I cannot help feeling that there is a perceived added risk to landing on grass. Many clubs will not let their aircraft be rented out if the renter intends to land on a private grass strip. Strangely, they are more than happy if the renter is heading for somewhere like Goodwood or Sywell. Perhaps they are concerned that the renter will become confident with a nice 700 metre grass strip and then try to get in and out of a 450 m sloping one ?
However, runway length aside, the average student can do a lot more damage to undercarriage on tarmac due to its unforgiving nature and added lateral stress it can cause to gear legs on touchdown.
Tarmac runways are more often than not a lot longer than their grass counterparts. Aircraft accelaration is undoubtedly better on concrete and braking is normally better due to the adhesion of tyres on the surface. However, a poorly timed kick of rudder to reduce crabbing will cleanly remove the undercarriage sometimes on tarmac. On grass it usually does little more than cause one person to hit their head on the window and the other to lurch the same way.
There is a very snobbish attitude towards grass strips and I must say it is amazing to think that some pilots have never actually landed on one. bpilatus is not allowed to land at Sandown for the fly-in as it is a group rule for the a/c to remain on tarmac.
What kind of pilots are we breeding these days?
Is it that the "Zero to ATPL" brigade are being so rushed through their syllabusses (syllabii?) that they just don't go to grass strips anymore? When they are asked to by a student do they just freeze at the thought?
I believe there is a club that actually do a Farm Strip Flying Course. Sounds like a great idea to me for those who want to discover this type of flying. If I have the choice of the two surfaces I will opt for grass everytime and I still did when I had the PA28.