Ross quote on trees.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

I got out this afternoon to take some pictures around the back nine of Grove Park Inn GC in Asheville, NC.  And all over the grounds in different places they have some plaques with quotes from Donald Ross.

I thought some members of the tree house here would love this one.

[JESII]

Cool find Turboe,

Earlier this summer I heard this one about trees that is credited to a former superintendent at Pine Valley...."You can have trees, and you can have grass but you can not have both". I love it.

[ed_getka]

Turboe,
   Were these plaques on trees? What did you think of the course itself?

[Andy Troeger]

With all of the comments that have been made about whether a specific hole or shot should be "fair" I thought it was interesting that he mentioned "unfair" in terms of trees. Do most of you think the primary intent of a golf course is to provide fair playing conditions?

[Evan Fleisher]

With all of the comments that have been made about whether a specific hole or shot should be "fair" I thought it was interesting that he mentioned "unfair" in terms of trees. Do most of you think the primary intent of a golf course is to provide fair playing conditions?

A better question yet may be, should trees dictate strategy and/or cause well-struck shots to NOT be rewarded?

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Turboe,
   Were these plaques on trees? What did you think of the course itself?

Actually most of the palques were in the ground near the tee box.   This one ironically enough was mounted on the outside wall of a nice wooden building I think was a bathroom on the course (I can only guess it was made from the wood of some trees removed from the course).

I didnt get a chance to play, but I liked what I saw of it driving around the back nine taking some pictures.  I have not played it since the redo by Spence back about 4-5 years ago.  I wanted to see how much different it looked as in the past I wasnt that impressed with the place.  I have heard people talk highly about it and wanted to see it myself in its new version.  So since it was such a nice afternoon I stopped out and talked to one of the pros for a while.

I was quite impressed with how different it seemed from what I remember.  I am looking forward to getting back up there to play it some day (soon I hope).

As time permitts maybe I will post a few more pics.

[PThomas]

awww, what did he know?

[wsmorrison]

You can take the Scot out of Scotland but not Scotland out of a Scot.  Ross built courses on land with lots of trees.  He may not have used them strategically but he didn't get rid of them.  He planted sycamore trees by many if not all of the tees at Gulph Mills.  I guess he, like most others varied their approaches and such statements need to be taken in context of their body of work.  There are usually exceptions.

[Jeff_Mingay]

I recall all of those sycamore trees next to tees at Gulph Mills, Wayne. Were they really Ross' idea?

[A_Clay_Man]

The qualifier is "a properly played stroke". This, to me, implies trees are not banned, just well placed.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

A couple of the others...



Obviously not all of them were from Donald Ross, this one was just a little reminder of golf ettiquite.  Since most of us Southerners are not used to replacing divots down here they figured with the bent grass fairways at GPI they better remind everyone.



I only saw the back nine, and I didnt take a picture of the one on the first tee (I should have).

[wsmorrison]

Jeff,

That's what Tom Paul told me.  Early aerial photographs indicate they were planted but I'll ask Tom again if the trees were Ross.

[BCrosby]

Curious quote by Ross about green sizes and the mashie-niblick.

I thought that club had been around since the beginning of the game. What's he talking about?

Bob

[wsmorrison]

"Tom,
Was Ross behind the Sycamore plantings at Gulph Mills near tees?"

Tom Paul's response:

That's a good question the answer to which is probably unknowable at this point. However, in his book "Golf Has Never Failed Me" he did say on the chapter on trees;

"On hot summer days they are most welcome, especially around tee boxes."

That remark from his book anyway couldn't have been known when GMGC was built because that manuscript did not surface until pretty recently. It was in the possession of McGovern or perhaps his daughter. It was written in 1914 so maybe Ross mentioned this to GMGC in 1916.

From the 1924 aerial of the course all the tee box sycamores can be seen and although small they weren't that small, so yes they probably were planted initially and it's pretty logical given what he wrote in 1914 about trees and tee boxes quoted above that he probably recommended it.

[Nathan Cashwell]

Ross definitely used trees in a strategic manner every once in a while.  In fact, on the plans for a few of his courses we are currently working on he specifies leaving trees in strategic locations.  On one of the courses it is a theme he used quite a bit throughout the course.  He also used bunker placement in conjunction with a stand of trees on the top of a ridge to create a unique, short, and strategic dogleg two shotter.  In fact, he re-routed some of the holes to create that situation.  He never ceases to amaze!

[Cliff Hamm]

"On hot summer days they are most welcome, especially around tee boxes."

Couldn't agree more.  I posted on this during he summer with few, if any in agreement.  The trees needn't shade the tee box, but being close by is a welcoming respite when there is a wait in the heat.