The US Open and Green Speeds

This week the 109th US Open is being held at Bethpage Black in NY. Will Tiger repeat? Personally, I hope so...

But lets talk about green speeds.

If you ever watch golf on TV and listen to the commentators, one subject they like to talk about alot is "green speeds". Why? Who cares, right? Well, almost all golfers care about this subject, and the better the golfer, the more important green speeds are. This week I have been hearing talk about the greens "rolling 13" at Bethpage...

What does that mean? Well, that means that the greens are rolling 13 feet off the Stimpmeter. What's that, right? Well, contrary to some peoples beliefs, a Stimpemeter is not ALWAYS used just to whack a surly Head Golf Pro...sometimes a Stimpmeter is a tool used to measure green speed. See here as our model Craig holds it:

It was designed by Edward Stimpson in 1935, and is used worldwide. Basically it is a long aluminum v-shaped track with a grove on one end that the ball sits in. As you gradually raise the tool, the balls rolls out of the grove and down the meter. The distance the ball rolls away from the tool is measured in feet, thus giving you a "speed". So, Bethpage's greens are rolling on average 13 feet away from the Stimpmeter.

To get a green speed reading...

The challenge is that one must find a level spot on the green to measure. You cannot take accurate readings on the slope of a green. With todays designs it is hard to find level spots
on greens--especially at Fossil Trace. To get an accurate measurement, after finding a level spot, you roll 3 balls one direction and take the average, then turn around and roll 3 balls the other direction and take the average, then average those together and you will get your reading. (I know, you are thinking "just get to the pictures")...

It sounds confusing but it's pretty easy--that is unless you cant find level spots...

We could never get away with greens rolling 13 at Fossil Trace. Our greens are way too undulated. Here, we have determined that greens rolling 10-10.5 are ideal. If we have them faster than that, then play slows down, people shoot higher scores (Jim Hajek), and we lose area on the greens which to place hole locations. We try to cater to all golfers, not just the pro's! Take a look at these pics of us "Stimping" the greens:

So there you have it. Now go and impress your friends this week while watching Tiger tear it up at Bethpage and lay some knowledge on them about Edward Scissorhands. I mean Stimpson... And no relation to Jessica Simpson...