LuLu G.C. is a very interesting case, not the least of it being that it's so early (Ross's first in Pa.), and as such has what I feel are interesting "evidences" of a really well known early American architect in the beginning of a career that "evolved" in some interesting ways, but definitely did evolve in noticeable ways. His career spanned many decades, although definitely truncated by the depression and WW2. Ross like many of the other early and "Golden Age" architects had their careers sort of compressed into about a 15 year span, when in Ross's case his actual career lasted almost 50 years!
I have a gut feeling LuLu is a Ross course that Brad Klein should study as closely as possible, even following the publication of his award winnning Ross book.
I'm also aware that LuLu is considering a restoration, and at this time it may not be that conducive to the restoration effort (the membership and the committee doing it) to analyze and critique LuLu at this point on Golfclubatlas. I'll let Steve Sayers make that call and if he thinks it's not the right time, I, for one, will delete my posts off of here.
Steve Sayers has done an impressive amount of research on LuLu--really spent some time and legwork and has gone to lengths I don't think I would have gone to! Even with that extensive research he seems to feel there are many unanswered questions and some I think he feels are fairly fundamental, the primary one being that LuLu was built in two nine hole stages separated by about 3-6 years. He may even feel that the front nine (first nine built) may not even be Ross but I would very seriously doubt that it isn't, because there are just some things about that nine that are very Ross, uniquely so in fact. It even appears that the first nine is more Ross than the second nine, which clearly is Ross.
One of the clues (that I hadn't really thought that much about until now--or at least until Steve Sayers mentioned it the other day) is the real similarity of LuLu's very short par 3 #4 (originally about 100yds) across a quarry to a green above it, exactly similar to Gulph Mills's (1916-1919) little #4 across a quarry to a green above it of about 100yds.
This kind of thing can never be conclusive, of course, but the similarities of those two holes are definitely too great to overlook. Again, it can never be known but it would not be beyond the realm of solid logic to even assume that these two holes (two natual landforms) may have even been the spot on each site that Ross identified first to begin his routings on each course around--both may have been his routing starting point, in other words!
One of the reasons I say that, is, being a real fan of the routing process, it's apparent it's just not that easy to start at what will become the #1 hole and arrive at these kinds of small and confined little landforms with logical holes and a logical routing preceding them and following them.
So consequently, an easier and more logical way is to move backwards and forwards from them (as the starting point) with the holes! Again, it's a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle if you've identified a natural landform (or a number of them) that you want for holes. In the jigsaw puzzle analogy it's a bit like which piece do you pick up first and place on the board?
But then from Steve Sayer's perspective of trying to imagine and piece back together how LuLu's golf course orginated and evolved there are some other facts and apparent facts that have to be considered and the assumptions that have always been made should be reavaluated again too for accuracy.
For instance, it's known that the first nine was built in 1912 and that apparently it was on one side of a road that divides the first seven holes from the last eleven. In Finegan's book it says the club bought another parcel of the same farm a few years later and did another nine--and that Ross came back and did that one too. But is it logical to conclude that the original first nine was on the side of the road that the present first seven holes are now on? It may be, particularly since the old clubhouse is immediately juxtaposed to the original 1st hole (still the 1st hole) on the other side of the road (original side) than it's now on.
If the original nine was on that side of the road and Ross built that nine first and came back a few years later, it's likely he might have reconfigured his original nine into the present first seven and then completed the course (last eleven) on the other side of the road (where the clubhouse was to be and is now).
This is getting to be a long post but there's much more to go over and speculate on to check various assumptions. But that for later.
BTW, the primary reason putting the pieces back together again as to how they happened originally and evolved is always made more difficult by the fact that all of what we are talking about now as to timeframes and an evolution, PRECEDED the first aerials! It only goes to show just how valuable aerials are in analyzing the origins and the evolutions of any old golf course.