"It is obvious Ross is excited about the possibilities. Incidently this is the quote that has been repeatedly distorted and misinterpreted by Pat Mucci."
I think that remark is pretty unnecessary, Tom MacWood. Pat Mucci didn't distort or misinterpret anything about Seminole not being flat. All he ever said is the entire site of Seminole is not flat by a long shot.
But if your intention with this thread is to determine what exactly Ross meant by that quote about Seminole, then that could be a potentially interesting question.
I'm not certain of it but I believe that the original site of Seminole may've had flatland area that was remarkably low to sea level, and actual sea level at Seminole isn't more that 400 yards away from the middle of the golf course.
I've never seen before and after topo maps of Seminole but I do know that Ross created one of the more unique back-flush general drainage systems on that site that had been known at that particular time.
I've heard that originally the majority of that site (the entire middle of the course sans the east and west dune ridges) could've been no more than two or so feet above sea level that is actually just over the eastern dune ridge. If that's true that is basically too low to be safe long-term so some sort of cut and fill and flush drainage system probably needed to be created on most of the course. A good description of the sophistication of the Seminole water management system is in Brad Klein's book.
Does that mean Ross used massive steamshovels and earth moving equipment to dredge and fill? In other words, did he basically cut and fill the middle of that site? My bet is that he did. The most obvious indication of that today is the prevalent drainage cuts through the middle of the course mostly on an east to west axis. The large pond in the middle of the course must've been a fairly massive cut operation in and of itself basically evened out to some extent by the prevalent drainage cuts all over the site to get water out of the middle of the course requiring steam shovels on a large scale.
The real giveaway to what-all Ross may've done on that site and why is the berm running along the southern side of the property on hole #9. If one just looked at it (and it is not particularly obvious) one might wonder what it was done for or why it was ever necessary.
In my opinion, Ross really did his homework on the original site of Seminole and came up with a massive whole course cut and fill back-flush drainage system that may've been fairly unique for that time and place. Had he not done that I suspect the course could've been an enduring headache due to truly problematic and constant drainage problems (wetness in the middle of the course).
The hurricane last year was something of an anomoly and even with what Ross did with that site drainage-wise look what it did to the course.
I think one might be going down the wrong road if they assume Ross used steamshovels and earthmoving equipment to just undulate the middle of that course to create rolling topography or noticeable pushed up features such as greens. He didn't do that at all. He probably just used steamshovels and earthmoving to solve an inherent drainage problem due to most of the site being dangerously close to sea-level that is right over the Eastern dune---ie the Atlantic Ocean.