Funhouse Greens

The greens I play on are essentially funhouse greens.  I took some video on just one of the three nine hole courses this morning.  The first clip shows how silly one of the greens is on the approach shot.  I threw the ball up in the air with no spin, so imagine if you put a little back spin on it.  The second is a putt on another green that is pretty silly, of course the first time I try it I drain it, but I put that as the last clip.  I could not help but chuckle at the end.  I am pretty sure the owners are aware of how silly these greens are, they just don't want to do anything about it.  Oh and keep in mind this is in the morning when the greens are still wet.  Anyone else play on fun house or mini golf style greens?

Damn.  All you need is a clown's mouth!

That is pretty crazy. Definitely adds strokes...

Yeah, I have a couple courses near me with insane greens. Lots of inverted bowls where if you hit your putt short it comes right back to you but if you burn the edge with enough speed to pass the hole by a foot it rolls right off the other side. Really tough.

Hah that's wild.  The last putt that sinks is a boomerang.

Is that bentgrass or bermuda grass?  Guessing it is bentgrass.

Yeah bentgrass.  They do roll them as well.  So in fairness they are freshly cut and rolled even though they are still wet.  There is actually a green on one of the other courses where if the pin is in the middle left.  You hit any shot on the green and it rolls back to the front and no matter what, if you don't hole the putt the ball goes up and then comes right back to you every time.

Edit: I will try and get a video next time if I remember as well.

LOL, nope I took like five tries at it and then averaged my scores and that is what I put down on the card. You can practice putt after you finish out right?

In all seriousness they can be fun, sometimes they are a bit too crazy.  Most of the time they are pretty enjoyable.  There is an older guy, maybe he is actually the owner or something, he just drives around in his cart and puts the holes in places wherever he feels like it.  He is super fast, it takes him about 30 seconds or so to change out a hole.  I don't think that he gives it much thought.  I actually hit a ball onto a green once and he changed out the hole while I was walking up to the ball.  Ha ha!  He either did not see my ball or did not give a flip.  I like to think the latter.  That guy is my idol.

Here is the other green that I was talking about.  The pin was in the right location this morning for filming this.  It did not roll back as far as it does sometimes as well.  The funny thing is you can hear a maintenance guy in the back ground talking on the radio to the clubhouse saying the pin needs to be moved "either lower or up on the upper plateau".  Ha ha!

Must be nice playing at Muirfield!!

My parents club and a few muni's around here are like this. It's the pin placements that make the difference. It gets silly when no matter how good the shot is it never is because the ball rolls away and any putt not rolled into the hole from below it comes back at you until you do make it. I've seen people take 5-6 putts on some holes with bad placements. My new home course is in a 45+ community and most of the members are much older than that. There are some dome shaped greens there and when they cut the holes on the ridge, and they do, nobody can stick a ball up there. Only a ball that stuck in it's mark wouldn't roll off into the collection area. It's just crazy considering when they do that it slows play down.

Thats just nuts. Its ok the PGA Tour pros, but its not fair for regular golfers.

I would never play a course with greens like that. This game is hard enough, and you got the crazy pin placements. I hate that so much.

Yeah, that's total BS. You don't see the pros putting, having their ball stop an inch from the cup, and then roll all the way back to their feet - I know that's happened occasionally, US Open at Olympic the time before last year comes to mind, but for some of us it's a weekly thing to deal with. BS.

Yeah it does not help my already bad putting.  The price is right though so I don't have much of a choice.

The third hole where I play league has a stupid steep slope on the green. It's a par 3 and if you don't land on the back 2/3rd of the green the slope drops probably 10 feet down to off the green in under 20 yds. They've even put the hole right by the ledge of that drop off. I call it a ledge because it's almost what it is. I'll have to take a picture of it next week so I can post it.

I've only come across two REALLY clown greens over the years. A hole in Cape Coral that appeared to set by a newbie in the false front of a green. Totally inappropriate spot that WAS fixed after a few groups went though. The other was at the 12th at Great Rock on LI. Shortest par 3 on the course. I hit a great wedge right at the pin in the back right of the green, ball landed and bounced once just missing a hole in one. Ball stopped then started rolling back, just missing the hole again and wound up on the fringe at the front left of the green. The other guys hit balls to the green and all wound up landing and rolling down into the same area. Putts back to the hole were a useless endeavor- they ALL wound up coming all the way back down to the front. Sure, there have been LOTS of greens that were quick and I paid the price by being above the hole and over cooked the putt back down, but rarely have I seen greens that were joke worthy. Although, there is ONE green that always give people grief. On the Green at Bethpage, there is a hole that appears to have an elephant buried just on the left edge of the green, and they will SOMETIMES put the hole near the mound, but never actually on it. You can approach the putt normally from almost every direction. You also will NEVER have to putt down or across the mound- it's that steep so the ball will never stay on it. Worst feeling is possibly hitting a great approach just to the left of that position and have it carom off the elephant somewhere. There is a usually a bet of $10- If, you are less than 2 feet away from the hole- either putting towards the mound or away from it, you may putt up the elephant and back down to the hole. If it goes in you're $30 richer, if not add an EXTRA stroke for the hole. So if you're putting for par, miss the elephant shot then tap in, you take a 6. If you make it- you get your 4 and $30. Sometimes it's doubled for birdies.

Nice!