Enough David! As Sean wrote, even clay can be firm in dry weather. It's obvious you have played in dry weather, otherwise you wouldn't be flogging this dead horse.
Garland, we can agree to disagree.
Sean was merely stating the obvious which has nothing to do with sand based dunes land. Are you really trying to say that Astoria and Gearhard have clay based turf? These are excerpts from their respective websites:
"Astoria Golf and Country Club began in 1923 and is considered one of the northwest's premier private golf clubs. The unforgettable and challenging 18-hole golf course, built on top of ancient sand dunes near the Pacific Ocean, is one of Oregon's hidden gems and host to the annual Oregon Coast Invitational Tournament.""a clatch of homesick Scotsmen confounded the locals by burying tin cans into the dunes and then knocking balls with sticks until they dropped into the cans."Never seen or heard of any clay based sand dunes but heck Garland, if your dead horse was buried in a clay patch here then who am I to argue with that.
Sean's point would likely be one to pay attention to given the apparent bounciness of your home course which unless it's Bandon or perhaps located in Oregon's high desert in Bend is most certainly clay based.
CiaoAdded later:
Garland, this may explain your perception of Astoria. I checked on the grass, the fairways are winter ryegrass. This would not be an ideal choice for a links course given it's coarse nature. In fact, in Scotland they aim to manage ryegrass infestation due to it's lesser playability and clump forming.
This could of been a conscious choice of the club at some point due to infestation but I'm only guessing. It would not take away from it being a links course. It would however, affect playability as compared to fine grasses you will find in the UK, Scotland and Ireland.
See below:
Rygrass control in Links turfA fine example of beautiful links turf is the 16th green on the Jubilee. It is a blend of fine fescue, bent and some annual meadow grass. Unfortunately other greens on the Links are not as pure and are infested with a broad leaved grass known as ryegrass.[/color][/font]
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[/color]The main problem with ryegrass is the clump forming, growth nature of the plant. It dominates the natural finer leaved varieties resulting in bumpy surfaces, especially during spring. It also doesn’t cut well and when wet, the leaves can be stripped, leaving a fibrous white sinewy material, which is visually poor and causes poor playability on the courses.