Green Slopes for Maintenance - Part 1

By: Jeffrey D. Brauer


We often get questions about greens contouring and what we are thinking when we design them. (Or in some cases, "What in the world were you thinking when you designed them?") For all the supposed wickedness that goes into green contouring, most golfers would be surprised to know that contouring depends mostly on six pretty basic factors:

Drainage, drainage, drainage.

Cup space, cup space, cup space.

All else is fairly secondary on most courses, although some of the great ones provide those things and some, shall we say, hard-to-read and interesting contours. And until they come up with a green-reading app, greens will probably continue to mystify golfers.

Some golfers mistakenly believe that because modern greens are built with a sand mix and have sub-drains, that surface drainage isn't as important. Not true! Architects continue to ensure good surface drainage because gravity is forever, but drain tiles sometimes clog up.

The basics of green drainage are as follows:

• Drain greens at least two directions. On greens less than about 5,000 square feet, one direction may suffice. On greens over 7,000 sf, three directions are better.

• Drainage usually consists of two gentle swales:

One flows out the front because:

- It creates the up-slope that helps hold shots.

- The swale itself tends to direct shots back on to the green to help golfers hold shots.

• One (or two) follow the contour, and flow to the low side of the green area. (In 30 years, I have only drained two greens towards the high side. This requires basins above the green, but more than that the green usually looks awkward.)

• The green will be more artistic if the swales drain 55-45 percent, 60-40 percent or 65-35 percent of the green, rather than the less creative 50-50 percent split.

The approach areas are critical, and always seem to get wet, so we tend to drain more of the green to the side than the front. However, if there is any overland flow from large mounds on the back of the green, then we direct more of the green to the front. Also, if the main cart path access comes from the low side, that circulation area needs to be dry to thrive, so we design the green with more flow going out the front and/or make sure to minimize off-site drainage onto the green (which is also one of the basics of green-surrounds design).

One last point: It helps to minimize the front swale upslope to less than 2 percent. More shots hit the green front, so it helps minimize ball marks. It is especially important to flatten the front if there is a stepped or tiered green where a putt from the upper shelf will pick up speed and needs help stopping to avoid rolling off the front of the green.

Jeffrey D. Brauer began his career as an apprentice in the Chicago area in 1977. His first project was Kemper Lakes, which shortly after hosted the 1989 PGA Championship. He formed GolfScapes in Arlington, Texas, in 1984. In the last 29 years he has designed and consulted on a wide spectrum of projects, ranging from partial renovations to international resorts. His recent work includes teaming with the design team of Pascuzzo and Pate on a remodel of the world-famous La Costa Resort & Spa in California, and renovations at Superior National Golf Course in Lutsen, Minn., and Mesquite Municipal Golf Course in Mesquite, Texas.

He has been a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects since 1981, serving as President during its 50th Anniversary year in 1995-96. Jeff still studies the classic works - both old and new, and has played more than 75 of the best courses in the world.

Jeff gives many presentations and is a regular architecture columnist for many publications and websites, including Golf Course Industry and Cybergolf.com. He has also been a strong advocate for the "Tee it Forward" campaign and strives to make his courses fit the description of "fun to play every day."

Jeff's work has been spotlighted in most of the world's major golf magazines. Golf World ranked him as one of the top-20 golf course architects and Golf Inc. ranked him as the world's fourth-best value in golf architecture in 2010. Jeff's portfolio and reputation keep him at the forefront of desired designers for new courses, reconstruction and renovation projects. For more about Jeff, visit http://www.jeffreydbrauer.com/sites/courses/layout.asp?id=859&page=48451.