Pete Mathews conversation and green speeds

[Newman]

John posted a great video on YouTube yesterday where he spoke with Pete Mathews.

One thing that stood out for me was the part about green speeds. It’s not just about how fast they’re rolling, but all sorts of other issues, including how receptive the greens are to approach shots. Sounds like a massive shift toward harder and faster greens started to take place somewhere around 1980 or so.

Pete mentioned a member-guest tournament they held recently where the greens were rolling at 17(!), so when people asked about the greens their catchphrase was to tell the players they were rolling at “tournament speed”

Found this pic of stimpmeter readings from 1977 for a bunch of courses everyone is probably familiar with. Very eye opening.

[Blades4life]

Yes the game has changed from tee to green, the modern game elite players are hitting no more than an 8 iron into the green for the most part. One reason why today’s elite players focus on launch, spin and carry distance numbers more than anything else. They know over a 4 day tournament that the only green they will hit a long iron into a green is on par 3s. Even today’s putters have changed due to the fast greens. I would love to see a comparison with putter loft from let’s say 1980 versus 2020s.