Greens Presenting A Test

By Dave Shedloski

Kettering, Ohio – One of the key elements in the set up of any U.S. Open golf course is on and around the greens.

But at this week's U.S. Senior Open at NCR Country Club, the greens could be an even larger factor in deciding the outcome.

Perhaps that's commensurate with their size. Designed by Dick Wilson, the South Course at NCR Country Club possesses enormous greens, more than 8,000 square feet on average; the average greens size on the professional tours is more like 6,000 square feet. Then throw in the undulations. These are not flat putting surfaces that the players have to negotiate. Avoiding three putts becomes a serious challenge.

Raymond Floyd, who won the 1969 PGA Championship at NCR, said prior to the tournament that he didn't remember much about the golf course. "The thought process didn't go there," he said. "But I remember the greens being pretty severe."

On Tuesday Tom Watson compared some of them to Augusta National's in that there is a lot of room square footage-wise, but not a whole lot of space to get in position for easy putts.

The humps and bumps are there because Wilson was a disciple of aerial golf. Even though the putting surfaces are large, he wanted to force players to hit accurate shots to be able to set up scoring chances.

Those scoring chances seemed quite plentiful during Thursday's first round because the speed of the greens was kept in check.

"I'd like to see these greens at no more than 10 and a half (speed on the
Stimpmeter)," said Greg Norman, among the leaders Thursday with a
3-under-par 68. "Normal U.S. Opens or majors we play are around 11 and a
half or 12. We're getting them up there. But I don't think they could here. The older guys don't have the strokes of the younger guys. They're not as smooth and fluid, so there's probably some thought process put into that as well."

Even without the runaway speed NCR's greens, composed of bentgrass and poa annua, present a unique test.

Greg Norman, four months removed from back surgery, said he was encouraged to be able to walk off a golf course pain-free. (John Mummert/USGA)

"The greens are very grainy. It's natural for them to be grainy because there's so much slope," said Norman, who hit 13 of 14 fairways but had 33 putts. "You have a downhill, down-grain putt and you think you have to nurse it down there, but you actually have to hit it. Then you have an uphill putt and you really have to pound the ball. It's more of a mental game, knowing to go ahead and hit the ball. It's not as quick as what you think it is."

Still, many players were able to navigate them.

"The greens are in perfect, perfect shape," said defending champion Peter
Jacobsen, who had suffered a late hiccup and shot 1-over-par 72. "They were a little slower because of the ran we had yesterday, (but) no complaints at all about the golf course."

"It's perfect, the golf course is ideal," said two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, who shot 71.  "It's a great length, the rough is great and the greens are great. I'm only one of 150 players out here so someone else may think differently, but I love it. Because of the slope on these greens there's not as much speed as some people would like. But I like to play these old, slopey greens."

With a forecast calling for most dry conditions the rest of the week, Thursday may have been the perfect day to attack the golf course. "They'll get a little bit quicker and the pins will go in the corners and they'll be tough," said Jacobsen.

"They were slow this morning," said Fuzzy Zoeller. "But they'll get faster over the weekend. And with these slopes … watch out."

Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com.