Putting greens
How fast should your backyard putting green roll?
The short answer
How fast should your backyard putting green roll?
Choose a roll that suits the green’s slopes, size and intended practice. Your usual course can provide a starting reference, but copying its speed onto a smaller, steeper backyard green may not produce useful putts. Discuss speed, contours and cup locations together, then agree how the finished roll will be assessed.
What a stimp number means
Green speed is measured with a Stimpmeter, and the number is simply a distance. The device is “an extruded aluminum bar, 36 inches long, with a V-shaped groove” and a ball-release notch 30 inches from the end that rests on the green, according to the USGA’s Stimpmeter instructions. Raise the bar slowly, and the ball releases at about 20 degrees, so it always reaches the green at the same speed.
The reading is how far the ball rolls, in feet:
- roll three balls one way on a level spot, and check they stop within 8 inches of each other;
- roll three back the other way;
- average the two distances. That average is the green’s speed.
Edward Stimpson, the 1935 Massachusetts Amateur champion, invented the device. The USGA modified it in the mid-1970s and made it available to course superintendents in 1978.
What the USGA chart says
The USGA published a speed chart with those instructions:
Scroll sideways to compare all columns.
| Play | Slow | Medium | Fast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular play | under 7.5 ft | 7.5 to 8.5 ft | over 8.5 ft |
| Tournament play | under 8.5 ft | 8.5 to 9.5 ft | over 9.5 ft |
It adds that bermudagrass greens are typically slower, and it’s firm about what the chart is for: “it is NOT the intention of the USGA to attempt to standardize green speeds.” The Stimpmeter “is not intended for course comparisons.”
Course speeds have crept up since that chart. A 2008 USGA Green Section Record article notes that the national average was 6 feet 6 inches when the Stimpmeter was first tested in 1976 and 1977. It also quotes a 2003 finding that readings on American courses “generally range from 7’ to 12’.” So the most useful number for you is the one at your own course. Ask the pro shop what the greens usually run.
You can’t feel six inches
Don’t chase a few inches. Researchers tested this at Michigan State University’s turfgrass research center, using pairs of greens set 6 or 12 inches apart on the Stimpmeter (Golf Course Management, 2001).
When the difference was about 6 inches, golfers picked the faster green no better than a coin flip. At 12 inches, more of them got it right. The authors concluded that “golfers are only guessing when ball-roll differences are less than 6 inches.” The USGA chart moves in one-foot steps for the same reason: greens are considered consistent when they’re within about 6 inches of each other.
For a backyard green, consistency matters more than the exact number. A green that rolls the same every day beats one that’s a little faster on some days.
Faster greens need gentler slopes
This is the part most people miss, and it matters most at home, where the break is built in on purpose.
The 2008 USGA article is direct: “any slope 3% (1.7 degrees) or greater on a 10’ Stimpmeter reading is too steep for hole use.” It also cites the Green Section’s longstanding advice that the main part of a putting green should usually slope no more than 3 percent. The article adds that “as green speeds increase, the potential for uncontrollable slopes also increases.”
The USGA’s course rating guide gives a quick test. When a downhill roll on the Stimpmeter is 2 times the uphill roll, the green is “moderately sloped.” At 3 times, it’s “steeply sloped.”
What that means for your layout:
- Keep each cup on a near-flat spot. The USGA’s guidelines ask for the area within 2 to 3 feet of the hole to be as nearly level as possible.
- Put the break in the approach, so putts curve on the way to the hole and settle near it.
- Pick speed and slope together. A fast green with steep cups stops being fun.
We shape the base for the break you want and set the speed to match. Our putting green page shows the options, from one cup to a multi-hole layout.
Measuring your own green
You can check your green the way a course does.
- Find a level area, about 10 feet by 10 feet. Lay the Stimpmeter down with a ball in the groove: if the ball rolls, the spot isn’t level.
- Roll three balls one way, then three back. Each set should stop within 8 inches.
- Average the two distances. If the two directions differ by more than 18 inches, the instructions call the result questionable. Try a flatter spot.
No level spot? Use the slope formula a USGA researcher published in 1990: speed = 2 × uphill × downhill ÷ (uphill + downhill) (Brede, Green Section Record). If the ball rolls 6 feet uphill and 12 feet downhill, the formula gives 8 feet. A plain average would say 9.
Choosing your speed
- Ask your home course what its greens run, and start there.
- Think about who’s putting. Kids and guests have more fun on a slightly slower green.
- Decide what you want to practice: long lag putts, or short putts that break.
- Keep cup areas nearly flat, and keep slopes gentler if you want it fast.
- Measure it once it’s settled, and again each season, so you know it’s consistent.
On the free visit we measure the space and draw a layout with the cups, the break and the speed you want, and you approve it before we build.
Common questions
Is there a standard speed for a backyard green?
No. Even for golf courses, the USGA says it is not its intention to standardize green speeds, and its Stimpmeter instructions say the device isn't meant for comparing courses. The speed that suits you is the one that matches the greens you play and the putts you want to practice.
Can the speed be changed after the green is built?
Within limits. On a synthetic green, the infill and brushing set the speed, and the shaping of the base sets the break. Speed can be adjusted with infill and grooming. The slopes are built into the base, so they're the part to get right first.
Do I need a real Stimpmeter to measure my green?
Only if you want a number you can compare with a course. The Stimpmeter is a USGA device that releases the ball at the same speed every time, which is what makes its readings comparable. Any consistent ramp will tell you whether your own green got faster or slower from one month to the next.
Why do putts break so much more on my green?
Speed magnifies slope. A USGA Green Section Record article puts it plainly: as green speeds increase, the potential for uncontrollable slopes also increases. On a home green, where the slopes are built in on purpose, the speed has to be chosen with them.
