The Stimpmeter
I was involved with the Stimpmeter. In 1976 I re-designed a device that had been developed in 1935 by Eddie Stimpson but rejected by the USGA at that time. The original was not very consistent in its readings. I first tried out two very elaborate designs of my own, which turned out to be good but clumsy, and dependent on the skill of the operator. I then took Eddie's concept and redesigned it, and since the conception was his I called it the Stimpmeter, which was what he had called his.
A ball is positioned in a slot at the top end of a "V"- grooved aluminum beam. The beam is slowly raised until gravity pulls the ball out of the slot and it runs down the groove onto the green. The distance it rolls from the end of the Stimpmeter on a flat portion of the green is the speed of the green, measured in feet. It is very consistent, simple, and now used around the world.
In 1977, I asked our agronomists at the USGA to measure greens during their visits to various clubs. They returned data that I analyzed to try to develop some standards for green speeds. This proved to be 6’6” for everyday play at golf courses, and 8' 6'' for average competition play. For championship play in 1977, 10' 6" was considered fast. To reach that speed, we had to double or even triple cut the greens; we made sure that if the greens were undulating we would keep the speed somewhat slower.
In 1998, at the Olympic Club in San Francisco during the US Open the fairways were running at 6' 6". Not only had significant agronomic changes taken place, but mowers designed for greens were being used on the fairways. Today, if you want to roll the greens and really shave them down, you can get them as fast as 15 feet, as was the case at Bethpage Black on the Sunday of the Open in 2002.
The green speed at Augusta National is a secret, but whatever it is it should be fair and very much dependent on the undulations of the green. You never want to have the ball accelerating past the hole from any direction; if it does, then either the hole location is inappropriate or the speed is too fast. A ball should be able to stop close to the hole when putted from almost any location on the green. This does not mean it should be easy to do, but it should be possible. With the above in mind, there is quite a responsibility on the shoulders of the individual in charge of dictating green speed and hole locations. I suspect the greens for the Masters will be close to 12 feet.
For more on the Stimpmeter please visit: http://www.franklygolf.com/Speak/stimpmeter.asp
Frank Thomas, Former Technical Director, USGA
