Firm turf and rebuilt green complexes will make every approach a putting decision at Royal Birkdale.
Compiled weekly by multiple-award-winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer.
The great putting question at Royal Birkdale will not simply be how well a player reads a putt. It will be whether the ball arrives on the correct section of the putting surface with enough control to leave a putt worth reading.
That is an important distinction. On a soft parkland course, a precise iron shot may finish close to where it lands. On a firm links, the landing spot is only the beginning. Bounce, release, slope and wind remain part of the equation long after the ball returns to earth.
That will be the central challenge when the 154th Open begins Thursday at Royal Birkdale. At the PGA Tour’s opposite-field Corales Puntacana Championship, players will face a different coastal assignment, trading firm links turf for tropical Supreme paspalum and the possibility of changing moisture throughout the day.
Royal Birkdale: A Fine-Turf Test With Very Little Margin
Royal Birkdale’s greens have been identified in a current course profile as a blend of fine fescue and browntop bentgrass. Course manager Sean McLean and his staff have also undertaken an intensive maintenance program that included scarifying, micro-coring, fine-fescue seeding and heavy topdressing. Those practices are designed to manage organic matter and promote the leaner, tighter surface associated with traditional links golf.
That work matters even more because Birkdale has arrived at Open week firm, dry and sun-baked. Jon Rahm described the golf course as playing fast enough that controlling the ball from the fairway will be essential, particularly when approaches are arriving from rough that can produce fliers. The current forecast calls for warm, mostly dry championship conditions, with temperatures easing from the upper 70s Thursday and Friday into the low 70s over the weekend. Breezier conditions could develop Saturday.
No responsible preview should attach an unsupported Stimpmeter number to the greens. The more useful point is that firmness around the putting surfaces could magnify relatively small errors in trajectory, spin and landing position.
Rebuilt Green Complexes Change the Putting Problem
Mackenzie & Ebert’s renovation introduced more extensive closely mown surrounds while rebuilding or substantially altering several holes. That means players will not merely be trying to hit greens. They will be trying to find usable sections of greens while avoiding collection areas that can leave awkward putts, chips or hybrids back up the slopes.
The new fifth can eject an aggressive approach left or over the back. The raised seventh green is the smallest and most undulating on the course, with steep runoffs and deep bunkers protecting a target of only 151 yards. The 11th is longer and divided by a distinct central ridge, making an approach to the wrong side a potential three-putt problem before the player ever reaches for the putter.
The redesigned 14th has a small, undulating green and a pronounced runoff to the left. The new par-3 15th presents the opposite visual puzzle. It is one of Birkdale’s largest greens, but its narrow entrance makes it look smaller from the tee. The surface also runs from front to back, so the combination of wind, firmness and release can carry a seemingly sound shot into an entirely different putting zone.
This is why green-in-regulation totals will not tell the entire story. Two players may both hit the 15th, yet one could have a straightforward birdie opportunity while the other faces a long putt across changing contours with defensive speed as the priority.
Corales Brings a Different Coastal Equation
The Corales Puntacana Championship will be played on Tom Fazio’s 7,670-yard, par-72 Corales Golf Course. The latest publicly available GCSAA tournament fact sheet, published for the 2025 championship, lists Supreme paspalum on the greens, collars, approaches, fairways, tees and rough. It also lists an average green size of approximately 6,000 square feet and describes the course’s drainage as excellent.
That sheet identifies Julio Diaz as the longtime superintendent, with 20 years at Corales and 25 years as a superintendent at the time of publication. GCSAA had not posted a 2026 Corales sheet when this preview was prepared, so those specifications should be considered the latest confirmed baseline rather than a guarantee of this week’s exact mowing heights or setup.
Punta Cana’s forecast calls for highs near 90 degrees throughout the championship. Brief showers are possible Thursday and Friday, with some breeze also expected. That could create more variation in surface moisture than players will encounter at Birkdale, especially as a shower passes and the tropical sun returns.
When grain is present, it can influence both pace and break, but players should confirm it rather than simply applying a stock “tropical greens” formula. The edge of the cup, the surface sheen and practice-green feedback provide better evidence than a preconceived assumption.
What the Greens Are Asking of the Field
Royal Birkdale is asking players to control the entire journey of the ball. The ideal approach must account for where it lands, how it releases and what kind of first putt it creates. A shot that finishes 25 feet away on the proper plateau may be better than one 15 feet away across a ridge or near a steep runoff.
Corales will place more emphasis on recalibration. Players must recognize whether a passing shower, rising temperature or coastal wind has changed the pace since the previous hole. The best adjustment may be subtle, but failing to make it can turn a confident stroke into a series of putts finishing one revolution short or racing several feet past.
The PrimePutt Read
This week’s lesson is to begin reading the putt before reaching the green.
From the fairway, identify the broadest usable section of the putting surface and the most forgiving miss. On a links course, that may mean allowing the ball to release into position rather than flying it directly toward the flag. Once on the green, determine whether the putt crosses a ridge, falls into a separate tier or approaches the hole from a section where speed matters more than maximum break.
The everyday golfer can use the same process. Stop treating every green hit as equally successful. Track how often your approach finishes on the same level as the hole. That single observation will tell you more about the quality of your approach strategy than a basic greens-in-regulation number.
The PrimePutt Drill: The Cross-Surface Speed Window
Choose a hole or target between 20 and 30 feet away. Create a finish window with one tee 18 inches short of the hole and another 30 inches beyond it.
Hit three putts from the putting surface, three from the collar and three from a closely mown area just beyond the collar. Repeat the circuit from a second angle.
Score two points for a holed putt, one point for a ball finishing inside the window and zero points outside it. Subtract one point for any putt finishing more than 4 feet from the hole. The maximum score is 36, with 24 points serving as a strong initial target.
The changing lies force you to adjust strike and speed without changing your commitment. On a PrimePutt mat, use the same scoring window from three different distances, changing stations after every ball rather than hitting several putts consecutively from one spot.
PrimePutt Takeaway of the Week
The best putters do not wait until they stand over the ball to begin solving the green.
At Royal Birkdale, watch where the approaches land, where they finish and what remains between the ball and the hole. The first putt will often reveal the quality of a decision made several shots earlier.
‘The Greens This Week’ drops every Wednesday and looks at the putting surfaces the best in the world from the PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and DP World Tour will face in the coming week. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.
