A few guys have had a question about the size of the green we recommend. And the chief question is this,
I want to be able to hit full shots onto my green, what size green do you recommend and will the ball be able to stop?
The short answer about stopping is yes. I will depend on your contact and maybe the kind of ball you use, but you’ll be able to stop the ball with a well struck shot. The chief concern here is the size of the green you choose.
If you’re hitting the ball from outside of 60 – 70 metres you’re going to need to consider a green size of at least 200 m2. Anything smaller and the green just isn’t going to be large enough to stop the ball. And here’s why.
Unlike a normal green, a Supreme Green doesn’t leave pitch marks. When the ball lands it bounces forward – it’s on the second bounce that the spin takes effect and the ball loses more of it’s momentum. On a soft, normal green, the ball has it’s energy killed by the pitch mark – sometimes the ball won’t come out of it’s mark. But this isn’t an option with a Supreme Green – if pitch marks were left the green would be like a minefield in a few weeks.
So you have to be mindful of the green size you choose. If you’ll be hitting shots from outside of 100 metres then you really need to go no smaller than 220 m2. This is the size of green I use and to be honest, I really only use my green for putting, chipping, pitch and bunker shots. While I can hit 85 metre shots from my top tee, it was never built for this function – but it is fun and everyone that comes here wants to try it.
Even at 85 metres, the green is not huge. If I don’t hit a good shot, the ball misses the green easily (and I certainly have done this enough times). If I was pinging golf shots from 150 metres, it would actually take a really good shot to just hit the green. It would be a bit like playing on sand greens in a way – a really small target that can be impossible to hit.
The best advice is to go with the largest green size your budget allows. And if you can stretch your budget to get a green size of 200m2 I think you’ll be more than pleased with the result. If you’re lucky enough to have more room, you really need to get a larger green.
Just as a guide – an average green size on the typical golf course is approximately 600-800m2.
The image below is my green from around 140 metres. I haven’t hit shots from here yet, but will do so soon. The green from this distance looks tiny – I would hate to have a gun at my head and be told, “hit the green or else”. I suppose this kind of practice would be good for your game.
Please note: The image was taken with my Iphone and has been zoomed in slightly.