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Desire for faster greens led to use of Bentgrass
Posted: Sunday April 01, 2001 3:54 AM
Updated: Tuesday March 26, 2002 6:22 PM
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It's beginning to look a lot like Masters as Adam Hagy mows the grass near the big oak by the clubhouse at Augusta National. Michael Holahan/Augusta Chronicle |
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
The grass factor
Winners on Bermuda and Bentgrass
When slick bentgrass made its debut on the Augusta National Golf Club's greens 20 years ago, regular Masters participants couldn't say they weren't warned.
The field already had been putting on bentgrass at the Augusta National's par-3 course. In what was in effect a test run, the Bermuda grass greens had been replaced by bent in 1978 on the par-3 course, site of the annual Par-3 Contest on the eve of the Masters.
Bentgrass, which has thinner blades than the stubby Bermuda, makes for a faster and truer putting surface. Unlike Bermuda grass, there is no grain in bent when it is cut closely.
Many say Seve Ballesteros brought about the switch to bent from Bermuda on ``the big course.'' In 1980, Ballesteros won the Masters with a 13-under-par 275 total, the lowest score in five years.
In truth, the Augusta National had been alarmed for years about how slow the Bermuda grass greens were getting.
They were no longer at what former Masters Chairman Clifford Roberts liked to describe as ``proper tournament speed.''
Advances in agronomy were partly to blame for the decreasing speed of the Bermuda grass greens. In the mid-1970s, the club had switched to a healthier strain of Bermuda, with a finer blade. It promoted thicker growth and when overseeded each year with rye, which is stiff when cut low, the result was slower greens.
Hence, the introduction of bentgrass, which is primarily a northern, cool weather grass.
As scores in the post-bentgrass era attest, the Augusta National got its wish: the return to fast greens, higher scores and, in some cases, horror stories on the greens. More than one golfer has four-putted the greens.
In the final 10 years of the Bermuda grass era, six of the winning scores were at least 10 under par. Starting in 1981, only once in the next nine years did a winner make it into double digits.
Tom Watson's winning score on the new bentgrass greens in 1981 was 280, five shots higher than Ballesteros' winning total the year before.
Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Ballesteros are the only golfers to have won Masters titles on both Bermuda and bentgrass greens. Watson won in 1977 and 1981, Ballesteros in 1980 and 1983, and Nicklaus won in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986.
``I think the golf course is better with the bent,'' said Nicklaus. ``But it was a good golf course the other way.''
At the time of the switchover, Nicklaus and other veterans were concerned about the combination of speedy bent and the severe undulations on the greens. In this regard, the par-3 course was not a good barometer of what was to come because the greens there are relatively flat.
``These probably are the most severe greens we play anywhere,'' Nicklaus said in 1981. ``There's so much slope here, you might get a 3- or 4-foot break on a 10-foot putt. You can have a 10-foot putt and putt it off the green.''
Indeed, in the 1981 Masters, more than a few golfers putted balls off greens. Even Watson did it in the final round, on No. 9.
Over time, some of the slopes on the Augusta National greens had to be lessened to take into account the speed of greens with bentgrass.
``If you had the same greens as before, I think bent would probably be too severe for them,'' Nicklaus said recently. ``But we adjusted.''
Nicklaus pointed to the greens on holes Nos. 4, 6, 8, 9, 14 and 18 as examples where slopes were reduced in the years after the installation of the bentgrass.
The only way for golfers to attack the pins with the bentgrass greens is to pray for rain. They especially hope for rain the night before a round.
``When it's wet, bent will get very soft and spin a lot,'' Nicklaus said.
On the other hand, under dry and windy conditions, bent turns rock-hard.
``The Bermuda greens always were fairly firm no matter what, but they never got quite as firm as the bent has gotten when it gets high and dry,'' Nicklaus said.
Ralph Kepple, the golf course superintendent at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, said, ``I don't know if the Masters would be what it is without the fast greens. There, greens are what makes the course. If you slow them down, I don't think it would be the same tournament.''
``They're a huge part of the Masters,'' pro Stewart Cink said.
Putting surfaces at major championships are different because of the types of grasses used. Maintenance crews use various techniques to minimize grain and make the greens roll true. Below are examples of the two most common types of grasses used on greens:
A BERMUDA GRASS
Bermuda is a warm-season grass that is stubbier and sloer. It grows laterally, and the grain affects the roll of the ball.
B BENTGRASS
Bentgrass is a coll-season grass that has thinner blades and grows upright. On putting surfaces, the ball will roll farther. When cut close, the grain does not interfere as much with the roll of the ball.
Grain - Refers to the tendency of grass to grow in one or more directions relative to ball roll. Factors affecting grain include water and the direction it flows relative to slope and exposure to the sun.
| WINNERS ON BERMUDA and BENTGRASS |
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| Player |
Bermuda |
Bentgrass |
| Jack Nicklaus |
1963
65
66
72
75 |
1986 |
| Tom Watson |
1977 |
1981 |
| Seve Ballesteros |
1980 |
1983 |
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