OTLQQK 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) ; i - ,mt, ,sb- . t ill MX