Putting - Green Reading

An article by: Bobby Eldridge on 12-18-2007
This article has been read 10296 times.

Putting Green Reading - Grain

There are two main types of putting surface for putting greens. You are either putting on bent greens or bermuda greens.

There are a number of differences of the two types of putting surfaces. Bermuda greens are found in the southern part of the US where the weather is warmer, bent greens are found in the northern part of the US where the temperatures are cooler.

Some golf facilities in the south have attempted to use bent grass on their putting surfaces, some have been successful and others have failed. The bent grass in the south is very expensive to maintain. The bermuda is a heartier grass that likes the warmth.

The main characteristic of bent grass is the ability to mow the greens really short. The shorter you mowed the greens the faster they become. Fast greens are more difficult to pitch, chip and putt on. When you are playing on fast greens there is a huge emphasis on the short game. When you play bent greens most of the time the greens are much truer. What this refers to is the putt usually does what it looks like it will do.

On the contrary bermuda grass is a thicker blade and it can not be mowed as short. Even if you mow it short because the blades are courser the greens are not nearly as fast. The main difference is the grain that you will potentially find in bermuda greens.

What is grain, I can hear it now? For those of you that play on bent greens just be thankful. Bent grass grows up and down most of the time. Bermuda grass grows along the ground. You have to spend a lot of money and time to try and keep the grain from dominating the greens. The blades of grass in bermuda greens tend to grow towards the setting sun, a body of water or the main draining area of the green.

The more time and money that is spent on bermuda greens, the less grain. It takes a talented superintendent to keep the grain out of greens. What is important for you to know is if a green is grainy and how to read your putts when you deal with grain.

I am going to give you a simple lesson on reading grain, and it works. If you play a golf course for the first time, check in the golf shop to see if the greens have grain. The second question is does the grain run in one direction. The next question is where does the sun set. See if you can find a landmark to keep an eye on during the round so you don't get turned around.

When you arrive at the first green, you have to ask yourself three questions. The first and most important is where does the sun set? In relation to the putt you are faced with, this will give you a great indication how the ball is going to break. The second question and this one is not easy is where is the shiny part of the green? The grain grows away from the shiny part. If you are looking into the dull part of the green you are looking into the grain. Lastly you can go and look into the cup.

The hole is cut in the morning and when it is cut the edges are fresh. As the day goes along, the edge of the cup that is worn is the direction the grain is growing.

What do you have? If two of the three are going in the same direction then there is a chance the putt is going to break in that direction.

Keep this in mind, if the grain is growing into you, the putt will be slow. If the grain is growing away from you, the putt will be fast. If the grain is growing to the lef,t the putt will break left, and if the grain is growing to the right, the putt will break right.

Lastly, when you are putting on true bent greens the ball will break with the slopes but on bermuda greens the ball might break UPHILL if the grain is strong enough.

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