When you land in a different suburb, city, state or country and head to the course on day one, the first thing most of us look at is the greens with a sense of anticipation, "what are the greens like?"

Professional golfers around the world are all the same; give them amazing putting surfaces and most of us will happily head back to that course again.

The layout of the course doesn't even have to be outstanding if the greens are, as the magic of a pure roll and greens that receive your shots like lobbing a marshmallow onto plush carpet is infectious and mesmerising.

My recent trip to China and Korea saw greens of amazing quality.

Both had incredible surfaces and allowed the great putters to find the line and know that the purity of the greens would see the ball track into the hole.

However, there was one small issue in Korea, which does somewhat go against my earlier statement.

The fairways were a broad leaf grass and long meaning controlling your golf ball into the green was very, very difficult. 

As most greens complexes sloped considerably from back to front it meant keeping the ball under the hole was a must – an almost impossible task due to the fairway grass. 

"Flyers" from the fairway were common and all of a sudden it meant the pure greens were now beyond challenging. If you missed that 4 and a bit inch wide hole it was “goodbye ball”.

For the first two days of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, the tournament organisers left the greens with more length on them than any other year I have played the event at Namseoul Country Club.

This lead to some extremely low scoring, the likes of which they had never seen before. 

Arriving on Saturday morning I noted an increase in green speed on the notice board, overnight they had sped them up by a foot.

It proved to be a much greater challenge, given the pin placements were also far more difficult, not to mention the strong wind that had arrived too.

Let me try and describe to you what putting on some of those greens were like despite the purity of the surfaces.

Imagine a shopping centre floor, with those shiny surfaces slick and smooth. Imagine rolling a golf ball along those floors and the purity of the roll and longevity of the roll. Now that you have that image in your head … imagine that somebody tilted the whole shopping centre from one end to the other, even just by a couple of degrees.

Not to the point where the ball wouldn't sit stationary on its one dimple but to the point where the minute you hit it with your putter to make it move off that dimple you may need either the hole to get in the way of the ball, or the ball would need to reach a rare flat spot to stop.

This was the challenge of the day and without doubt the increase of speed and pin locations brought the officials their desired result.

One of the guys I played with hit a great shot into a hole midway through our back nine. He was pin high and 15 feet right of the flag. I had misjudged my shot a little and, although on line, it was long and left me a 30-foot downhiller.

The second I hit my putt, with the mindset of trying to make the ball only roll one revolution, I knew I had hit it too hard.

I watched as the ball seemed to roll in slow motion down the slope with the Titleist logo readable with every rotation.

By the time it came to rest it was somehow hanging on to a cliffs edge about eight-foot below and past the cup. I remember marking and saying to my caddy that I was happy with that as leaving it above the hole could lead to a four putt.

This was the problem/challenge of the day, you had to be so defensive in your putting, trying to leave the ball in places where you could hopefully two or three putt and occasionally hole the first one.

Back to my playing partner, who from only 15 feet in normal circumstances would have been thinking he had a birdie chance.

His putt was crazily difficult however. Imagine putting from the grass on the side of your slightly angled driveway and having to find the high point where all of a sudden your ball would nearly stop, take a right angle turn and gather pace.

Needless to say it was extremely difficult and the best way to describe his first putt was to say his ball fell short of the apex and stopped there, maybe a millimetre from falling down the green and either going in or gathering next to my marker.

He now faced the problem I didn't want. He was still above the hole whereas I had an eight-foot uphill putt I could confidently stroke towards the hole with some thought that if it missed on the right side it may actually go in as it rolls back too! 

I made mine and did a little tap dance of joy as I had escaped a desperately difficult green with just two putts and a gold like par.

I almost couldn't bring myself to watch as my young Korean playing partner stepped up to putt for par. So small was his backswing that I wasn't sure he even made one, as it looked like he just pushed the ball ever so slightly.

As his head dropped I knew the outcome … an eight foot putt for bogey now after hitting a perfect drive and a quality second shot.

This was the agony and common outcome for players all over the course that day and unfortunately for my playing partner he missed the next one and trudged off the green with a double bogey six, having done very little wrong on the hole.

It’s days like this at Namseoul we all know too well. The greens and course generally win against a field of professionals fighting for survival.

When the greens get quick, coupled with tough pins and wind, it is a massive mental challenge and only the strong survive. 

As we sat down for dinner that night with the few Aussies that had made the cut we spoke about how a three-handicapper from home wouldn't break 85 out there just purely on the fact we had never experienced anything like that anywhere else in the world. 

We also spoke about pros not breaking 80 (nine over par), if we placed their ball on all 18 greens giving them a birdie putt, but from a position we could choose on the greens depending on the pin locations.

Saturday was brutal and had the desired effect on the scores. Of the 71 p-layers who made the cut, 64 shot over par that day; me included, yet I felt I had played really well. 

I'm sure that place has destroyed careers before, leaving mental scars that people just can't overcome the next time they face quick greens.

For me there are no scars, just some bruises where I got beat up a little. 

Knowing I only play there once a year makes it ok. I actually embrace having to think outside the square and putt balls to places you wouldn't dream of back home.

So the next time your greens at home get quick for club championships just embrace it knowing it will never have anything on 18 holes around Namseoul Country Club!