Late-season greens
Autumn can be an interesting time for our golf courses in the UK, with conditioning sometimes unpredictable.
While 2021 has presented its challenges for greenkeepers, with the weather encouraging almost untameable levels of growth in the rough, it has also presented very favourable conditions for the prepared areas of fairways and greens in many parts of the country.
We often judge a course – consciously or sub-consciously – by the quality of its greens and I had the pleasure of some near-perfect ones in September. St George’s Hill, Royal Wimbledon, Pleasington, Wildernesse and others all left me with no excuses other than the inadequacy of my putting stroke!
But perhaps the biggest surprise was Paultons Golf Centre in Hampshire, which I played just before October hit. It may well be that the greens there were the best of all, with their smoothness and purity of grass composition really standing out on a course that would sit well below the others I’ve mentioned in golf’s pecking order.
It’s a decent layout, too, but further proof that if you get the greens right, that is what people will talk about.
Did you know?
St George’s Hill boasts one of the shortest – if not the shortest – par 3s in GM’S Top 100. Its 119-yard 11th is four yards shorter than Troon’s Postage Stamp.