When Is a Temporary Green the More Professional Choice?

For many golfers, a temporary green feels like a discount version of the course.

The hole becomes shorter. The surface may be smaller and slower. A putt that would test skill on the main green can become a hopeful roll across an approach. If several temporary greens appear without explanation, members reasonably ask what standard the club is providing.

Yet using the main green every day is not automatically the professional choice.

When turf is not growing, damage can remain for months. When the upper soil is soft above a frozen layer, concentrated traffic can disturb the surface. When water cannot drain, a full field may create wear that affects spring as well as today.

The right question is not “main greens or temporary greens?” It is “under which local conditions does using the main green create an unacceptable seasonal cost?”

Winter wear does not arrive with winter repair

Putting greens receive concentrated traffic. Every group walks onto a small area, moves around the hole and leaves by similar routes.

During active growth, the plant can repair some wear. In winter, recovery may be very limited. STERF’s work on winter play stresses that the result depends on grass species, soil or rootzone, drainage, weather sequence and traffic. There is no universal winter policy.

A dry, free-draining links may carry winter play well. A clay-based parkland course can remain wet and vulnerable. Deep, stable frost can present a different situation from a surface that is repeatedly freezing and thawing. Scandinavian ice and persistent snow create different decisions from a mild but saturated British winter.

Club tradition matters, but it cannot replace site evidence.

Use conditions, not the calendar

“Temporary greens from November to March” is simple to administer. It may also put golfers on poor alternatives during good conditions and the main greens under traffic during a damaging October.

A better policy uses observable thresholds. A course might consider a temporary green when one or more of the following apply:

• standing water or surface softness makes normal play likely to deform the green;
• thawed material lies over frozen ground and the upper rootzone is vulnerable to movement;
• frost, frozen soil or ice creates a known local traffic risk;
• disease, repair work or newly established turf needs protection;
• the surface cannot recover from the expected number of rounds; or
• access and exit routes would concentrate damaging wear around the green.

These are categories, not a ready-made national rule. The course manager should define how they are assessed at that site and record the decision.

The same course may need a temporary green on a shaded, poorly drained hole while sixteen or seventeen main greens remain suitable. A mixed setup is not untidy if it follows the conditions. It is more precise than pretending every green is identical.

A temporary green should still be prepared as golf

Some opposition to temporary greens has been earned.

A flag pushed into an uneven fairway, with no clear edge and no attention during winter, tells golfers that the temporary surface does not matter. It also makes every future request to protect the main green harder to defend.

BIGGA’s examples from British course managers show the value of preparation. At one clay-based parkland course, temporary greens were moved from general fairway areas onto better-maintained, flatter approaches. Drainage work then reduced how often they were needed.

A credible temporary green should be:

• selected before the bad weather, not improvised that morning;
• placed on the driest suitable ground available;
• reasonably flat, smooth and large enough for the likely traffic;
• cut and maintained to an agreed winter standard;
• clearly defined and marked;
• positioned to avoid unnecessary loss of hole length where possible; and
• included in daily course information.

It will not become the main green. It can still be a deliberate playing surface.

The Rules need attention

The R&A provides Model Local Rule D-2 for a hole on which a temporary putting green replaces the normal green.

Under that model, the temporary area is defined as the putting green for the hole. The normal green becomes a wrong green, from which the player must take relief under the Rules. The club should make the Local Rule available to players and mark the temporary area clearly enough that there is no uncertainty about where it begins.

This is not paperwork for its own sake. A golfer needs to know whether the ball is on the green, whether it may be marked and lifted and what happens if it finishes on the protected main surface.

The Committee, course team and front of house should all publish the same setup.

Handicap acceptability is a separate question

Moving greens changes the length and sometimes the playing characteristics of the course.

Appendix G of the Rules of Handicapping says the Handicap Committee must notify its Authorised Association when temporary changes may affect the Course Rating. The association decides whether scores remain acceptable and whether a temporary Course Rating and Slope Rating is required.

For an 18-hole course, the appendix allows normal submission where the measured difference is under 100 metres (100 yards). With association approval, changes between 100 and 274 metres (100 and 300 yards) can be handled through the temporary-rating procedure. Above 274 metres (300 yards), scores are normally ineligible unless the Authorised Association decides otherwise in advance.

Those figures concern the total measured difference and do not remove the need to follow national guidance. Nine-hole limits are different. Clubs should confirm the current procedure with their national association rather than assume that “qualifying” status follows automatically.

This matters because a temporary green can shorten one hole by 45 metres (about 49 yards). Several such changes quickly alter the rated setup.

Members are right to challenge frequent use

Protecting turf is not a complete answer if the club spends half the year on poor temporary greens.

Frequent use may reveal a drainage problem, unsuitable access routes, under-resourced winter preparation or a mismatch between the club’s membership promise and what the site can deliver. BIGGA has documented a parkland club where targeted drainage improvements reduced temporary-green use over successive winters. Protection was useful, but improvement was still the goal.

The board should therefore ask two questions:

1. Was today’s temporary green the right decision?
2. Why does this condition recur, and what could reduce it?

The first protects the surface. The second protects the club from normalising a lower standard.

There may be honest limits. A major drainage rebuild may not be affordable. A low-lying historic site cannot be turned into sand. In that case the membership needs a realistic winter promise, including price, competition policy and the quality of the alternatives.

Communicate the decision, not just the restriction

“Temporary greens in play” tells the golfer what, but not why or for how long.

A useful daily message might say:

“Temporary greens are in use on holes 3, 7 and 12 because those main greens remain soft above frozen ground. The other main greens passed this morning’s inspection. We will review the three affected surfaces at 11:00. Today’s measured course change is 86 metres (94 yards), and the Handicap Committee has confirmed the status of scores.”

The wording should match the facts and national procedure, but the structure is useful:

• name the affected holes;
• name the condition;
• say when it will be reviewed;
• explain the Rules or handicap effect where relevant; and
• give the next update.

Avoid implying that every temporary decision “saves the green”. Explain the specific risk the club is managing.

Keep a decision card

A short daily record creates evidence for the next board discussion.

Record:

• surfaces inspected and time;
• frost, soil, water and firmness observations;
• expected traffic;
• main or temporary decision by hole;
• any Local Rule and handicap action;
• complaints or incidents; and
• the condition of the main and temporary surfaces afterwards.

At the end of winter, compare temporary-green days with spring recovery, repair work and member feedback. If one hole repeatedly controls the policy, it may deserve the next drainage or access investment.

This moves the conversation away from individual mornings and towards the season.

Professional means proportionate

A main green is not professional simply because it is open. A temporary green is not professional simply because it protects turf.

The professional choice uses a local threshold, provides a prepared alternative, applies the Rules correctly, checks the handicap effect and reviews whether the underlying problem can be improved.

Golfers may still prefer the main green. That preference should shape the club’s investment and winter promise. It should not force the course team to spend tomorrow’s playing quality for one avoidable round today.

Sources and further reading

• The R&A: Model Local Rule D-2, Status of Putting Green When Temporary Putting Green Is Used
• The R&A: Rules of Handicapping, Appendix G
• STERF: Winter Play on Summer Greens
• STERF: Turfgrass Winter Stress Management Handbook, Updated 2025
• BIGGA: Winter Greens, the Arguments For and Against
• BIGGA: Temporary Greens, Course Closures and Topdressing
• BIGGA: Preparing for Winter at a Regular Parkland Course