In addition to the exciting new routing of the course, one of the areas of the completely all-new 18-hole course at Poppy Ridge Golf Course that may capture the most attention of players is the course’s putting greens.
While designing the new layout at Poppy Ridge, architect Jay Blasi maximized the use of the natural surroundings, which leads to players being offered a wonderful range of opportunities on the greens.
The size of the greens, be it small or large, are a direct reflection of numerous factors, including the length of the hole and where exactly the green sits in relation to the topography.
As noted by Blasi, whose previous work includes the recently highly acclaimed renovation at Golden Gate Park Golf Course in San Francisco and being a design associate for U.S. Open venue Chambers Bay in Washington, the greens will challenge the best but also be enjoyable by all.
“I would encourage everyone to study the areas around the greens. More often than not, there is a risky side and a safe side,” he explained.
We recently caught up with Blasi to have him talk about some of the decision-making in regard to the grass for the greens and what exactly went behind the designs and sizes of the new greens.
What kind of grass was used on the greens?
The greens are seeded with Prestige Bentgrass, which tested really well in the region and is a strain that the agronomy team felt very comfortable with. This type of bentgrass likes to be maintained tight and that works well with the design of these greens. Other courses featuring this bentgrass on the greens are Pasatiempo GC in Santa Cruz and Sharon Heights G&CC in Menlo Park.
What philosophy/thought process did you use in designing the shapes of the greens?
Each green is designed to match the setting of the hole as well as the shot being played. As a result, there is a wide variety in the sizes and shapes of the greens. If the approach shot is a wedge or a short iron, odds are the green will be smaller while there may be more movement within a bigger green. On holes where the approach is longer, the green is bigger or there are slopes around the green that help feed the ball onto the surface.
What can players expect in regard to the greens?
The new bentgrasses allows us to offer very smooth greens that will play firm and fast throughout the year. The greens were designed to accommodate a lot of play. In general, the green surfaces are quite gentle to ensure that we have lots of usable hole locations to spread out traffic. Most of the greens are surrounded by fairway and in many instances those fairway areas around the green will feed the ball onto the surface making the target much bigger than the green itself.