Pinehurst No. 2 is considered by many to be the magnum opus of Donald Ross. People like the Fried Egg's very own Garrett Morrison have written about the wonderful routing that takes full advantage of the subtle natural topography. Walter Travis, Pinehurst member and 5x North and South Amateur Champion described Pinehurst as having "scientific" bunkering. But we all know that the greens are the star of the show when you go and play it. With that being said, it seems to be pretty much accepted at this point that the greens on No. 2 are not original to Ross (or at least drastically more severe). Pete Dye, who was stationed at nearby Fort Bragg during his Army years had a CO that was an avid golfer, and Pete had the opportunity to go and play No. 2 with him many times. He claims that the greens were much flatter in the 1940s and that the domed greens that we know today are due to decades of top dressing. This should track, as the original "greens" at Pinehurst were all flat, and sand covered squares. Ross and Frank Maples were not able to convert all 18 greens to grass until the 1930s. Bradford Becken, President of the Donald Ross society wrote in his book The Golf Architecture of Donald Ross: "As with the rest of Ross' work, there is considerable variety to his green designs. Many Ross fans associate the turtleback greens found on Pinehurst 2 as emblematic of his work, but this is not the case. in fact, looking at the body of his available drawings, such greens appear to be more of an exception, leading some to attribute the shape to years of top dressing and other maintenance practices rather than what was originally envisioned by Ross."
The Question that this is leading me to is this: Why Pinehurst No. 2 specifically? Why did top dressing not effect the greens on No. 1, No. 3 (which does have some crowned greens, but nothing like No. 2), Pine Needles, Mid Pines, SPGC, etc...? Same playing surfaces, same soil composition, conceivably same general maintenance practices. So why would the greens on No. 2 specifically be top dressed in a way that creates greens so extreme that it has mistakenly became a characteristic of Donald Ross?
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