But an aggressive club president, Michael Dunkley, the island's largest dairy farmer and conservative (United Bermuda Party) member of Parliament, and the much-abused Ricky Cox, chairman of the club's agronomy committee, have wrought a marvelous change. By the end of 2003, under the supervision of renowned American architect Tom Doak, and through the tireless efforts of superintendent Norman Furtado and his splendid staff, Mid Ocean's greens will all have been upgraded to TifEagle surfaces of quite beautiful quality and speed.

Even these dynamic young men were hog-tied by the membership to a three-year program. In my opinion, Mid Ocean, which is hardly tight for cash, should have closed down and replaced and refurbished all the greens in one fell swoop, and then limited play to allow them to mature. As it was, the seventh green became the guinea pig, and a real pig it became because seed was sent from Rincon, Ga., of an inferior quality. It has been re-sprigged free of charge as part of the 2001 program, which saw the second, sixth, 10th and 14th greens replaced--with conspicuous success. This year has seen the first, fifth, ninth, 11th, 12th, 15th and 18th greens replaced, and seven more temporary greens put in play.

Now only the third, fourth, eighth, 13th, 16th and 17th greens remain to be replaced, along with the lower practice green. But goodness knows how long it will take for the new greens to achieve a uniform speed. I would personally like the more vicious slopes on some of the greens softened to accommodate TifEagle, but I'll accept (with a sigh) the credo that nothing should ever compromise the original design of Charles Blair Macdonald.