Last night while reading HWW's Story of Amercian Golf, I came across a passage that escaped me the first time I read the book about F&F conditions. The first time I had read it, it was before I became a member of this site, so obviously it did not strike me then as it does now.
Wind was talking about Harold Hilton's visit to the U.S. in 1911 and his efforts to win the Amateur at Apawamis. I found this passage very interesting:
"Every loyal American prayed for a week of sunshine to sere the turf and harden the ground. On a wet, slow course, they confided to one another, Hilton would be a much tougher man to beat."
What is Wind indicating here? Was F&F not the norm in the UK? I had always thought that those type of conditions Wind described suited the British players. Wouldn't those said conditions have played right into the hands of Hilton?