The day after we played the Pete Dye Course we went to the Ross Course. Two completely different golf experiences. Both equally appreciated. Classic and Modern. As much as I love Donald Ross I can't pick the Ross Course as my favorite of the two. The route that Ross created at French Lick is vintage Ross, utilizing all the high spots for greens and tees. But what Pete Dye manufactured from massive earth moving is no less ingenious. Both golf courses are beautifully maintained.
The first tee is a good example of what you will encounter around the course. The tee shots generally cross valleys to fairway that is slightly lower or level to the elevation of the tee. Most of the landing areas feature tilted fairways that push the ball left or right of where it lands. This needs to be factored in to your distance and where you are aiming the ball because the fescue fairways allow the ball to run very nicely.
2 Tee. The middle of the fairway corridor is well bunkered. Everything feeds down to the right side and you are hitting up to a small green.
2 Tee shot taken in 1921. You can see that there was a bunker on the left side of the fairway decent. The mid-fairway bunkers have been restored.
On the 3rd tee you are hitting over a knoll to a fairway landing area that you can't see.
3 Green. The Top to bottom elevation on many of the greens is quite severe. The greens were rolling moderate speed. At plus 11 they would be impossible. But even at these speeds the approach to a pin that is cut in the front is a very delicate shot.
The 4th tee. The green is quite a bit higher in elevation than it appears and everyone in our group ended up under-clubing. I teed it up last and over hit the ball into the fescue left of the green. The fescue at the Ross Course is so thick and heavy that there is no chance of finding your ball if it flies in. The restoration architect might have speced this with a chewings/hard/sheep fescue blend rather than the coarse tall fescues. But early reports of the club indicate that Ross intended the outer rough to be very difficult.
The 5th hole is a strait ahead par 4 that takes you to the back of the property.
On the 6th hole we were once again all short. The elevations of all but one of the par three greens call for an extra club.
The 6th hole in 1936
7 Tee. Crossing a valley to a sloped fairway. There wasn't too much to be gained by drawing the ball around the corner. Right of the fairway bunker is a little bit longer to the green but from a level stance and less elevation up to the green.
7 Green
8 Tee
8 Fairway
8 Green looking back towards the fairway. The original fairway probably went all the way down and through the valley. A nice turbo boost would be caught off this hill if the perfect long draw could be hit to fairway extension area here.
9 Tee. There are many of these fairway bunkers set at 150 yards or so off the tee. They may not see much activity but they frame the hole so nicely.
11 Tee
11 Green with some wild undulations and elevation change.
12 Tee - Here again you have the chance to aim your fairway shot to a spot that is to the right of where you would like the ball to roll into position.
12 Fairway - the fescue grass allows the ball to run on the contours very nicely. I felt there was more run on the ball than bent or bluegrass. Very cool to watch how the ball rolled after it landed.
This was my first experience playing fescue fairways and I came away from it with a greater appreciation for the concept. Both of these shots landed in the middle of the fairway and rolled to the left side of center.
12 Green looking back at the cant of the fairway.
13 Green - another par three across a valley to an elevated green.
13 Green has some wild wave contours running across it. This may be one of the wildest Ross greens I have ever seen.
The top of the fairway on 14 looking down to the green.
15 Fairway
16 Tee. A short wedge shot to a very severely sloped green
The bunker walls around 16 are vertical. I wonder if the grade of the green here was really designed by Ross to trap water on the putting surface? Probably there is a whole bunch of sand buildup from bunker shots over the years on the putting surface and the green originally fed balls down in to the bunker. That would be a great strategy for a short hole back in the day.
17 Tee
17 Green - another wildly undulated green.
The home hole tee. Quite a few holes have these volunteer cedar trees that really do nothing but detract from the beauty of the golf holes. In this case they are interfering with the shot.
The course is strong and a worthy venue for tournament play even by today's standards. It seems that Ross might have intended French Lick to be one of his sterner tests of golf.
These greens would not have to be made too fast to set ball positioning at the highest premium of play. And with navigating over and around all of the restored fairway bunkers to fairways and conditions that steer the ball to low areas, ball positioning is especially challenging at the Ross Course.