....sand greens? The sort of things you find in the desert? What were they like to play to and to putt on?
Yes. In fact, I believe my first round of golf (nine holes) was played on sand greens in Rolla ND, where the golf course sort of surrounded the local grass-strip airport. That was roughly 50 years ago.
FWIW, I think the golf course was located there because they had a mower.
When I was very young--up to age 7--we lived in Harvey, ND where my dad competed regularly on sand greens at courses in the area.
I think the last time I played sand greens was in a tournament in Murdo, SD about 25-30 years ago.
All of the sand green courses I have played were oiled with used motor oil, which wasn't such a good idea in the first place, and is no longer allowed.
How did they play? VERY, VERY slow. On each green someone had to smooth a path to the hole with a tool that resembles a modern bunker rake without teeth.
The ones stationed at each hole were made of steel pipe, and very heavy, but my dad carried a folding touchup tool made of a golf shaft with a wooden lathe held by a wing nut.
The cup used has a liner to allow you dump out the sand that gets in the hole during this operation. They are still available --
http://standardgolf.com/cups.htmOnce the path was made, everyone would move their ball to the path for putting.
Approaching them was interesting, because if there was enough sand, you could play a pitch that landed and stopped in the sand. But usually, and preferably, the sand wasn't be that deep.
In that last tourney I played, I remember playing with a couple of locals who'd hit shots that ran along the ground on the dry, hard buffalograss "fairway" but when they rolled onto the green would stop quickly.
My first approach shots landed on the green and bounced like they'd hit concrete, as the sand was only about an inch deep over rock-hard South Dakota hardpan.
As I recall the old guys (younger than my current age) beat me like a drum.
Ken