Green Speed Physics (ARTHUR R WEBER)

The laws of physics applied to golf course maintenance practices.
MOST ALL putting greens are neither level nor plane, some being more or less severely contoured and sloped than others. Consequently, Stimpmeter readings, taken over such dissimilar surface profiles, correlate differently as a linear measure of green speed. That is to say, green speed ratings, popularized as they have been by averaging Stimpmeter measurements taken on reasonably level greens, do not fairly and accurately serve as speed indices common to all putting greens. Rather, by preparing an "as built" green to Stimpmeter readings adjusted for its inherent angularities, uniformity of speed can prevail from green to green, stabilizing the composures of golfers and green superintendents in the process. By mathematically interpreting the physics fundamental to a golf ball rolling over a putting green upon release from a Stimpmeter, indices are derived, as angularity-consistent measures of speed rating characteristic of "as-built" slow-tofast greens. These indices are graphically plotted to facilitate their use by golf course superintendents, golf committees, tournament officials, and the like.

Putting distance depends on the green speed !!!

ARTHUR P. WEBER, a chemical engineer by training, has given generously of his time to golf as a USGA Green Section Committee member since 1984. He is a former green chairman of Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, Old Westbury, New York, and past president of the Metropolitan Golf Association.

[Source] http://turf.lib.msu.edu/1990s/1997/970312.pdf