This is something that was a bit of a mystery to me in my early years.
days.
I would listen to people talk about the grain on the green and how
the ball would go fast if the grain leaned towards the hole
and as the ball did not reach the hole if one put
against the current unless this factor has been taken into account.
Well here’s a bit about the grain in case like me you find this
subject to a bit of a mystery.
When grass grows, it grows in a particular direction.
The grass on putting greens is a special type of grass and lies flat on the surface.
There are bent grasses that lie flat because it is the nature of
grass bends at ground level and grows horizontally, hence the
Name.
There are other types of grass that are cut very short and tend to grow a bit
horizontally.
Luckily all the grass grows in the same direction.
If you can imagine the grass slightly longer but still horizontal,
you can see that if you are lying in the direction of the post, that
there will be very little resistance when rolling the ball.
However, if it is growing toward you and away from the direction
of the put, each blade of grass acts as a product, as it were, to stop
the ball rolling.
Therefore, the ball will hold on a bit and not
roll so far
This producing effect is called the grain.
It represents the direction in which the grass grows.
One way to determine which direction it is growing is to look at the
fat.
If it has a slight shine or looks clear, it is moving away from you.
If you hit a ball along this path, it is called hitting the grain.
If it’s dark, it’s because you’re looking at the tips of the
grass and the dark part between the blades of grass and the ground.
This means that the grass is growing towards you.
Hitting a put along this path is called hitting against the current.
Certain things determine which way the grass will grow,
and these can be taken into account if you are in doubt.
Most grasses will grow towards the nearest water.
They will also grow in the direction of drainage,
They often grow towards the setting sun.