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VOL. XIX, NO. 1
EARLY SEASON NUMBER, 1915 1G
FIVE CENTS
GOLF COURSE IMPROVEMENT
The Result of a Radical Step in
Bermuda Grass Culture
Donald Uom Saya All Three Course
At Pinehurst Are Fifty Per
Cent IBetter
THE GOLFING world,
which is on the whole an
appreciative and sympa
thetic world, is aware
of the great care and
effort made by Mr. Don
ald Ross to keep the
Pinehurst courses, which
are, in a sense, the stand
ard of the Ross School of Golf Architec
ture, not only abreast of the game, as it
so rapidly develops in America, but in the
best possible physical condition.
There is no doubt that a great number
of our players are acquiring a skill in
performance and a sense of the nice
points of the problems presented by each
hole which demands the greatest skill in
the development of the links. This de
lights the heart of the real golf architect,
at the same time that it taxes his ability
and imagination. It was with a full real
ization of this fact that Mr. Ross under
took the renovation of the .three major
courses at Pinehurst this summer.
With the same diabolical pleasure that
the inventor of puzzles fashions his de
vice so that it can be done only in the
right and proper manner, or that the
military genius places his trenches and
soldiery about the approaches to a moun
tain pass, he set about rearranging many
of the holes. There is astonishment and
delight in store for the golfer of experi
ence and understanding of the problems.
Many of the greens have been relocated
and the surroundings cunningly devised
in dip and undulation with bunker and
apparently natural divergences in con
tour, which puts a proper premium upon
the proper shot.
But the greatest triumph is not in the
evolution of the course. It is in the
really satisfying success of the endeavor
to remake the surroundings of the putting
greens and the fair greens. The writer
(as you have no doubt remarked) is no
genius or judge upon the science of
arranging a golf course, but he is a very
good judge of Bermuda grass. It has
been evident for a year or two that in
all cases the stand on some of the holes
was not entirely satisfactory. In the
main it was good - but the ungenerous
and critical at times were prone to
forget the effort and remark upon
the deficiency.
Well, as in all cases, there was a way,
which was discovered a year ago. It was
an expensive and difficult way. But a
sure one. Thirty-five carloads of manure
beside the refuse from the stables of one
hundred steers was spread over the hard
frought ground and plowed in, and rolled
and replanted. This was actually done
over every single well worn spot in the
fair green where a properly played ball
might land, and, in definite measurement,
to more than one-third of the linear dis
tance of all the fair ways.
The result is astonishing. We shall
leave it to you that play the game to
say if it be satisfactory. At all events,
it makes the best we had last year, which
we thought very good indeed, look barren,
anaemic and pitiful. The contrast is so
marked that it fairly screams. And of
course the remainder, which was our pride
and upon which we had spent so much
care, had a thorough treatment, after the
old school, of fertilizers and dressings.
The conclusion of course is mighty
gratifying but costly. Hereafter one may
expect a turf beyond cavil. But as the
ball rolls over the sod to its haven on the
green, and you feel the light springy foot
ing with your remark that ' ' This is some
thing like,' you can add sotto voce,
"and darned expensive. "
Any effort to describe in detail the
changes which have been affected would
be quite tedious, serving no other purpose
than detracting from the pleasure of dis
covery and surprise to the few sturdy
souls who might wade through it. But a
single instance might serve to show the
study which has been put upon the propo
sition, and the resulting amelioration.
The seventeenth. hole on the third course
was in the worst condition of any last
year, and in many respects the most unin
teresting. The putting green has now been
moved from its position on the top of the
hill, and placed on the slope, flanked by a
series of undulations that call for a care
ful circumspect and correct tee shot.
There are two alternate tees. From one
the rough is left at such an angle that
the longer one wishes to make his drive
the greater is his danger of missing the
fair green. At the same time, the green
is so neatly placed on the center of a
ridge, that the more timid approach is
frought with danger for any but the most
accurate player.
From the other tee the hole presents a
straight shot down this ridge. There is
even ground the whole way sufficient to
make the hole very easy indeed for one
who keeps his ball directly in the center
of the course. But woe to the ball that
deviates. On either side the Scylla and
Charybdis of yawning hillsides lie in wait
to spoil the score.
THE VILLAGE GROWTH
Architectnal Beauty and Variety Dis
played in Many Hew Residences
Some Striking' Results of Extension
of Itesldence Section and Added
Impetus of ifew Homes
ill
PEACE, prosperity and
progress have prevailed
at Pinehurst the past
summer. New roads have
been opened, new streets
laid down, new sidewalks
constructed, and signs
of growth and improve
ment are to be seen on
every hand. More buildings have been
erected by private owners than in any
previous year in the history of the Model
Village and the work has all been
characterized by permanency and tho
roughness that speaks well for future de
velopment. Many of the homes previously
built have been remodeled in harmony
with their surroundings and the list
of new structures includes numerous
winter homes, several all-the-year resi
dences, a boys' school and a social hall.
In all twelve buildings have been erected
in and about Pinehurst and several more
are planned.
The residence of Mr. M. B. Johnson on
the crest of the hill west of the Carolina
has been finished and nestles down on its
lot as though it had grown there. A long,
low, rambling structure of colonial design,
with clean white side walls, set off with
a soft green roof and blinds of the same
(Concluded on page thirteen)
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