Be careful what you wish for when it comes to green speed. Advances in technology and the science of golf course maintenance may have made faster and faster green speeds possible, but just because something is possible doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s desirable. Pushing for faster green speed carries some serious risks and plenty of courses have learned the hard way about what can happen. We should always beware of what might be lost in the pursuit of extra speed.

Putting green shrinkage

As greens get faster, the area for reasonable hole locations shrinks – especially on greens that have steep slopes or significant contours. Fewer hole locations means less variety and interest for the golfer and more concentrated wear and tear on the turf. It’s sad when you see a great putting surface going almost entirely unused because the green speed is simply too fast for the contours. Unfortunately, this scenario happens far more often than it should.

Faster isn’t free

Green speed comes at a price. The extra mowing, rolling, verticutting, topdressing and many other practices required to maintain faster greens all require time and money – which are two things most golf course maintenance teams don’t have in abundance these days. Most golfers would probably have serious sticker shock if they knew how much it costs to deliver the fast greens they see on television or experience at a special event. For most of us, making golf more expensive isn’t likely to make it more fun.

Living on the edge

Many of the maintenance practices used to increase green speeds also place stress on the turf. If a course pushes for speed at the wrong time, fast can become fatal. This is not to say that fast greens can’t be healthy, it’s just that the margin for error becomes smaller and smaller as speeds increase and a little bad weather or bad luck can lead to damage that lasts for months.

We can’t handle the truth

Most golfers find chipping and putting to be plenty challenging at almost any green speed, so making greens faster can actually make golf less enjoyable for a lot of people. Faster greens mean harder chips, tougher putts and bigger misses – all of which can lead to more aggravation and slower rounds. While it can be fun to test yourself on lightning-fast greens once in a while, a steady diet of three-putts gets old very quickly – for you and the group behind you.

Experience has shown that faster does not necessarily mean better when it comes to green speed. Golfers may say they want faster greens, but they don’t always know about all the baggage that comes with that request. Instead of pushing for a higher green speed, we should want courses to have the right speed for the architecture, maintenance budget and skill level of the players. Let the superintendent figure that out and we can stay focused on keeping our three-putts to a minimum.