Highlands CC is nearing 100 years old! That is a long span of time for change to occur. Member priorities change, the economy influences resources allocated to the golf course, trees grow, architects are brought in and technology has improved, all of which play a role in how the golf course has evolved over time. If Donald Ross showed back up today, how much of Highlands CC would he recognize? How much of the golf course resembles his vision and which aspects of the course is he actually responsible for? The answers to these questions might surprise you.
First and foremost, turfgrass technology is light years where it once was. Greens that used to be mowed at a 1/4" and above are now mowed well under 1/8". Think about this... in Ross' day, the putting greens had the same texture as our approaches (the fairways in front of the greens). In addition, the art of mowing stripes on fairways, for example, was unheard of in those days. Donald Ross never could have imagined the lightweight fairways mowers available today that can turn on a dime. In those days, it was a team of horses pulling a gang reel mower. I'm sure it was common for your golf ball to land in a deep footprint of a horse. So the presentation of the golf course would be very unfamiliar to him compared to what he experienced and expected in the 1920's.
Units like these, pulled by horses or a very early tractor, were responsible for mowing the fairways and roughs on a golf course in the early 1900's. There was no ability to "stripe" fairway grass.
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How about the putting greens? Since 1986, Highlands CC has worked with an architect of record of some agreement. Numerous golf course architects have been involved. Brian Silva, Ron Pritchard, Billy Fuller, Tom Marzolf, Beau Welling and Ron Forse all had some form of influence in how the course appears today. Ron Pritchard, who was responsible for the 1996 master plan and ultimately the 1998 greens renovation, had more influence than any other of the names mentioned. Ron was selected by the Club because he is a student of Ross architecture and at the time (and still is to a degree) was known for being one of the leading authorities on Donald Ross. When architects do restorations, they rely on old photographs, the architects original drawings (at HCC, we only have the back nine holes) as well as any other resources they can get their hands on. Using that information, they’ll try to replace what the original architect might have done when the course was constructed. They have to account for grasses mowed lower than ever before. Historically, greens could have more movement on them because the ball rolled so slow. Things are much different now. So would Ross recognize the current putting surfaces and take claim to them? Probably not. He would however, probably recognize a subtle feature in some of the greens that he may have written on his design notes.
What about the fairways? Like I said before, mower technology has come a long way. Until sometime in the late 1970’s, Highlands Country Club had no fairways. The whole golf course was mowed at one height of cut- probably somewhere between 1” and 2”. Since the 1940’s, Highlands CC relied on a Willys Jeep that pulled a gang mower around the property once or twice a week. The Jeep replaced the horses! Once lightweight fairway mowers came to be, HCC made the investment and instructed the superintendent at the time, to mow defined fairways at a lower height of cut, probably about 3/4". There was no architect involved; the Superintendent used his best judgement to create areas of turf that were mowed closer than the Jeep ever could. Since that day in the late 1970's, Highlands CC now had lower cut fairways! The current fairway lines have evolved overtime and have been tweaked slightly by different architects but are not anyway tied to the design work done by Ross in the 1920’s.
What about bunkers? Bunkers are always an interesting topic because even if a bunker is shown on a plan, in-field adjustments are often made if the proposed location doesn’t work. For example, Ross planned for a bunker on the left side of #16 green (imagine that bunker shot!). However, it was never added. Over time, bunkers, like the 1st one on hole #1 were added for aesthetic reasons; specifically to “balance” a hole. Ross never intended for #1 to have a fairway bunker but now, it’s hard to imagine if it wasn’t there. On #5, the first fairway bunker on the right was built originally but then removed sometime later before being restored again in 2022. What is consistent about the bunkers and Ross at HCC, is the construction method and design. Ross usually preferred grass faces like we have here as opposed to steep flashes of sand like you would see at Augusta National or Peachtree GC. During restorations, architects tend to use the same style of bunkers that were commonly used by the original architect. With the game of golf constantly evolving and players hitting the ball farther, architects often use bunkers as a way to make a hole play more challenging. It's also fair to assume that if Donald Ross were still alive, he would more than likely tweak his own work by adding or altering features to stay current with the game. People often forget this and in my opinion, it is why we must always keep an open mind about changes on the golf course. Simply put, some changes are welcome and very positive.
What Ross would recognize are the landforms and property as a whole. While the greens aren’t his design and neither are the fairways, they are all in the same place since HCC opened in the summer of 1928. The golf course remains unchanged since those early days and that’s what’s most impressive and special about HCC. It’s not be lengthened, nor shortened. The location of the various playing surfaces you see today, remain unchanged.
In conclusion, I want to make another point that I think is important when thinking about golf course restorations. There are some who value restoring a property to the way it played in it's early years. However, I can assure you, that if we went back to 1928, you would be sorely disappointed to play HCC, knowing what you know now. This is a mountain area where materials were very expensive to ship to. The sand that was available, was more than likely river sand off the bottom of the Cullasaja River, complete with rocks and all. Labor was limited and technology was lacking, so mowing greens for example, did not happen daily. The greens rolled a solid 3 or 4 on the stimpmeter, if that fast. The only drainage the golf course had, was some minor surface flow from the little bit of shaping the original construction team did. It also rained a lot back then so the course likely played slow and wet. Imagine footprints from horses or even later, tire tracks from that Willys Jeep lining the fairways. The history of golf course architecture is really fascinating to me but advances in the game of golf and turfgrass management have certainly made the game more enjoyable for most.