slow greens, ugh!

last 3 courses I played at the greens have been terrible .. running between 7 and 8 on the stimpmeter probably .. very shaggy ... I don't understand it .. it's been a great summer here in Michigan so far and there's no reason they can't cut the greens a little better .. I played Shepherds Hollow today .. it's the #2 rated public course in michigan .. shot 80 .. had 4 birdie puts inside of 10 feet and didn't make a single one due to the roll of the greens ..

I did birdie #10, a 470 yard par 4 .. and #15 .. a 460 yard par 4 .. one was a chip in and one was a 30 foot putt .. lol .. but it just irks me that the greens on these $75 courses are in such bad shape!

With very little rain recently the courses may be extending the time between cuts to avoid a burnout. I know I've been finding the tee boxes as hard as cement - can't push a tee in lol.

Greens here in the Triad of NC are slow also. Very little rain so they arent cutting unless they have to. I love fast greens so it is killing my scores. Plenty of putts 6 to
7in short each round.

The whole darned course on most of them around here have gotten that way (at least the ones I can afford to play )

I pitched a shot on Saturday over a cedar tree onto the green, and the ball bounced 3ft high!

My Dad caught a shot a little fat a few weeks ago, and ended up tearing a muscle in his side the ground was so hard it stopped his club cold. Took him 3 weeks to heal up.

The greenskeepers are doing their best, but this lack of rain coupled with 107* days is pretty darned hard on them.

Of any of the past 5 or 6 years this is probably the best rolling greens that I've seen at my course. We've had plenty of rain mixed with sunny days. I don't even know if the sprinkler heads have even come out of the ground yet....

Ya in Michigan they have sucked. I live in lansing and basically all the courses around here had terrible greens except for Eagle Eye (id imagine the CC of Lansing and Walnut Hills have nice greens too), Hawk Hollow's and Forest Akers West have sucked.

They fixed Forest Akers East and West here for the all city tournament so I know it can be done. I hope they get better throughout the rest of the year because quite honestly theyve been pathetic all summers. Early in the year they were fine but the past month or 2 theyve sucked.

The greens at my local course were aerated and sanded this week. Slow greens are bad, and sanded greens are worse! I had a one foot putt for par that came up short. It was my fault, but it was still maddening. The good news is that the sand should help the greens be better than ever in the long run.

I don't mind slow greens anymore than I dislike fast greens. I figure the condition of the greens at a particular course is part of that day's challenge. I try to get a sense of them on the putting green before teeing off and failing that, adapt over the first hole or two.

yeah I don't know what it is with Michigan ..

we have had a relatively cool summer .. nothing over 90 for more than a day or two .. today it was upper 70's low 80's .. had rain last night .. and we've had good rain at least once a week come through.

the tee's were still fine .. a lot of fairways didn't have any roll today .. i was flying 270 yard tee shots and could see my ball mark in the fairway .. so the courses aren't really succeptable to dryout right now ..

dunno .. I need to go back to my homecourse, Dunham Hills .. they always have great greens..

If the courses have local ponds or healthy wells they are probably ok. Last couple of weeks, rain has been either north (where you're at) or south Toledo way. I played The Legends down in Ottawa Lake Sunday and everything was extremely parched with lots of deadpan. The Muni course nearest me, Willow, is on the Huron River's floodplane and its refreshingly lush but its in the minority.

Those measurements, if accurate, are in all actuality very common for the majority of golf courses. It is, after all, just a number and is relative to different individuals perceptions. IMO, to much stock is put in stimpmeter readings.

I might add that in times of heat and moisture stress, it is common to raise the height of cut on greens to improve the health and durability of the plant. While some may think the greens are slow and shaggy due to skipping that days mow (which may be the case), often times it is due to the former.

Living in the Lansing area hardly defines Michigan as a whole. Besides, define "terrible" and "sucked" as it relates to the condition of greens. I played Hawk Hollow last week and found them to be fine, so again, it's all relative. I live in the Jackson/Ann Arbor area, and have found that courses that have had issues were public courses that were smaller scale and not exactly high revenue facilities. Unfortunately, in that regard, you get what you pay for.

I can't speak for BigDaddy_Sean at Shepherd's Hollow because I haven't played there this season, but am surprised to hear of it. $75 is a lot to pay and should at least provide a decent playing experience. But then again, other issues may be going on as well.