playing bermuda fairways

[husker1970]

I grew up playing on bent grass fairways or bluegrass fairways. I've moved to an area that has only bermuda grass on the fairways. My question is how is the setup different on bermuda grass? It seems like I have to choke up on the club or hit everything fat, behind the ball. My clubs seem like they are too long now. What's your suggestion?
Thanks,
Husker1970

[GregJWillis]

You are correct about the difference. Bermuda hit a wire grass that can hold the weight of a ball on top of its grasses, but not the weight of a person, so you sink down to the soil level while you ball can stay on top, so yes, you are closer to the ball now...especially in the rough.

My suggestion is to play with a small choke on the club (1/8") and that will get your mind set. But this is not the only solution, you can play the ball in teh back of your stance about a 1/2 ball and that will help you strike the ball first, but this does not solve you bottoming out with fat divots. The real solution is to keep your spine angle constant. This raising up and droping back down - even a little can cause fat shots because you don't always return to the exact place you started. You were probably getting away with this flaw on bentgrass and now it is showing up more on bermuda with the ball highter or closer to you.

If you play enough on this evil weed, then you will get used to it...I have patches of this on my lawn and it the ugliest grass every invented. It just grows and grows and grows, spreads all over the place.

I wait in anticipation for you reply on putting on this grass too.

[husker1970]

Thanks Greg! I'll give it a try. I did notice that I seem to hook it quite alot with bermuda grass but I think that's due to the viney nature of the grass. I probably catch it something like hitting out of the rough, catching the hosel and closing the club down. There really isn't much I like about bermuda other than the extra distance I seem to get off the tee due to the spongy nature of the grass and the hardpan underneath it. All the greens here are bent grass though (THANK GOD) and I have no problem there at least with the grass. The fringe is also bent or blue grass.

Up in Nebraska where I grew up most of the courses I played were sandy with bent grass. In my opinion it's a wonderful grass to play on and you can really spin the ball and probably is more forgiving. I'm heading up there next week to play the Sandhills golf course which is alot like "Links" style. It's very similar to where I learned to play and should be a great time.. Again, thanks for the info!!