Loch Lomond apologises for course condition

They're better than they look.

That's the consensus about the greens at the Loch Lomond Golf Club, where crews with air compressors were out spraying dye Wednesday to ready the putting surfaces for the Solheim Cup.

The greens are bad enough that Loch Lomond president Lyle Anderson issued an open letter of apology to both teams and the Solheim family, who founded the tournament featuring the top women's professional players from the United States and Europe.

Anderson blamed ``human error'' for too much herbicide being applied to the greens in July to control meadow grass.

``We treated only 14 of 18 holes on the course plus the putting green,'' he said.

``We realise that 14 of our greens are not up to the usual high standard of presentation everyone is accustomed to at Loch Lomond Golf Club.''

One of the greens that got the full treatment on Wednesday was the 12th, where crews went end to end spraying the brownish, patchy surface an emerald green to match the lush fairways and hillsides.

``They've done a lot of painting,'' said Dottie Pepper, who played in all five previous Solheims. ``It's almost like a woman's foundation makeup — cakey, pastey.

``It's not the best to look at, but they're not rolling that bad.''

``You're going to have to roll the ball well. Even if the greens are bumpy you have to hit good putts.''

Becky Iverson echoed her teammate. ``I really haven't had a problem with the greens. I think it's more a visual thing. People look at em, ``Oh, what happened to the greens?''

By contrast, the fairways are in perfect shape and have drained quickly despite non-stop September rain. Tuesday's practice was shortened by rain with heavy showers also plaguing Wednesday preparations.