Why Do Japanese Golf Courses Have Two Greens?

Step onto a tee box in Japan, and you might notice something fascinatingly different on the hole ahead: two distinct greens. It’s a common sight that puzzles many visiting golfers, but this unique feature is a brilliant solution rooted in agronomy, history, and a deep commitment to providing perfect playing conditions. This article will explain exactly why Japanese golf courses often have two greens per hole and how it impacts your strategy on the course.

The Core Reason: A Tale of Two Grasses

The primary driver behind the two-green system is Japan's challenging climate, which experiences both scorching, humid summers and cool, sometimes freezing, winters. No single type of turfgrass thrives year-round in these demanding conditions. To solve this, Japanese course superintendents adopted a system that utilizes two different species of grass, each suited for a specific season.

Think of it like having two sets of tires for your car: a summer set for hot asphalt and a winter set for snow and ice. Each is engineered to perform optimally in specific conditions.

The Summer Green: Korai Grass (Zoysia)

The green designated for summer use is typically planted with Korai grass, a type of Zoysia. This is a warm-season grass that absolutely loves heat and humidity.

• Durability: Korai is incredibly tough and resilient. It can withstand the intense summer hear and heavy foot traffic without wilting, which is vital during Japan’s notoriously hot and sticky months.
• Growth Habit: It has thick, wiry blades and a dense root system. When dormant in the cooler months, it turns a brownish-tan color, similar to Bermuda grass in the southern United States.

The Winter Green: Bentgrass (Bento)

The other green is usually planted with Bentgrass, the very same grass species favored by many of the world's most prestigious courses, including Augusta National. This is a cool-season grass.

• Ideal Conditions: Bentgrass flourishes in the milder temperatures of spring, autumn, and winter. It provides a famously smooth, true, and fast putting surface that golfers love.
• Summer Struggle: However, this delicate grass is highly susceptible to heat stress and fungal diseases in the extreme heat and humidity of a Japanese summer. Without the two-green system, maintaining healthy Bentgrass year-round would be a difficult and incredibly expensive task.

How the Two-Green System Works in Practice

The operation is simple and effective. Courses refer to them as the "main green" and the "sub green." Throughout the year, one green is in play while the other is rested, maintained, and prepared for its turn.

A typical annual schedule might look like this:

• October to mid-June: The Bentgrass green is in play. The cool, stable conditions allow it to be maintained at a peak a level, delivering a world-class putting experience. During this time, the Korai green is dormant and largely rested.
• mid-June to end of September: As temperatures soar, play is switched to the Korai green. This tough warm-season grass holds up brilliantly to the summer stress. This switch gives the delicate Bentgrass green a crucial break, allowing the maintenance crew to protect it and help it recover without the added stress of daily play.

This rotation ensures that no matter when you tee it up in Japan you’re playing on a healthy, well-conditioned surface. It’s a testament to the Japanese concept of omotenashi, or wholehearted hospitality, extending even to the quality of the turf.

How Two Greens Change Your Strategy: A Coach's Perspective

This dual-green system isn't just an agronomic curiosity, it fundamentally changes how you play the hole. As a golf coach, I always tell players that you have to treat the two greens as two entirely different targets. They demand different clubs, different shots and different green-reading techniques.

Playing to the Korai (Summer) Green

When the Korai green is in play, you have to adjust your game for a firmer, tougher surface.

Approach Shots

The thick blades of Korai grass create a very firm surface. Well-struck approach shots won’t spin and stop like they do on Bentgrass, they will land and release, sometimes significantly.

• Actionable Tip: Don’t fire directly at the flag, especially if it’s tucked near the back. Plan for the rollout. A better strategy is often to land your ball on the front third of the green and let it run to the hole. A low-flying, running shot can often be more effective than a high, dramatic soar.

Chipping and Pitching

Chipping from around a Korai green can be tricky. The grain of the grass around the collar is strong and can grab the clubhead, making clean contact difficult.

• Actionable Tip: Consider using less loft. Instead of a 60-degree wedge, you could use a pitching wedge or even 9-iron to play a bump-and-run, minimizing the grass's influence. Using a putter from off the green (a "Texas wedge") is also an excellent choice here.

Putting

Putting represents the biggest change. Korai grain is a huge factor.The way the grass blades grow has a huge influence of speed and a more subtle influence on ball path too.

• Actionable Tip: Before ytour putt, take a moment to look at the hole, look for slight shade variations that suggest the direction of the growing blade. When putting "down-grain" (with the direction of growth), the putt will be much faster. When putting "into the grain," it will be significantly slower - you’ll have to give it a much firmer hit. Be assertive with your stroke.

Playing to the Bentgrass (Winter) Green

Switching to Bentgrass feels like an entire different day on the course. You need a completely different tactical mindet.

Approach Shots

Bentgrass provides a much more traditional surface that most golfers may be accustomed to. The fine blades and dense turf are much more receptive to approach shots.

• Actionable Tip: This is when you can be aggressive. You can fly the ball all the way to the hole with a high-trajectory shot and trust that a well struck shot will be rewarded with spin and stop relatively quickly. You can attack flags that you wouldn't dare to on a Korai green.

Chipping and Pitching

The turf surrounding a Bentgrass green is more forgiving allowing you to play higher, spinning shots with more confidence.

• Actionable Tip: Feel free to use more lofted wedges. However, be aware that the soft turf means you need to be precise with your contact to avoid hitting it fat. If there's soft ground, making sure you make contact ball-first is even more important.

Putting

Bentgrass is well known for providing an exceptional putting service. There is very true ball role - and as long as this surface is well maintained, there will be less a minimal effect from the grain on ball roll

• Actionable Tip: Trust your read. On Bentgrass greens, what you see is generally what you get. The roll is pure and consistent. Green speed is often very quick, so focus on getting the pace right. Your a bility to have an accurate sense of distance in your putts it is vital for being successful Bentgras greens, as it is anywhere. Spend a little more time calibrating your green speed and the distance-control in you practices before the round.

The Slow Decline of the Two-Green System

So, why isn&apos,t there a dual green system everywhere? This practice has a lot of challenges too, and this becomes really apparent particularly from a budgeting perspective. Maintaining two full-size greens for every hole is a huge financial commitment. The cost of labor, water, fertilizer, and machinery is almost double that of a single-green course.

Furthermore, advances in turf science have led to the development of new, more heat-tolerant strains of Bentgrass. These modern varietes, combined with subterranean cooling systems and advanced maintenance practices, making it easier for some course that in the past, needed the dual green setup to now be able to just maing a single green.

Because of these factors, many Japanese courses, are now in moving Renovations to move to a single, more modern Benngrass for their fair green. But still there are some courses, specially traditional courses, that they’re still committed to keeping the tradition of the dual-green to go the extra mail to provide more reliable and more resilient playing surfaces to visitors

Final Thoughts

The mystery of Japan’s two-green courses is ultimately a story of ingenuity - born from a need to combat a tough climates and perfected via by Japanesse culture rooted in of precision and quality. This feature not only guarantees excellent playing conditions any time of a day but also adds a fantastic layer of challenge which will require golf with strategic awarenss to adapt in their appriach shot and short games decisions.

A golf course can look in very different to you depending on depending on your strategic approahc and the tool you bring to the game. It is easy on golf course which is familiar with, but can be hard on a new course or a course that it presents some surprises such as a dual-greend. Having a tool to understand your surroundings and adapt will make a meaningful impact, that is what is possible to achieve. The modern technology can go a long way when preparing and helping with your on course and post round performance. I built Caddie AI to serve exactly that purpose. As you stand on your tee-box Caddie-AI can guide you with your shot strategy, can help on approach on the right type of shot or help during post-round performace to learn of what to fix in order to improve for your neext challenge.