[doughhater]

Dave Pelz addressed this question in his book "Putt Like the Pros. He took scientific samples from numerous types of greens sampling everything from different types of grass to different amounts of moisture. He coined the term Lumpy Doughnut to describe the area around the hole noticing that few golfers actually step within a foot of the hole. The result is a fairly pristine circle 2 feet in diamater around the hole with a doughnut shaped concentration of footprints around that circle.