Although Bermudagrass, generally known as jus Bermuda, greens get a lot of attention on the Florida Swing of the PGA Tour schedule, is actually the predominant putting surface on Tour, with at least 20 stops utilizing the grass.
The reason it receives so much publicity for the Sunshine State events is that those tournaments immediately follow the West Coast Swing, which has three high-profile events on Poannua greens, which provides a very different putting surface.
The grass is used in warm weather climates because it requires consistent temperatures above 60 degrees to thrive, so it can be found on the greens at Tour events in Florida, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia, along with North and South Carolina.
The next most prominent type of grass found on courses used for Tour events is Bentgrass, which is found in cooler parts of the country, predominantly the Northeast and Midwest.
Bermuda greens tend to be slower and break less than bent greens but are also harder to read due to a more subtle grain pattern. Any golfer that has tried to make the change from Bent to Bermuda has a very good idea of the difficulty in making the adjustment, especially in attempting to gauge the amount of break.
Typically, the type of Bermuda used in Florida is what could be termed the purest form of the strain, creating the most extreme differences between it and other types of grass that the Tour pros face on a week-to-week basis.
For that reason, players that either grew up playing in Florida or who have relocated their residence and practice base there tend to be considered the most proficient Bermuda putters.
Phil Mickelson, for example, who has recorded 45 PGA Tour victories, has only won once in Florida, but not since 1997. He has a handful of wins on Bermuda greens in other locales, but he doesn’t have nearly the success on it as he has on Bent or Poannua.
Best PGA Tour Putters on Bermuda
Justin Thomas has 14 Tour victories, and while many came overseas, eight of his ten wins in the United States have come on Bermuda greens, including his only major in the 2017 PGA Championship played at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
His most recent victory in the 2021 Players Championship came at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Florida, and he also has win in the 2018 Honda Classic, also played in Florida, where he now resides.
Of Brooks Koepka’s eight PGA Tour wins, half are in major championships that were primarily played on Bent greens, but three of the other four victories were on Bermuda, not a surprise for a Florida native who played his college golf at Florida State. His ability to move seamlessly from Bent to Bermuda with almost equal success can be attributed to not only his talent but experience with the Florida-style Bermuda.
Another Florida native, Billy Horschel, has six Tour victories and won the FedEx Cup in 2014, with four of those wins coming on Bermuda Greens, including the Tour Championship that clinched the FedEx Cup.
While Horschel hasn’t won in his home state, the 2009 University of Florida graduate routinely records high finishes on Bermuda greens, with a win in the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play as well as top-ten finishes in the Sony Open in Hawaii, the WGC-Workday Championship at the Concession, the Zurich Classic, and The Tour Championship.
