How good is Crooked Stick?

[Adam Clayman]

Have you ever seen more straight putts in your whole life?

This ain't golf the way it should be.

[Tom_Doak]

Have Crooked Stick's greens been flattened over the years?

They were flattened in 1985, when the C-15 bentgrass died on the greens, and Pete rebuilt and re=grassed them.

I was there briefly at the start of the project.  Pete told me that before he had started Crooked Stick, he went over to Broadmoor Country Club, which had the best greens in Indy, and surveyed those to give himself some parameters for how much slope to put in the greens.  He said the hole locations at Broadmoor were from 3% to 5%, so that was the upper limit he used to build Crooked Stick in 1964.  By 1985, greens were 10 or 11 on the Stimpmeter, and Crooked Stick's greens were some of the most severe in America, so when they re-grassed the greens Pete took the maximum slope down to 3%.

[Tim_Cronin]

These greens are uncommonly true, but have some slope to them. Still, with lift, clean and place in closely-mown areas for three days, the scoring is crazy low. Fun to watch, though.

[Gary Slatter]

why are the greens so soft, no sand in the soil

[Josh Tarble]

Have Crooked Stick's greens been flattened over the years?

They were flattened in 1985, when the C-15 bentgrass died on the greens, and Pete rebuilt and re=grassed them.

I was there briefly at the start of the project.  Pete told me that before he had started Crooked Stick, he went over to Broadmoor Country Club, which had the best greens in Indy, and surveyed those to give himself some parameters for how much slope to put in the greens.  He said the hole locations at Broadmoor were from 3% to 5%, so that was the upper limit he used to build Crooked Stick in 1964.  By 1985, greens were 10 or 11 on the Stimpmeter, and Crooked Stick's greens were some of the most severe in America, so when they re-grassed the greens Pete took the maximum slope down to 3%.

Tom,
In Anatomy of a GC you mention Crooked Stick as one of the courses to study for greens.  Was this pre- or post-1985?

I found the complexes to be pretty varied and interesting, but I found the greens themselves to be lacking a bit.

[Tim_Cronin]

why are the greens so soft, no sand in the soil

Over four inches of rain in the last eight days.

[Matt Kardash]

I watched the end and it seemed the last 4 greens had plenty of contour in them. Are the other 15 flat except for the last 4? I find that hard to believe.

[Josh Tarble]

Most of the greens to me, seemed to have a couple tiers and relatively flat inside those tiers or shelves...I guess flat is kind of a relative term, not flat but a lot of what I'd call micro contours.