Augusta National Golf Club has been the home of The Masters Tournament since 1934. The club features a course that’s among the PGA Tour’s most beautiful. It’s also among the Tour’s most photographed. Over the years the club has made changes designed to make the course more challenging, including adding more trees and more rough spots. Originally, the course stood out for its lack of bunkers, so the club added more in 1981.
These changes were significant. But the club made two changes in 1981 that’s proved to more significant than any it’s ever made: The club replaced the Bermuda grass found on the course’s greens with Bent grass and reduced many of the contours found on the greens. These changes created a faster playing surface with a truer roll. More important, they brought the greens in line with others on the Tour. The switch changed the way players putted at Augusta.
Popular In The South
Bermuda grass is popular with courses in the South because it flourishes in warmer climates. It is also grows thicker and stronger than Bent grass and is easier to maintain, making it well suited for courses in the South. But Bermuda also has its downsides. It’s harder to cut close to the ground than Bent grass, and its blades grow more parallel to the ground, making grain more of a factor in putting. The grain’s influence makes for a different putting experience on Bermuda grass, regardless of a player’s golf handicap.
Putting on Bent grass is fairly straightforward, as we tell students in our golf lessons. It’s also a bit easier. You look at the putt’s slope, judge its speed (pace), and determine its line. Then you putt. If you’ve done everything correctly, your ball should finish either in the hole or somewhere close to it for a tap in. As a result, golfers tend to sink more putts on Bent grass, setting the stage for more exciting finishes to tournaments like the Masters.
Putting on Bermuda grass, we caution students in golf lessons, is a bit more complicated than putting on Bent grass. That’s because the grain on greens built from Bermuda grass influences roll much more than it does on those made from Bent grass. The result: putts hold their lines less on greens made from Bermuda grass. This makes putting on Bermuda grass dicey no matter what the player’s golf handicap. It also makes for fewer dramatic finishes during tournaments.
Putting On Bermuda Grass
So how does one putt on Bermuda grass? Here are some golf tips that will help you when putting on this type of grass: In general, you need to make a stronger putt on Bermuda grass. While each putt on each green is different, you’ll probably need to stroke the ball about 20 percent harder on Bermuda grass than on Bent grass. This means that a 10-foot putt might have to be hit like a 13-foot putt if you’re putting into the grain By the same token, you’ll also need to putt your ball about 20 percent less with facing a down-grain putt.
Play for less break on Bermuda grass as well and for the ball to break in the direction the grain grows—even on flat putts. If the grass appears dull and dark, the grain is probably growing toward you. If it appears light and shiny, the grain is probably growing away from you. You can also check the cup to determine direction. The side that looks a bit more worn is the side that’s in the same direction that the grass is growing. In general, try reading the green as you normally do, then factor in the grain’s influence.
The course at the Augusta National Golf Club is among the most picturesque on the PGA Tour. It’s also among the Tour’s most challenging—the perfect home, perhaps, for the Masters Tournament. The course’s Bent grass greens setup perfectly for dramatic finishes no matter what the player’s golf handicap. So don’t be surprised to see the tournament go down to the final putt on the 18th hole by one of the great golfers in this year’s Masters tournament.
