The greens are greener in January

BRYCE ALDERTON

On Monday I shot 90 at Newport Beach Country Club, site of the annual

Toshiba Senior Classic, playing in a media event to get us all

familiar with the course we will get to know all too well over the

next eight weeks.

It marked the second time I played at Newport, but it was a stark

contrast to September, traditionally a time when courses aerate

either fairways or greens and the grasses are beginning to show wear

from the summer heat and foot traffic.

The greens were immaculate, like carpet. They weren’t too fast or

too slow and gave a pure roll with every putt.

Ron Benedict, NBCC’s superintendent, is on vacation this week, but

he has left the course in good hands by what I saw Monday.

The reason for the smoother rolls this time of year lies in the

reaction of the grasses to cooler temperatures.

“At most of the golf courses in this area, the grass plant hugs

the soil. It clings more to the earth, so the greens are faster in

the winter months,� said Jim Fetterly, superintendent at Costa Mesa

Golf & Country Club.

Greens may seem to be more bumpy during summer because the grasses

expand with the added air temperatures, Fetterly said.

An abnormal number of cold mornings so far this winter have

produced frost and constricted the grasses even more, making for

truer rolls, Fetterly added.

Now if I could just get the ball onto the green in the right

number of shots, I will be all set.

Oh, but wait. There is still that task of being able to read break

on the greens, something I haven’t completely mastered.

So as the folks on the East Coast face extremely cold

temperatures, all we need here in Newport-Mesa is a jacket, some

sunscreen and confidence with the putter to take advantage of winter

golf.

Even if it means dusting that frost off your windshield in the

morning.

*

The first Champions Tour event of the year will begin Friday in

the first round of the 54-hole MasterCard Championship at the

Hualalai Resort Golf Club in Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

The 39-player field includes defending Toshiba champion Rodger

Davis along with Hale Irwin and Allen Doyle, who have combined to

claim three titles in Newport Beach.

A few interesting stories to follow this year on the Champions

Tour include those of Hubert Green and Sammy Rachels.

Green, a four-time winner on the Champions Tour, will make his

first start since the U.S. Senior Open last summer. Green had his

2003 season cut short in June after being diagnosed with a cancerous

growth on his left tonsil and the back of his tongue during a routine

dental examination.

Rachels will also make his return to the tour after having rotator

cuff surgery following a motorcycle accident near his home in

DeFuniak Springs, Fla., in late March. He made just seven starts on

the tour last year and none after the Bruno’s Memorial Classic in

May.

Both are slated to play in the MasterCard Championship, as is Tom

Watson, last year’s Champions Tour Player of the Year.