East Course assistant John Mann performs the drop test from the back of the 6 West green
Keep calm and carry on While Forsyth knows intimately how far he can take his greens, trying to reassure tournament organisers everything is under control can often turn into a battle of wits. With the club wanting firmness and good speed to see the course play to its traditional character and tournament organisers often wanting to be conservative to avoid any potential suspension
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The Royal Melbourne tournament crew celebrate with World Cup winners Jason Day and Adam Scott
Photo: Gary Lisbon (www.golfphotos.com.au)
Photos: brett robinson
far up we want it to stay on the green, but only just. “There were probably a couple of times during the World Cup where we were two or three revolutions of the ball away from being borderline, but the wind wasn’t strong and there was good grass coverage on the green. It’s when it blows, or the grass starts to thin out and the green gets shiny, that’s when you start getting problems.”
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While 6 West is the sort of hole that makes even the best of the professionals question their ability, surely it would also provide some extra management headaches for a course superintendent. Not so according to Forsyth. As he is quick to point out, 6 West is really quite a straightforward prospect. “I certainly don’t lose any sleep over it (the 6 West green),” comments Forsyth. “We know what happens there. It’s the most talked about green on the course, but the members know how to play it and the smarter guys work it out pretty quickly. “It’s simple – go for that left hand pin, the hero shot, and you have to land it in an area no bigger
than my office. There is a huge margin for error. If you pull it off you’re rewarded, if not you’re over the back in the bunker. If you’re short, it’ll roll 40m off the front. The smart shot, as any member will tell you, is to hit it to the right side of the green and take two putts. For me it sets up perfectly. “As for how we manage the green during a tournament, the only thing we really do differently is the rolling, where we use a pedestrian roller instead of a normal ride-on. We don’t water it any more, the cutting height is the same as the other greens, although we may only single cut on occasions. It’s mainly the rolling because we know that if we put the ride-on roller on it the speed gets a bit out of hand relative to the slope. 5 West (Composite 3) is similar. “You will see us dropping the ball from the back of the green and if it stops we know it’s okay; if it keeps going we know we’ve gone too far. There’s nothing scientific about it. The problem is that if you land on the green and the ball rolls all the way to the back, it can gather enough momentum to come off the front. If you’ve got it on the green and got it that
January-February 2014
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