Florida Greens - no ball marks?

[jkelley9]

Played at a course that's much nicer than what I'm used to but I'm not familiar with "top notch" course quality. There were certainly areas of improvement for this one, but something that boggled my mind was that the greens felt like I was walking on a sponge. There was not a SINGLE ball mark on ANY green. I noticed this after the 1st or 2nd hole obviously. Shortly into my round I had some great GIR shots with 7i, 6i, etc that definitely struck the green.... no ball mark. Nothing, nada, zip. 

It's definitely real grass. You can see mold/fungus or some other invasive species type growth but honest to god they PLAYED as exact as the green surface. The surface was super uniform. No bumps, tufts, etc. I made some killer putts (a couple 15-18 ft, a 25 ft, and a 30 ft) today. My ball didn't hop, skip, jump, or anything. It rolled butter smooth. The greens weren't particularly fast either. Only slightly faster than my normal courses' slow greens.

Anyone experienced this before? I'm assuming it's got to be pretty common but I just hadn't experienced it before?

By the way this was Florida Keys Country Club.

[David in FL]

Not really.

In the winter, if there hasn't been much rain, courses tend to get very firm, but I can't think of any time or course so firm that there were no ball marks at all.

[CarlSpackler]

I wish that were the case. There are tons of un-repaired ball marks on the the greens here.

[jkelley9]

It was very strange. It was also "weird" walking on them. Like I said, it was like walking on a sponge. VERY spongy feel under my feet when walking on the green. The ball didn't bounce and higher though when hitting the green. Nothing out of the ordinary then.

[jkelley9]

I went back and played there again today. Mde a point to ask about it because I'm so intrigued. However, the woman in the pro shop had absolutely no idea what the grass type was and seemed like she didn't even know what I was talking about when I said "ball mark" lol. Oh well. If I play there again I'll try to find someone that knonws what they're talking about.

[Ernest Jones]

Sollog finds this thread very disturbing. Sollog says it's lift, clean and place at ALL TIMES!

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, Ernest Jones said:

Sollog finds this thread very disturbing. Sollog says it's lift, clean and place at ALL TIMES!

Ha!  Those were the days!  

It's still frozen up there.  When are you gonna drag your sorry Canadian ass down here to play some golf?!

Edited April 12, 2017 by David in FL

[CarlSpackler]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Ha!  Those were the days!  

It's still frozen up there.  When are you gonna drag your sorry Canadian ass down here to play some golf?!

Yes. Get down here and play golf. 

Hows your back @David in FL?

[David in FL]

Just now, CarlSpackler said:

Yes. Get down here and play golf. 

Hows your back @David in FL?

I played Saturday for the first time in over a month...

...with NO pain!  

[CarlSpackler]

10 hours ago, David in FL said:

I played Saturday for the first time in over a month...

...with NO pain!  

Good to hear! 

[DaveP043]

Back to the original topic, I know I've played some greens in NC that showed very few ball marks.  They were conversions to relatively new strains of Bermuda, mini verde and champion Bermuda.  The ball stopped like normal, but the grass felt like walking on steel wool.  If you could find a little dent where the ball hit, it was hard just getting a ball repair tool in the ground to repair it.  I know that these greens were converted from bent, because the new grass was more drought- and heat- tolerant, and is expected to hold up better during the months of really heavy play.

[bkuehn1952]

I will be interested in what type of grass was used on the greens.  Ultimately, I doubt the grass species is totally responsible.  The soil layer beneath, dryness and compaction/aeration likely complete the story.  We have some courses up here that fail to aerate regularly.  When dry weather hits, it is virtually impossible to dent those suckers, which is highly unusual for bent grass greens.

[Gator Hazard]

We played a lower tier track today, still a decent course for price, called Silver Dollar. I'll tell ya, I bombed several greens from 150-165 out and not a scratch to be found. It's hard, dry greens out here right now. 

Edited April 13, 2017 by Gator Hazard

[Buckeyebowman]

On 4/12/2017 at 7:53 AM, DaveP043 said:

Back to the original topic, I know I've played some greens in NC that showed very few ball marks.  They were conversions to relatively new strains of Bermuda, mini verde and champion Bermuda.  The ball stopped like normal, but the grass felt like walking on steel wool.  If you could find a little dent where the ball hit, it was hard just getting a ball repair tool in the ground to repair it.  I know that these greens were converted from bent, because the new grass was more drought- and heat- tolerant, and is expected to hold up better during the months of really heavy play.

That's kind of what I was wondering, could it be the type of grass? Then I noticed that the OP was from North Carolina and figured he had to have played on Bermuda before. Some years ago, a couple of friends were in Florida and had a chance to go play. As they waited to head for the first tee, the starter struck up a conversation. He asked where they were from, and when they answered "Ohio" he asked if they had ever played on Bermuda before. When they said no he told them they might want to play the ball a little further back in their stance than usual.

My one friend said, "Back in my stance, Hell! How about BEHIND my stance! That grass is weird, man!"

There's a local course with, I think, Bent grass greens. One time I played there, in June I believe, and the greens were as hard as rock! I asked the owner about it after I finished. He told me that, in our area, that's the time that Poa Annua will try to establish a foot hold in their greens. So, the greenkeeper basically puts them on life support! Just enough water to keep them alive, not enough for the Poa Annua to take hold.