Bellerive Greens Burnt And Crusty For USPGA Championship

Screenshot: Twitter @JoelMBeall

published 7 August 2018

Photos from Golf Digest's Joel Beall show the greens at Bellerive looking fairly ropey

Bellerive Greens Burnt And Crusty For USPGA

The USPGA Championship takes place at Bellerive this week near St. Louis, Missouri and the putting surfaces appear to be struggling after a heatwave in the mid-west with temperatures regularly peaking above 30 degrees celsius.

Golf Digest's Joel Beall took these images below of the greens at Bellerive and they look fairly poor with patchy areas that appear to have been spray-painted.

There has been controversy over greens in major championships in recent years, most notably at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 and earlier this year where heat and wind, combined with super-slick greens, made stopping a ball and putting on the greens became extremely difficult.

The USGA, once again, were heavily criticised for the setup.

2015's US Open at Chambers Bay was also controversial with extremely poor greens and the odd 'broccoli' comparison.

From a non-greenkeeping expert, the putting surfaces and surrounds at Bellerive do look slightly dodgy but there is rain forecast for today and Wednesday which should help.

Related: How to qualify for the USPGA Championship

The greenkeepers will surely be praising the rain pre-tournament to get the course in tip-top shape.

Let's hope they're not too bumpy and players don't begin to complain.

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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV

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