Qatar Master & Poa Greens...

I just had to open a new topic while watching the guys putt on the afternoon on Poa Greens... They are bumpy and slower in the afternoons.


I do however have NO sympathy whatsoever for the guys....Now I dont feel so bad for leaving my putts short and it being a little unpredictable later in the day....

I just wish my current golf club's greenkeeper could be viewing these guys struggeling with their putting on poa in the afternoon. Especially the high handicappers who complain the greens are still too fast even at 5PM in the afternoon....Then myself and the lower handicapers are complaining its a little slow.LOL

Just got to start loving Poa Annua(yes I had to google the spelling )

Watching at the moment online and its starting to happen again at Doha. Green reading becoming a little more difficult every few minutes...

Here in the coastal plains of the eastern US, all the courses I've played within the past few years have greens with hybrid grasses with no discernable grains and, even in the height of the summer with lots of rain, do not seem to grow fast enough to make much of a difference whether you're putting them at 8:30 AM or 6:30 PM. I grew up playing the old bent grass that you could almost see growing and on Bermuda down in Florida which was the grainiest stuff short of Velcro. Up here, Poa is a weed that greenskeepers try their best to eliminate in the early spring. The new hybrids seem to do a great job of crowding the Poa out.

I always play better on Poa greens. For an early morning player I think they are the best greens you could hope for. They have very few problems in terms of fungus or burning out and they putt very true. Despite what some people think, Poa greens can be extremely fast. Further, they are much better than Bent for stopping the ball once it lands. I've seen many Bent greens that are too damn hard and the ball travels several yards before stopping.

The country club where I grew up playing had Poa greens and to this day they are the best greens I've ever seen. Absolutely perfect in terms of looks, health and purity. Greenest greens I've seen.

FamousDavis wrote:I always play better on Poa greens. For an early morning player I think they are the best greens you could hope for. They have very few problems in terms of fungus or burning out and they putt very true. Despite what some people think, Poa greens can be extremely fast. Further, they are much better than Bent for stopping the ball once it lands. I've seen many Bent greens that are too damn hard and the ball travels several yards before stopping.

The country club where I grew up playing had Poa greens and to this day they are the best greens I've ever seen. Absolutely perfect in terms of looks, health and purity. Greenest greens I've seen.

Again for an early morning player they are awesome, fast and true as you say. But its the afternoon that could kill your round on Poa....Who plays in the afternoons.....The tournament leaders of the previous day...

Ricardo Santos just made a four-putt.....Awesome work Poa,You go at it girl...




Referencing Poa as a Girl because of its unpredictability later in the day to scr3w you over...

Bent grass, properly maintained, is the ultimate surface to putt on. Sounds like this poa weed you mention is something of a joke, where conditions become unpredictable later in the day. Thank god we can afford to keep good grass in my part of the world.

Horseballs wrote:Bent grass, properly maintained, is the ultimate surface to putt on. Sounds like this poa weed you mention is something of a joke, where conditions become unpredictable later in the day. Thank god we can afford to keep good grass in my part of the world.

It has nothing to do with cost. Bent grass is extremely easy to maintain in certain parts of the country. It doesn't grow well in coastal areas and that's why courses like Pebble, Torrey and many others have Poa. Many courses in CA have made the mistake of switching from Poa to Bent, only to see the new greens filled with brown spots and fungus.

Bent, for whatever reason, has falsely been associated with being a superior grass for greens. This myth has been passed on to the yuppies at country clubs who are easily manipulated into believing it's true. They then go to the board meetings and demand that the course be renovated to incorporate bent greens, as if they know what they're talking about.

FamousDavis wrote:

Horseballs wrote:Bent grass, properly maintained, is the ultimate surface to putt on. Sounds like this poa weed you mention is something of a joke, where conditions become unpredictable later in the day. Thank god we can afford to keep good grass in my part of the world.

It has nothing to do with cost. Bent grass is extremely easy to maintain in certain parts of the country. It doesn't grow well in coastal areas and that's why courses like Pebble, Torrey and many others have Poa. Many courses in CA have made the mistake of switching from Poa to Bent, only to see the new greens filled with brown spots and fungus.

Bent, for whatever reason, has falsely been associated with being a superior grass for greens. This myth has been passed on to the yuppies at country clubs who are easily manipulated into believing it's true. They then go to the board meetings and demand that the course be renovated to incorporate bent greens, as if they know what they're talking about.

OK maybe I was a little harsh. I should have said, thank god my greenskeeper knows how to grow bent grass greens without resorting to poa or some other inferior grass.