My first attempt at posting pics (thanks to Gary Daughters for leading me through the process). As discussed on another thread, Love Golf Design has started construction at Brunswick Country Club, a Ross design/redesign from 1938 thru 1939. We are fortunate to have all of Ross' original design sketches for the greens complexes and our goal is to rebuild each green to exactly what he drew:
Copy of Ross' original sketch, provided by one of Ross' draftsman. Hole #4, par-3.
The first green we worked on was #4. Mark Love and Scot Drader began by carefully pulling away soil layers at the back of the green, in an area that visually appears to have once been the edge of the green (supported by Ross' sketch). They went through several layers until they came upon a black soil layer that was totally different than the other layers:
View of the soil layers that just peeled away, revealing a black layer which we believe is the original green surface.
This procedure was then repeated at the front of the green and the same black layer was located. A small track-hoe was then used to slowly peel away all the soil layers until the black soil layer was uncovered throughout the entire greens complex. The sketches were then used to reshape and refine all the design features to the exact specifications Ross originally designed:
View from short right of the 4th green after 67 years of soil build-up has been removed and original features reshaped.
The edges of the green were then flagged and the entire green cored out to create the new green well and drainage has been added:
View from the tee of the new green complex, cored out, drained, and awaiting greens mix.
It is an exciting process for us, as this is the first time we have done anything like this. Mark Love can hardly pull himself away from the site and Davis has been a frequent visitor as well. Of course, Paul Cowley is out there when his other jobs allow and Scot Drader is full-time on the construction end. I'll try to keep posting pics as things continue to move forward.
John
Mark Love (right) and Scot Drader watch the reshaping of the front bunker at #4.