Many of you may have noticed this year's new post adjacent to #1 tee (pictured below).  The post was installed to display 3 points of information prior to your golf round.

The one point of information I would like to review is the stimpmeter reading. This past Memorial Day, the Grounds Crew started measuring and posting daily stimpmeter readings and will continue until mid-September.  For those who are unfamiliar, the stimpmeter (seen below) is a tool used to measure the speed of golf course greens by applying a known force to a golf ball and measuring the distance traveled in feet. At Green Bay Country Club, we are using the stimp reading as an indicator of the consistency of our greens. 

Posting the green speeds is for speed quality control and a consistency measure; not for displaying and achieving maximum speeds.  Also, by no means, does the speed of the greens measure the overall quality.  Quality is based more on health, consistency, firmness and trueness.  Keep in mind, many factors can affect green speeds day to day, and even hour by hour.  Below are some examples that can affect greens speeds on a daily basis:

• grass type, species and cultivar

• temperature and precipitation

• humidity

• sunlight

• height and frequency of cut

• moisture

• soil

• traffic

• rolling

• cultural practices

• grain control

• fertility

• green slope

• plant growth regulators