This morning at the office I did a little research for the new book that is being written for Highlands CC. I went through piles of information since 1985 including Green Committee minutes, USGA Green Section TAS (Turf Advisory Service) reports, master plan documents and even a 1995 packet sent to members to vote for or against the golf course renovation. A couple things I found, you may find humorous. Things have changed in this business. For one, standards are incredibly high and budgets have gone up proportionately (in our case) with said expectations. Unfortunately for many and most Supers, expectations increase but the budget doesn't.
Above heights of cut in 1987: Greens: 0.156", Tees: 0.375", Roughs: 2.25", Fairways: 0.750".
Today: 0.115", 0.325", 2" (2-3x per week), 0.450" Respectively.
Below, filling divots on fairways in 1986 occurred 1x per month! Today: 2x a week.
Below: There is a reference to 95 "traps". To a true golfer or purist, it is a bunker. You can see maintenance was an issue to the point architect, Brian Silva commented on the maintenance.
Below, tree work was listed out in 1987 and total spent was $2,550. Today, you couldn't remove 2 trees for that price!
Finally, the club spent more money on protecting trees with wire than removing old dying trees, something I've had to play tremendous catch up with in the last 10 years. Rather than cut a leaning tree that provides a safety issue, they would cable it to other trees! I have seen this in a number of areas, most recently #7. This is all so fascinating to me and shows how for the priorities and expectation have come with golf courses!
