Tom
I belive Aronimink actually cuts 1-way, that is it looks like they mow towards the golfer, thus making it look dark from the tee, and if you look back from the green it is all light. I'm not sure if this is intentional, making the ball not run out as much on the tee shot, but I found it very interesting on my last trip up there this year. It made the fairways stand out dramatically, and as you eluded to, John does an absolute fantasic job with the conditioning up there at AGC.
We are considering going to "2-Tone" fairways at Hidden Creek directly after our Fall aeration after Labor Day, so I would be intersted in your findings, maybe you could email me off line. It seems that the 2-Tone look would be in keeping with the style of course Bill & Ben have given us, and we are eager to implmement it to see how it affects the "look" of the course. We keep the fairways fairly tight, so I don't imagine you are going to have prefernetial lies based on which side you find yourself on, it is just a look we are trying to achieve, to further "age" the course, in keeping with many of the greats of the North-East that are mentioned above.
I was up at GM just last month, and it seems as though you have already started the process?
Thanks Tom.
Ian