Ive thought of starting this discussion for a while now, but Ive never really figured out how to start it. I'll just post it and see what happens... as I'm looking for someone to fill in that blanks with some good 'ol facts. Maybe this'll be a history lesson on sand greens...
From the GCA discussion piece on Southern Pines GC:
Then consider the Southern PinesGolf Club which is part of the Elk’s Club. Opened as a nine holer in 1906 (golfers at the time played a par three hole from a tee left of today’sfourth green down to near today’s fifteenth tee, makingfor a nine hole loop), Ross extended it to eighteen holes in the early 1920s. The course reached its full potentialwhen Ross’s sand greens were converted to grass by Angus Maples in the late 1930s.
It is my understanding that Pinehurst No. 2's greens were sand until 1935 or 1937, when Ross built them to what they are today.
Ive seen and played other Ross courses in the north, Oakland Hills North and South, Grosse Ile G&CC, Western G&CC. These were all built in the late 1910's early 1920's and have some of the most wonderful, wild, greens I've ever seen. Surely he did more great greens and many other courses in the north at about that time- they were never sand greens.
I'm interested in the sand greens of his southern courses. The image I seem to have stuck in my head is that most of those courses, even his great ones throughout the Carolinas are flat, square and boring, only later to be totally created and brought to glory with the new technologies to grow grass. Did his great courses in the south 1900-1930 have the great shapes and slopes that his northern grassed greens have? Obviously he was producing those very greens in the north at that time.
Though it's not a very focused question at this point, Im sure there's some people here that'll understand. I think Im kind of looking for a timeline on his green building technologies here...