The greens received their first light topdressing of sand this morning. This helps smooth them out even further and also helps dilute organic matter that is accumulating below the green. You can also see the Poa annua in our greens is slowly becoming less and less noticeable.
Each morning, Chad measures the putting green to obtain the daily stimpmeter reading. This is posted on the 1st tee at both the men and ladies tees. Three golf balls are rolled each direction and then the average is divided by 2. The average between the 2 directions accounts for any slope in the area the reading was taken. For example, if a golf ball rolled 10 feet one direction and 12 feet another direction, the green speed is essentially 11. The higher the number, the less friction is working on the golf ball. It really isn't a speed like they say; a speed is measured in something similar to feet/seconds or miles/hour. We aim to roll 11ft on any given day. This means the golf ball on average, will roll 11ft from the base of the incline (aka: stimpmeter). There are a lot of outside influences that are out of our control that will impact speed. Humidity and rainfall are two examples.
Below, it doesn't take an trained eye to see the incredible difference between a green that gets ample sun exposure vs. one that doesn't get enough. Compare the 18th green below to our 2nd green. Below, the Poa annua population is just about nonexistent.
