GO TO SCHOOL ON THE GREENS
   
	When Spring doesn't seem to have sprung and we golfers 
either complain about the cold, dress in layers or get wet 
(or all three) the course supervisors are loving it. 

	This weather is great for growing grass; cool and moist 
with moderate sunshine. Already the rough shows every sign of 
being thick and tough and the greens are growing in rapidly. 
They may be a bit slow for your liking right now but they will 
be in better shape to survive the heavy play in the hot, humid 
late summer months.

	This is a great time to chart the grain on your home 
course greens. The grain will never be more distinct and 
learning about it may save you several strokes a round later 
in the season when the greens are cut short and the grain is 
more difficult to detect. Take a small notebook with you and 
look at the green from all angles in the early morning or 
afternoon sun. Depending on how high the sun is you may have to 
squat down as low as possible to see the grain. The noticeable 
sheen you see means that you are looking directly down or with 
the grain. Putts hit with the grain roll more smoothly than 
against the grain but, more importantly, they roll further.

	Draw a rough outline of each green in your little 
notebook and indicate the grain direction with arrows. You can 
also indicate major and minor slopes and rises at the same time. 
Both these pieces of information will come in handy later in 
the season.

 	Grain results from the fact that in any specific location 
grass grows in a specific direction, just like the hair on your 
head. As the blades grow they all bend in the same direction and 
provide appreciably less resistance and friction to the roll of 
your golf ball putted with the grain.

	Putting into the grain, however,  your ball encounters 
the ends of all those grass blades head on making for a lot more 
resistance and a much slower putt. Looking up or into the grain, 
seeing what your ball encounters, the grass appears much darker 
than when looking down grain. 

	For those who doubt the importance of grain I suggest an 
experiment that can be done on the course or the practice green. 
First, find a level area on the green and determine the grain 
for that green. Second, place a tee in the green about ten feet 
directly up grain from the hole. If the cup was not cut on a level 
part of the green then just use two markers ten feet apart aligned 
with the grain. Now, (third), putt four balls up grain from the 
hole or first marker to your tee. Step four is to use the same 
stroke (same force) and putt those balls back along the very same 
line to the hole from the tee position. In most cases three of 
those balls will run past the hole as much as 4 feet. That's a 
difference of 40 percent. That's significant.
 
	If you reverse this experiment by putting your 4 balls down 
grain first your putts back will nearly always be well short of 
the hole.

	Putting across an unseen grain often accounts for mystifying 
breaks that cause our putts to drift off line. Grain running across 
the line of our putts can cancel a slope break or, even worse, 
augment an obvious break.

	Most golfers can read the line of any putt reasonably well. 
Putts stroked too firmly generally only miss the hole by a few 
inches as they go sailing by. Comeback putts are even more difficult 
and frustrating. The point is that more putts are missed as a 
function of distance rather than direction.

	Since putts count for two strokes a hole at par they are too 
important to be taken lightly. Zeroing in on distance is the best 
way I know to eliminate those three putt greens. Too short or too 
long can be seriously affected by our knowledge and feel for the 
grain. Learn to read the grain and you equip yourself with another 
valuable tool with which to attain lower scores.