Piotr, a regional superintendent visited today.
It was nice to run into a superintendent that speaks English and seems to love what he’s doing. Got to banter with the guy, talk about construction, the problems with contractors and their shortcuts, golf course maintenance, his headaches, and had some laughs…a really nice guy.
The greens on Piotr’s second 9-holes were built with pure sand, but the builders used sand with too many fine particles...not enough larger stuff in the mix. Having a mix of some larger particles of sand is important for stabilization. His are so unstable he can't drive a sitting greens mower on them because they make light ruts.
At Sand Valley, by pure luck of the draw, we have about 60cm (2 feet) of finer, organic sand sitting directly atop a little more than a 30cm (a foot) of larger sand, all this capped with 30 cm of sandy topsoil. This combination of sand covers an area of about 10 football fields. We the two sands together (perhaps we also use 5cm of topsoil) and this combo should, in theory, make an excellent greens mix. It will also be cost effective.
The lab will run tests of this material, and tell us the optimal combination to achieve our goals of firm, fast and well draining putting greens.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080
Tony Ristola
- www.tonyristola.com
- A rarity in golf course architecture: Working with the builders, crafting the details of my designs in the field on a daily basis.
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Short Project History; The Good and Bad
This blog reveals a snippet of the daily challenge of building a special golf course. The only value in something like this for future investors and golf architecture aficionados is to tell the truth; warts and all.
Before arriving at Sand Valley the project was being constructed according to the "detailed plans" of another golf architect using a "golf course construction company" that had built a number of courses. They broke ground in June 2006. After 10-months the builder had proceeded to rape 14-holes and was fired.
I have been brought in to fix the problem, using locals to build the course. In the process all plans except the general routing scheme have been abandoned. The current course is being designed in the field, seizing every opportunity to improve the course as we go. That's the value of time. You can see the project from all angles, in all conditions, you have time to think about the problems and come up with the best solutions, and then refine them with the guys doing the building... in real-time. This is how many of the great courses were constructed. It only makes sense. More time, more input, more communication produces the best possible result.
That's why Sand Valley, though it had a rough start (using the "Typical Method") should have a fantastic finish.
Before arriving at Sand Valley the project was being constructed according to the "detailed plans" of another golf architect using a "golf course construction company" that had built a number of courses. They broke ground in June 2006. After 10-months the builder had proceeded to rape 14-holes and was fired.
I have been brought in to fix the problem, using locals to build the course. In the process all plans except the general routing scheme have been abandoned. The current course is being designed in the field, seizing every opportunity to improve the course as we go. That's the value of time. You can see the project from all angles, in all conditions, you have time to think about the problems and come up with the best solutions, and then refine them with the guys doing the building... in real-time. This is how many of the great courses were constructed. It only makes sense. More time, more input, more communication produces the best possible result.
That's why Sand Valley, though it had a rough start (using the "Typical Method") should have a fantastic finish.
