Studying the moves: Perry Maxwell at Iowa State

A diverse set of greens is an excellent way to engage golfers and keep a round interesting architecturally. Greens built in a number of ways is also marker of a good router, as a green site is inherently connected to its surrounds. A local course that comes to mind is Veenker Memorial in Ames, IA. Perry Maxwell and family members Press and Dean built it as Iowa State College course in the mid 1930s. The course has been truncated and tinkered with, but still holds some original holes and greens that offer a lesson in green building. I’ll show some below.

Benched par 3: A flat surface is created by cutting from the top of the hill down. This creates a dramatic do or die par 3 with trouble lurking in all directions. It also gets you up the steep creek valley in the routing. A natural ridge-top: some fill from the approach is cut out to fill out sides of green. Fill inside steep valley: This fill green is placed between steep ridges and over a wide creek. It creates a risk reward green site for a medium length par 5. Fill in the open: The least difficult to execute among these green types is 4-5 ft of fill on a open flood plain. The result is a green that sits up high a poses a challenge to long irons and woods.

Next time you are on a course try to see where earth was moved to create each green surface. Is it done the same way each hole? Does it look natural? Is it attractive? What does it require from an approach shot? How do you recover around the green?

A gentle plateau lifted up with steep valley. 

A benched green: A par 3 with trouble lurking in all directions

Ridge top: just a bit of cut and fill around the edges.

A bolder fill challenging longer irons.