Stimpmeter

The Stimpmeter was invented in 1935 by Edward Stimpson and its purpose was to test the consistency of the speed of putting greens. Unfortunately today’s use of the device is for speed purposes or bragging rights as to how fast the greens are. I use the Stimpmeter daily for several reasons such as; consistency from green to green (the original intended use), to help with the timing of fertility applications, Growth regulator applications and eventually speed measurement. These daily speeds all affect the aforementioned applications timings that ultimately dictate green speeds. Follow this link to the USGA’s website for an animated clip that shows the use of the Stimpmeter.We utilize the stimpmeter to monitor greenspeeds on a daily basis. We strive to have smooth, consistent greens and the stimpmeter allows us to monitor this. My assistant records a stimpmeter reading for 2 different greens each day. These readings are taken from the same location each day. The readings are then recorded into a excel spreadsheet and graphed at the end of each month. We consistently analyze the readings to monitor how close we are to our target green speed. If readings fall below this level then we react and change our agronomic techniques to increase green speed. If levels get to high we back off on some of our agronomic techniques. These readings also allow us to analyze how weather, topdressing, rolling, and mechanical maintenance effect green speeds.