speed the greens are...

Same here. Some days putting is easy, other days I am grinding over everything.

[stlcard_25]

I try to hit the putting green for a bit before every round so typically I adjust fairly quickly. Usually my "oops" putts come when I misjudge a slope just past a pin, rather than from just hitting it too hard.

[JungleJ]

I don't have too many problems with putting on faster greens - what I do sometimes struggle with is chip and pitch shots

[tmtp]

I prefer faster greens, they tend to roll a little truer, with less hops and skips on them. This seems to make distance control and accuracy a little easier to achieve in my opinion. You also have to play less break when the greens are faster, since the ball will be moving a little quicker over the breaks. Like others have said, I have a much more difficult time adjusting to slower greens since I have to hit the ball harder and try to calculate more break into my putting.

[Bill H.]

Originally Posted by 300Yards

It takes me a hole or two, but I'll adjust eventually.

Pretty much the same for me, as well.

[pick-it-up]

When i first started playing, fast greens would really mess me up. Now it takes me longer to adjust to slower greens.

That said, depending on the course and the size of the greens, a three-putt isn't always terrible.

[Wazmankg]

I'm pretty much a hack on the greens, fast or slow. I don't often 3-putt but I rarely make anything over 6-8' either. I'll go with the conventional wisdom expressed here. I find it a lot harder getting used to having to hammer my putts on slow greens. In fact I rarely ever get used to it and wind up leaving them short off and on through the course of my round. I much prefer fast greens and it usually only takes me a couple of holes to adjust. Sometimes I even feel like I know what I'm doing on fast greens, which doesn't often happen on slower ones.

[PA PLAYA]

Agreed, harder to adjust to slower greens.

On fast greens I tend to putt much better, it feels like all I have to do is find the right line. On slow greens, I struggle with both pace and line.

[JimSomebody]

Failure to adust to fast greens cost me about 3 shots yesterday. Now that the round is over, of course, I'm remembering a tip I heard once for putting on fast greens: Use the stroke you'd normally use, but hit the putt off the putter's toe, not its sweet spot. Has anyone tried this (or any other strategy) with success?

[jwaldrop]

I've mentioned in a couple of threads that greens on my home course are being rebuilt, and a week and a half ago, they were sprayed with roundup. Well, we're still playing on them as the actual stripping and construction is to begin Monday. What's funny is that as they die, the dead grass has become quite a bit faster, and fairly smooth, having been rolled.

My putting has been pretty darn good for the last week and a half. Jim, using the toe or heel is a pretty good helper sometimes on downhill breaking fast putts. You can use it to take some of the break off the putt.

[GolfSavage]

I usually adjust well, but it seems like every course I play will have three or four greens that are significantly different than the rest. Hopefully I'm inside the other guys and can try to judge the speed based on their putts. If I played the rest of my game as well as I usually putt, I'd be a single-digit handicapper! Once on the green, I'm happy. I've never, ever, ever shanked a putt into the woods, sculled a putt, putted one out of bounds, or putted into a hazard! Can't say that about my other clubs!