Yesterday, I played in a golf outing at Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford, CT. Donald Ross designed the Wampanoag course, which opened in 1926 during his most prolific period. There are so many Ross courses dated to the mid-1920s that it makes you wonder if the master architect ever slept.
It would not have been appropriate for me to lug a camera around Wampanoag during the outing, but I hope to play it again before the end of the season and will provide shots here. One thing, however, that cannot be captured in any photos is the speed of the greens. They were fast, the fastest I have played in at least five years, and stopping the ball anywhere but in the cup from above the hole was impossible on most greens. My foursome and I agreed the stimpmeter must have been pushing 12 or more.
I putted the best I have in a long time, knocking down just about everything inside 10 feet. Fast, perfectly rolling greens make you putt better. You don't have to be Butch Harmon to know it is simple physics; the faster the green, the shorter the takeaway on the stroke, and the less bad stuff that can happen from one end of the pendulum to the other. It always irritates me when the former players who populate the TV announcer's booths at golf tournaments whine in behalf of the players about the fast speed of the greens they play. Just once, I'd like to see the PGA tour stop at the East Jabip Municipal Golf Course for a tournament.
Let's see how those buttery professional strokes stand up to the imperfect greens that most of the rest of us encounter.