The system, which has been evaluated by the USGA and used by several courses including Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club and Baltimore (Md.) Country Club, is particularly useful for helping older courses with contoured greens deal with increased green speeds.
“This is high-tech meets hole locations,” said Golftech principal Steve Hatfield. “Courses can find more hole locations and then we give them a map that shows hole locations as a percentage of greens area.”
The accurate maps are a result of Golftech’s wheeled robotic total station, which collects data every foot.
“At the second hole at Oakmont, we found that less than two percent of the green was pinable,” said Hatfield. “Once the USGA takes away the 12-foot inside perimeter on a green, they have less than one-half of a percent of the green that is usable for hole locations. They have three options: play it and deal with the consequences, renovate the green or slow it down.”
While no action was taken as a result of the test at Oakmont, the technology has been embraced at Baltimore CC, where architect Keith Foster and builder McDonald and Sons used it to scale back slopes on three greens without altering their original character.
“We had three greens that had severe slopes where we didn’t have any pin spots,” said superintendent Tim Kennelly about the 1926 A.W. Tillinghast-designed layout. “We had 9,000 square-foot greens that only had two or three pin spots. At 10 on the Stimpmeter they were too fast, almost unplayable. You could miss an 18-inch putt and have 18 feet coming back.”
The goal of the renovation work was to gain an additional three to four pin placements per green by softening the slopes while still retaining the general shape and feel of the greens. As a result, seven- and eight-percent grades were reduced to three- or four-percent grades, but not all parts of the green were modified. This is where Golftech’s technology proved priceless.
“We took the slope analysis maps and identified what we could do with minimum disturbance,” said Foster. “Once we shot grades we calculated what we were raising and cutting and then blended it all back in together. It doesn’t look like I did anything, it all blends in so well.”
The push-up greens were carefully dismantled, and the existing sod and profile mix was put back exactly where it was before the renovation work began.
“You would be a fool to build a new green,” said Foster. “The work is too good. This allows you to respect the early design and modify it ever so slightly and seamlessly.”
The new greens will be ready for play later this month.
Golftech’s maps not only made the renovation process easier, they also helped Kennelly sell the project to his members.
“There were a lot of members who thought we were destroying the greens and that they would never be the same,” he said. “We needed something to show them what adding the cupping space would do because there was nothing under five-percent slope on the green. When we finish, we are going to do another series of maps to show them how we have softened areas up. We will be able to put pins in places they have not been in 20 years.”
Golftech charges $1,500 per green for the mapping service and offers discounts for courses that map than seven or more greens.
Explore the May 2003 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
