Gentlefolk,
There are 3 or 4 threads presently discussing green contours, renovating of classic greens, improvements etc.. I have nothing to add as I have not the experience of many course or architectural experience but I thought that the assembled company might enjoy the following bon mots provided by Colt and Alison. Oh to have the knowledge and be able to write as below!
In discussing Gradients,
"A distinguished golfing journalist recently informed me that the putting greens at his home course possessed "the three essentials". He spoke of them in a tone which would not have been inappropriate when referring to the ten Commandments, and I was therefore somewhat reluctant to confess that I did not know what they were. He expounded them as follows:
1. It should be possible to cut the holes on 75% of the surface of the green.
2. The ball should never gain momentum after leaving the club.
3. In holing out from a distance of 3ft . 6in. it should never be necessary to aim outside the circumference of the hole."
He proceeds to discuss "Freak Greens",
"....having played their ball onto the putting green they (the players) do not like to find that it is lying in a severe form of hazard. If a player is conscious that that he has gauged an approach putt well and that he has struck it truly he likes to see it go in or dead, and it is nothing but a torment to watch his ball, guided by powers which are beyond his control, go rushing down a steep place like swine possessed by the devil. No amusement can be derived from such incidents, and mortals should bow to the inexorable law of gravity."
And summing up,
"But if the architect, when supervising the construction of a new green, is in any doubt as to whether the slopes are of too severe character, he might do worse than to remember this formula and to consider how far his work diverges from the suggested standard."
Do the cognescenti here on GCA think that these writings, generally speaking, stand up in the modern era? I guess that is what you are all fervently discussing!
I scalped these words from Some Essays on Golf Course Architecture H. S. Colt & C. H. Alison which can be accessed on
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924020604223#page/n9/mode/2uppages 42 - 44. Good stuff but maybe some things never change!
Cheers Colin