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The type of grass you play on affects your game. That’s especially true when it comes to putting, where the type of grass can dramatically affect your putts. Knowledge of how the different types of grass affect your game, gained through all your golf lessons, golf tips and personal experience, can help lower golf scores and golf handicaps.

Although every locale is different, there are grasses that can be used on almost on any course. There are also grasses that can be used only in specific areas of the United States, like the South. In addition, there are specialized varieties of grass developed specifically for putting greens. Known as cultivars, these varieties require intensive maintenance and considerable pesticide and herbicide maintenance.

Types of Grass

Bentgrass is a hardy, resilient type of grass. Brought to the America from Europe, this perennial is used on courses in the North, Northeast, and Midwest because it withstands cool temperatures. Creeping bentgrass is ideal for greens, fairways, and tees. Colonial bentgrass is better suited for fairways than greens because it’s not well adapted to lower mowing heights.

Bermuda grass is a textured, fast repairing grass. Native to Southern Europe, it’s used on courses in the South because it withstands heat. It adapts well to low mowing heights and is wearable. Bermuda grass is used for tees, fairways, and greens. In the cooler part of the season, Bermuda grass is overseeded with perennial ryegrass, known for its rapid reestablishment, until the Bermuda grass recovers from the Winter.

Other types of grass found on golf courses are Kentucky bluegrass, Zoysia, a warm season grass, and Bahiagrass, a low maintenance grass used in roughs. St. Augustine grass, native to the Wet Indies, can’t be used as far North as Bermuda grass. Poa anna, a bluegrass that thrives in cool and damp conditions such as northern California, does well in hot and humid conditions but not in cold and freezing temperatures. Pebble Beach, for example, has poa anna greens.

How Grass Affects Your Game

A course’s conditions, which include the type of grass used in the fairways, affects how you play. For example, the grass affects how much spin you can put on the ball. You can put more spin on shots hit from Zoysia grass than Bermuda grass because the ball sits up better. Bentgrass is also better for adding spin to the ball. Finding out what type of grass you’re playing on before starting, as I often say in my golf lessons and golf tips, can save you strokes.

It’s especially helpful to know the type of grass used on the greens. Some of the turf grasses developed specifically for greens make them fast, especially if the greens are well kept. TifEagle, a Bermuda grass developed for putting greens, is a good example of a turf grass that can be made really fast and thrives under close mowing and heat. Greens made with Tifdwarf are also fast but you can’t keep it at the same height as bentgrass for long before it begins to thin out.

Grass and the Grain of the Putting Green

Creeping bentgrass is the grass of choice for putting greens in any climate in which it can be grown. Bentgrass has very thin blades, which grow densely. It can be mowed very closely, resulting in a felt-like smoothness to the putting surface.
Hot, humid climates take a toll on bentgrass greens, so putting quality declines as temperatures rise. Hybrid Bermuda grass is used for putting greens in warm, humid regions. It tolerates heat well under low moving heights.

The key with any grass, as I’ve pointed out in my golf lessons and golf tips, is determining which way the grain goes. The grain is the direction the blades are growing thanks to factors like, the direction of the setting sun, prevailing winds, and water drainage on the greens. Aside from these identifiers, you can find the grain’s direction by locating the brown, sunburned side of the hole (due to exposed roots). That’s generally the direction the grass is growing.

The grain can affect your putting. Putts traveling down-grain will go at a much faster pace than putts hit into the grain, and breaking putts will either be magnified or reduced by the grain. Applying this understanding of grain while on the course will allow you to visualize the speed and direction of your putts more precisely, ultimately leading to lower scores and lower golf handicaps.

Now, what I’ve just explained to you should help you understand how grass affects your game, but experience is the best teacher. Be aware of the type of grass you’re playing on and keep track of how it affects your game. Knowing how the grass plays can lower your scores.

By: Jack Moorehouse

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The putting stroke requires very limited and controlled movements. Uncontrolled movements like sliding, lifting or swaying can lead to miss-hits thereby adversely affecting your performance. Similarly, you need to train your eyes to stay stationed over the ball. Putting requires concentration and any deviation from this concentration may affect your distance control leading to miss-hits. Here are some golf putting tips for putting enthusiasts.

Keep A Skill Set

Keep lists of your putting practice exercises and skills you’ve learned during your training. Keep adding new skills that you learn to the list. You will profit by going back to the list from time to time because very often a basic exercise that you used in your golf putting practice routine gets forgotten and buried under all the new stuff that you learn. A good skill set list will help you visit and rotate all your exercises. This revision will bring you profit on the field.

Your Putting Stance

Golfers need to adopt the putting posture before they get ready to shoot. Spend some time and get your putting posture right during your practice session. Ensure that your posture is good, and that you have a straight back. Golfers shouldn’t hunch over the ball and the body weight should be balanced. Many golfers find it convenient to lean a little bit on the forward foot. Right handed players may lean a little on the left foot. It’s best not to get too close to the ball. Most golf trainers recommend the feet to be about shoulder-width apart.

Here is a relaxation technique for the intrepid putter. Stand for a few minutes in the address position. Imagine you are letting the entire tension stream out of your body. Deep breathing seems to help most golfers and a little deep breathing might aid the relaxation process.

Golf Putting Grip

Before you start putting always check your golf putting grip. Remember a relaxed consistent grip will in turn deliver consistency to your shot. Never try out a recently learned grip at a tournament. It’s better to familiarize yourself with the grip during the putting practice sessions.

Work On Your Short Putts and Speed

Getting your putting speed right is just as important. It’s important to practice getting just the right control over the club, so that you are able to impart just the right speed to make the hole.

By: John Davenport

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Unlike a lot of the other aspects of the game of golf, putting technique can be a matter of personal preference. However, there are some fundamental aspects of the set up and stroke that all good putters adhere to. If you are struggling sinking those 10-footers then try practising these simple tips:

1. Your grip should be reverse-overlap. In other words it will be the same as a normal overlapping grip except the left index finger lies over the right pinkie rather than the other way around.

2. Your eyes should be directly over the ball. You need to line up the ball with the hole and if your eyes are not over the ball then you cannot hope to line up properly. Try addressing the ball and taking another ball and dropping it from your right eye. It should land just behind the putter if your eyes positioned correctly.

3. Ball position is also important and should be played off the left toe. Some players will have the ball more central and this fine if your upper body is leaned back behind the ball. Playing the ball from the right of the stance is a definite no-no unless you enjoy three-putting.

4. The club should be flat on the green or with toe up. You must make sure not to have the heel off the ground.

5. Hands should be held high. This is to allow the left side to lead the putting stroke and ensure the club head does not move ahead of the left hand causing pushes and pulls.

6. Keep club head low to the ground during putting stroke. Lifting the club head too high will result in a tendency for the wrists to break and the hands becoming too involved in the stroke. Watch any good putter and you will see that their hands do not move independently but only as part of the movement of the arms and shoulders.

7. Have a pendulum motion. Think of the pendulum on a clock, it moves back and forward in an even, consistent movement. This tempo is exactly how your putting stroke should be. The backswing and through swing should be of the same distance and speed.

Like any other part of the game, perfecting putting requires lots of practise and it is important to be practicing good habits and techniques such as those I have described.

By: Lewis Freeman

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