Sand greens are very uncommon now but some still do exist in the mid-west and south. They are made of a mixture of sand and oil. No grass on them, so naturally they don’t require watering or mowing. In my early teens I worked at the local nine-hole course in the mornings during the summer vacation from school.
One of my jobs was to rake the sand on the greens early in the morning with a large heavy rake to loosen up the sand. Starting at the hole which was always in the middle of each green and going in circles until reaching the outside edge. This left circular grooves in the surface of the sand. Then, using a heavy bar with a long perpendicular handle, I pulled it all the way across the center of the green, going over the hole to make a smooth path across the green to putt on.
As each group got on the green, they would pick up their ball and place it on the putting path at the same distance from the hole as where they had landed. The circular grooves in the sand helped them estimate where to put the ball on the path. Usually, they would first pull the heavy bar across the green to smooth the path again, since it would have footprints and small grooves where previous balls had rolled over it. After awhile, the cup would end up full of oily sand which you would scoop out with your hand and try not to wipe it on your clothes. A little messy for sure. There was no flag in the hole, but a tall numbered sign was directly behind each green to give you a target for aiming.
Today’s sand greens are very much like the early ones, but may have different instruments for smoothing the putting path and rules on when to smooth them. The one shown here seems to have a flag. Perhaps it fits in the ‘plug’ shown here that could fit in the hole even if there is some sand in the hole.
