“We would not have finished today had we not covered the greens with tarps."

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Granted, the Evian situation was unique because the greens were so new but it is cause for concern that the success of tarping the greens overnight could influence this practice more in the future.

Randall Mell on how tarping saved the 54-hole Evian Championship from further misery.

A half-inch of rain fell over Evian Resort Golf Club through late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Thursday’s first round was washed out by a third of an inch of rain. That came on top of all the rain that saturated the course earlier in the week.

“We weren’t sure, honestly, how it would turn out, and if it would help because we had never done it before,” Daly-Donofrio said. “And the grounds crew had never done it before.”

“Sometimes, she makes me feel like I have a higher purpose than just growing grass."

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Lisa Mickey profiles golf course superintendent's best friends who perform a variety of tasks, from geese management to public relations work in the case of TPC Sawgrass's Bailey to Fieldstone Golf Club's Pink, supervised by Damon Di Giorgio.

From Monday's NY Times:

But Pinki is ready to work when she and Di Giorgio arrive at the course each day about 6 a.m. She runs as many as three miles beside her owner’s cart.

Pinki runs after flocks of geese but carefully avoids the water. She also chases deer and foxes.

Once, while Pinki was chasing deer, Di Giorgio was called to solve a problem and forgot about his dog. He received a call that Pinki was on the eighth hole, so he drove his cart to find her.

“When I got there, there were four men taking turns holding her while they putted out,” he said. “She’s a real icebreaker when it comes to member relations.”

Pinki also visits people in hospice care and patients with Alzheimer’s disease in hospitals in Wilmington, Del.

“Sometimes, she makes me feel like I have a higher purpose than just growing grass,” Di Giorgio said.

Survey: Traveling Golfers Just Want Good Greens

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Max Adler summarizes Golf Digest's customer satisfaction survey coordinated by Dr. Dan Sachau, professor of psychology at Minnesota State University at Mankato, and Dr. Luke Simmering, a consultant within the global organizational effectiveness department for Walmart.

Out of 2,434 respondents, the median profile was a 58-year-old male who plays seven rounds a month and pays $62 per round and you may not be shocked to learn that course conditioning mattered more than anything, while slow play was not a factor.

The contradiction between what people say and do has long served much of that wide field of study called the humanities. In this instance, respondents said pace of play was their top driver of satisfaction, when in actuality it was the least. "It's possible the great majority of people who took the survey happened to have a last round where they felt neither impatient or rushed," Sachau says, "but more likely, this is an aspect that assumes great importance only when others are constant." In other words, pace of play matters a lot at your home course because you already know exactly what to expect in the other areas. When you're a regular, it's more likely the foursome ahead or the kitchen staff comes under your cross hairs than the superintendent.

"Far and away, course conditions proved the most important driver of satisfaction when golfers travel," Sachau says, "much more so than the pace of the round or the cost of the green or guest fee, both of which golfers stated as more important." Specifically, in ascending order golfers value the conditions of the bunkers, the tee boxes, the fairways and, most of all, the greens.

Johnny Gets USGA Green Light To Mention The Grain This Week

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Mike Davis on the Merion greens and Johnny Miller, who talks about grain on greens reduced to dirt. But the USGA Executive Director says NBC's lead analyst has room to speak about grain this week. And knowing Johnny, he will!

And I think one of the things that's neat, Johnny Miller is going to have fun this week, because there's grain in these greens.  If you get downgrain on these things, they really go.  And if you're putting up to it, it's really slow.  I think when he does mention that on television, he's going to be right this week, that there's grain.  And I think that's neat.

This was also interesting consider that Merion's greens are not of the USGA spec variety, but instead, native soil greens with amendments.

And the putting greens, these are like modern putting greens in the sense that the drainage work they've done is just marvelous.  They drain as well as any putting greens I've seen.  The course itself drains beautifully.  There's a lot of surface drainage to this golf that Hugh Wilson just laid this course out on the land, like I mentioned, and there's been a lot of drainage put in over the years by Matt and his staff.  They're as equipped as possibly they could get for that rain event.

Video: Measuring Muirfield Village's Greens

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There was a lot of post-third round conjecture about Muirfield Village's green speeds and firmness this year, with the Stimpmeter speed of "15" bandied about. I'm not sure if they've reached that any time this week, but with the breezes and meticulous grooming that is possible.

What is interesting, however, is the level at which the green speeds and firmness are now documented. Earlier in the week we were out shooting course videos and ran into Paul Vermeulen of the PGA Tour, who kindly showed us a new device concocted by fellow agronomist Tom Brown to measure firmness.

Players: Quail Hollow Greens Victim Of 24/7 Media

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It's the media conjuring up a story, say a few players quoted by Jason Sobel on the eve of the Wells Fargo Championship opening round.

“You know, in the age that you guys [in the media] have to talk about something 24 hours a day,” Joe Ogilvie explained, “you’ve got to come up with something.”

“Once the tournament starts, I think all of that stuff will stop and it will be about the tournament, about the shots and the scoring,” said Mickelson. “We’ll see what’s made this tournament great in the past and it won’t be an issue. But I think leading up it will be the talk, because we haven’t had the actual action to discuss yet.”

“One thing I’ve realized is that there’s always a new story,” Trevor Immelman added. “There’s a new story every week. Just when you think you’re going to be able to latch onto something and wear it out for a few months, something else happens. It’s amazing to me. I think it’s just one of those things that we work through and next week there will be another story.”

We'll see what the boys say after they've posted their first round scores!

Juding by this image from Jeff Sisner of the Charlotte Observer from his pro-am slideshow, this is more than just a story whipped up by the 24/7 press.