The first few days of US Open week has certainly not disappointed, with Pinehurst No.2 already causing carnage in the early stages of proceedings thanks to its lightning fast greens.
The challenge presented by the putting surfaces at Pinehurst is one that I am fully behind, because a US Open should be hard, but just how quick can players expect the greens to be this week?
In this article, I discuss player comments, stimpmeter targets and explore how these greens compare to those that came before...
What Speed Are Pinehurst Planning For The Greens This Week?
Early indications from players on the course suggest that the greens are devilishly quick at Pinehurst No.2 this week, with Wyndham Clark proclaiming that they feel like a '15 or 16 or the stimpmeter when putting downhill'.
This has led to multiple players putting the ball off the green in their practice rounds, with Justin Rose echoing the sentiment by stating "The greens are sneaky fast. They are very green in colour, and they don't look quick, but they are super-quick". Rose also went on to add that "it's very difficult to pick up the slope, because they are such a pure surface".
Most PGA Tour greens run at somewhere between 11 and 12 on the stimpmeter, the device used to measure green speed, but I wouldn't bank on seeing that here. John Bodenhamer, Chief Championships Officer at the USGA, was asked prior to the event starting how hard it would be to take the greens to the edge without it getting out of control. He had this to say...
"Well, I think it’s always difficult. Our strategy is built around tough but fair, but these are difficult greens, no bones about it. I think, look, just to put it out there, I think what we’re endeavoring to do, we look at the weather, that’s always part of it.
"But I think the way we think about it, we’ll play in the mid-13s for most of the day. That’ll drop down as the day goes on a little bit. But we think with the hole locations we choose and if the weather cooperates, we think that’s a good place to be, along with everything else that’s here with Pinehurst.
"It’s not just about speed on these greens. It’s the wonderful putting greens themselves and how firm and fast they get, and I think fairways too. I think there’s a lot more that Donald Ross intended here even off the fairways. Even the visuals that you see, the way it turns, the bunkers. I think we’re really working hard on the bunkers, too, and getting them just right for these great players. So it’s a lot of things."
That's a distinct difference to what many of these players will be used to on a weekly basis, so be prepared to see some frustrated figures and plenty of jeopardy over the four rounds.
To add some context, when Pinehurst hosted the Major Championship in 1999, the greens ran at around 10.5 on the stimpmeter, which is actually slower than the speed of greens now used for resort play on a daily basis.
What Speed Do The Greens Usually Run At During The US Open?
This type of green set-up is not unheard of in the US Open, with the USGA always striving to achieve a tough test of golf for the US Open. The most famous example of slick greens would perhaps be Oakmont in 2016, where it's reported that speeds got up to somewhere between 13.5 and 15 on the stimpmeter.
The USGA were widely criticised by players following that event, as eventual champion Dustin Johnson was assessed a one-shot penalty due to a violation on the green of the par-5 fifth. Johnson claimed that the golf ball moved of its own accord, but was given the penalty after referees reviewed the footage.
There was also the incident involving Phil Mickelson at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, where the six-time Major Champion overhit a bogey-putt down a sharp slope before running after it and hitting it again before it had stopped.
The ball would likely have ran off the green on that occasion, had it not been for Phil's penalty-incurring intervention, with another Major Champion, Zach Johnson, saying that the organisers had "lost the golf course".
With green speeds appearing to be high already, and with the outlined intent to have them rolling above 13 on the stimpmeter, we could be about to witness further US Open controversy at Pinehurst No.2 this year.
