Holes 6 & 7; Inching Closer

Well, with the weather holding on we began stripping the green site and waste bunker that fronts the 7th and 16th greens; a high area. It’s a matter of getting the remainder of the hole 6th and 7th covered with a 1.2 meter layer of sand and we can really make progress; shaping the contours. We’re inching closer.













April 26, 2007. A field of grasses, weeds and small birch trees.















The 6th fairway today. The organic material has been stripped away, trees cut, stumps and roots removed. Sand capping of the fairway, some 300 meters by 70 meters by 1 to 1.2 meters is almost complete. The sand is installed in 30cm (1 foot) layers to ensure proper compaction.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Fast Drying Loess

The wind has been whipping, and a little sun shining and the place starts drying out. Now to have it stay that way, but the forecast doesn’t look too promising. With the rain it’s like a 2-steps forward, one step back scenario.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Sand Valley Brown

It’s the designer color of choice for vehicles splashing through Sand Valley. Doesn’t matter if it’s dry or wet, the color is the same, just the layers are thicker when it’s wet.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

From My Construction Diary

DIARY Thursday 28-06-07 Rain and Windy 20 Degrees

1. 05:15 to 20:00
2. Rained the previous night
3. Was raining in the morning when the guys showed up
4. Sent the guys home until Monday. Even with brilliant sun and wind, it won’t dry up fast enough for the guys to work their half day on Saturday.
5. Went out and staked the right side of the Driving Range, the Waste Area between greens 7 & 16, and the greensite on 16.
6. Worked on the marketing map.
7. It is the official “Call Jim” Day (Inside Joke)
8. Pierre-da-loni-desch (Damn rain)














This is an inside joke for some guys in Wisconsin. Hey! Call Jim.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Loess and Water = Ice

The course is called Sand Valley because the river of old that ran though the property deposited layer upon layer of sand. The topsoil, something called Loess, is a silty fine sand that once added with water, or let’s say enough water becomes slippery like ice. The great thing about it is it dries out quickly; some sun and wind and voila. Wet Loess is a great surface for aspiring rally drivers to learn on. Driving in these conditions has improved my rally skills. Hey, when’s the next race?!

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Grinding Away

Today was one of those non-event days. I like it when that happens. Everyone was doing there thing without a problem in sight and the weather was good. We were driving sand to the 7th fairway, driving other material to the sound barrier-artificial hill on Hole 5. I got on the dozer for a while to get some shaping done on the 6th fairway (we really do need the replacement bulldozer) All went according to plan without a hitch.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Sorry Janek

It's Sunday, and we had the D6R working, and would have had the D6N working too, but it’s sitting in the 6th fairway waiting to get picked up. We are eagerly awaiting its replacement while ours goes in for repairs.

Chechek (right) was pushing off clay behind the 15th green and got stuck. He called Janek (left), one of our excavator operators, who was having his “Name Day”, something that is celebrated with a fury in Poland. Janek was in fine form, headed to the site to help extricate the dozer and was chauffeured back to the festivities. Interrupting his day was made a little easier due to the fact it was his uncle who got the dozer stuck.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Could have been the whiskey…

…might have been the gin.
Could have been three or four six-packs,
I don't know, but look at the mess I'm in,
My head is like a football, I think I'm gonna die,
Tell me, me oh, me oh my,
Wasn't that a party?

Someone took a grapefruit and wore it like a hat,
I saw someone under my kitchen table, talking to my old tom cat,
They were talking about hockey and the cat was talkin' back,
Along about then everything went black,
But wasn't that a party?
Chechek was out working and returned after it was well under way.

Now I did not partake in this madness...only observed.
It was the evening BBQ, with almost everyone in attendance, and the weather changed for the better just in time for the festivities.
The crew had a blast. It was a great get together with a thousand laughs and probably as many hangovers.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

It’s Getting Tight Folks

Luckily we had enough prep work done by the two bulldozers to keep the one remaining dozer busy pushing sand in the fairways on holes 6 and 7. This can’t go on for long. We need a second dozer, and one that we can shape with. Then we can finish the job here and get on with the work on Hole 4. It looks like the temporary replacement dozer will be here Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

It looks like a long Sunday is in the works for someone on the “Can ‘till Can’t” team doing prep work elsewhere so we can drive sand on Monday. Then, once we get a replacement bulldozer, we can finish the job on fairway 6 and 7.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

KERBLAAMO!

Here we were, minding our own business, doing nobody any harm, and getting a lot of good work done. Things were going problem free and the KERBLAAMO! The CAT D6N spews a stream of black and blue smoke. Its day is finished. And our shaping bulldozer sits on the sidelines.

Afterward: Prognosis for the D6N. Total engine failure. It must be taken to Gdansk (Danzig) for a new one. Now we are scrambling to find a part time replacement.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

New Sheriff in Town

Some guys we hired worked for the old contractor and learned some bad habits. Breaking the guys of them requires more than just talk. Talk is cheap, money catches everyone’s attention.

While sitting on a hill watching the dumpers unload their 30 cubic meters of sand for fairway 6, the instructions were for them to stay on the construction road. The only reason the road was built was for them and their heavy loads. The dozer operator, not wanting to make such long pushes had the dump truck drivers commit Crime Nr. 1; Driving onto the fairway with 40 plus tons of load and truck. Having warned him before (talk is cheap) and upon seeing this faux pas for a second time, I set into action. I told the dozer operator that every time I see a dumper leave the road to deposit its load, it would cost him 5% of his paycheck. I told him it was no joke, that he gets a bonus for keeping the equipment in good running order, and I consider the golf course 'equipment' too. There was some protest; that he couldn’t keep track of all trucks. Horse-hockey I said, as you are right there watching them. Then I made sure he understood there is a big difference between his current employer and his former employer: 1. We are not in the construction business to make a profit but to protect the project, and use best methods… so, we are not going to use the destructive methods of the previous builder… 2. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure the trucks dump from the road. If you don’t think so, just watch how fast 5% of your paycheck dissolves into thin air. Then I closed by saying with a smile, there’s a new Sheriff in town. We all had a laugh, and then got back to work

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

From Can ‘til Can’t

The work day for most starts at 07:00 and finishes 12 hours later. For a select group, it begins an hour or two earlier and ends when the sun goes down. The latter is the “Can ‘til Can’t Crew”. They also work 6.5 days per week. Right now with the good weather and long days, we have to make maximum use of both, and I’m happy to have all the “Can to Canters” I can get.

Golf course construction isn’t for those who like to work the hours of the French. It’s not glamorous. The days are long, and sometimes grueling. I enjoy them. There’s nothing else I’d rather do because I love golf, and know the great golf designs are all about the work in the field; taking a set of ideas and making them better. Seeking opportunities you just can’t think of or discover at the drawing board and implementing them right away.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Taking Shape

Little by little the 6th hole is taking shape. The right edge of the fairway has been restaked. It is now straighter and cleaner. With the new tee position it is an off-set fairway with the ever so slight curve making it more difficult for the player to pick a line of attack from the tee.

The massive dune bunker was roughed out, the remainder of the fairway stripped of organic material, and a small mountain of organic material driven away to our sound barrier-camouflaged hillside on Hole 5.

Then it was onto the start of shaping the material stockpiled left of the fairway.

In a couple days we will be able to drive in the remainder of sand for the hole.

Things are beginning to take shape on 6, the hole that requires the most man hours.


















What's interesting is the field sketch (below) better reflects the new shape of the right edge of the fairway. The sketch above reveals how the hole should take shape. The mound between the two fairways has yet to be constructed.
































Pushing off the top layer of organic material. The area is then run over with a spike harrow before capping the area with 1 to 1.2 meters of sand.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Back to Work

It’s Sunday and the CAT 330 operator wanted to work, so after yesterday’s Perfect Storm, luckily there are some high and dry areas we can tackle. We set about filling the Big Hole with debris on Hole 5. Stumps, roots, topsoil with organic material filled the remainder of the pit, and we had to cut a new one to make way for more debris.

After that it was off to strip topsoil from the 7th greensite. Tomorrow we will let Hole 6 take a rest, and dry out, and instead drive sand to the 7th green to create the fill pad; it’s a high and dry area.
















After the major storm it's back to work where we can. Here we're filling a hole that will be under the buffer wall on Hole-5 with debris from our grubbing operation. Several meters of fill will cap the hole. The organic material is mixed with clay and sand as it's put into the pit.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Pierre-da-loni-desch

That’s what you say (phonetically) if you don’t want the rain you're getting. I’m sure it’s not nice as the guys have a good laugh every time I spit it out; which is every time I see threatening clouds. Perhaps they simply find my High Polish amusing. In any event we got hammered big-time; by the bucket for about 30 minutes. It started with big drops, then howling winds and vertical rain; visibility was down to 300 meters (330 yards). The grand finale was hale.

Pierre-da-loni-desch.

After all was done, a huge tree was toppled, some trees had limbs ripped off, the course inundated with water, and I fear we won’t be back to work on Monday the 18th. Let’s see how it recovers.

Pierre-da-loni-desch!













Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Warka Motivation

Diablo (The Devil) and Picasso, two young guys, were dawdling digging a trench. Not too enthused by the work, and my not being too enthused by their effort, I had a little wager for them. For four beer each, I bet they couldn’t dig out the needed trench by quitting time. Nothing but the precise specifications would do and the trench would have to be clean. I told them it was an either or proposition. Get it done correctly and on-time and they win, if not I’ll keep the beer. With newfound Warka (a national Polish beer) motivation they set about their task. Just to make sure the job was completed correctly, they had me take a look 30 minutes ahead of schedule…just in case they needed to make an adjustment or two.

The job was done to perfection.

Now I have a point to measure their full effort, and a reference to use as a comparison if they start slacking














Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Faulty Sensor

The CAT Service guys, not those pictured in an earlier blog, showed up to take a look at the D6R (to accompany our D6N) we just took delivery of. For some reason it had its own work schedule. Sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn’t. After 4 hours of testing, the machine worked fine. Then, at about the same time as the previous day the machine began to falter, just as yours truly stepped into the machine for a test run, but after the service guys took off to lunch.

The problem was a recognized as a faulty sensor. Damn computers. One glitch and it puts tons of machine to a standstill.

Tonight we get a brand spanking new D6R.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

The Quarry Hole

We have holes with river dunes, we have uphill, downhill, sidehill, river, flat (rolling), forest, wetland holes, and we have a quarry hole. Part of the quarry was excavated long before we got here, and the remainder will be ripped out in the coming months. The banks ripped into all manner of ridges and plateaus as we go along. We are going to make a cut of about 300 meters (330 yards), by 100 meters (110 yards) by 2 meters deep (2 yards). The material will be used for elevating a couple fairways, and for building the subgrade of tees and greens.




























The old quarry; about 120 meters long. A new section will connect to it. With the exception of the tees and green, the 485 meter 12th will run through them. The ragged nature of the walls will be duplicated in the new quarry.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Off for Farm Implements… and Entertainment

Today with Piotr, the Project Manager, we were off to see a local farmer about getting some farm equipment. Not your usual farmer, this guy was hilarious, and right out of central casting; a nice, funny guy who should have his own sitcom. Our plan was to get a mower for cutting the grass on a couple of the future fairways (more like hay now), and a spike harrow to break up the clumps and loosen the surface of topsoil. We got both and wound up getting entertained at the same time.

OK, it wasn’t exactly as we had planned, as the wily farmer had other plans. He said he wouldn’t rent us his mower to use with our tractor, but would come and cut it himself for a, ahem… fair price. He was fearful someone would damage the unit. OK, so that’s the deal, sealed with a beerski!

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Filling Green Pad 6

As Kai put it, today was our first day doing some actual construction. Not quite true, but I know what he meant. It was our first day actually building a feature of the golf course. We are filling the greensite on Hole 6 with sand, and at the end of the day we’re half way home with that job.

Good news on the machine front as well. We’ll be adding another dumper and a D6R bulldozer to our D6N. This machine will be used for stripping areas of topsoil, organic material, and building tees. The D6R is a fair bit more powerful.
















Racing home. It’s 21:45 when this was taken, and the operator is putting the D6N away after a long day’s work.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Looking for Shapes

We have altered the concept for the 6th Hole from flattish, open field to an exploded dike wall, and finally to a river dunes concept, and today I began doing some rough shaping to accomplish the latter. In particular I was looking to find some form of “dune” that would fit to the right of the green and assist with blocking out the noise of traffic. It’s a concept I’m not happy with because it is too symmetrical with a big “dune we have placed left of the green. I’m really leaning towards pushing the fill 20 meters in front of the green and creating some interest on the approach instead. I think the hole would look cleaner, more believable, and play more interesting with the line of play, the entrance to the green, rolling and contoured.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Your Friendly Neighborhood CAT Service Guys

After Black Friday came Good Saturday. The CAT Service guys sacrificed a beautiful day planned for camping with their families to help us out. For 4.5 hours (9 hours including travel) they disconnected the web of lines to the hydraulic tank, took the hydraulic tank out, welded, ground, hammered, and tweaked so we would have it running on Monday at 06:00. Actually it will be running a short day tomorrow.

On Tuesday or Wednesday we expect new replacement parts for the rear end. So, we’ll be seeing the CAT Service guys again…real soon.

Thanks Guys.









































Out came the hydraulic tank for repairs to the tank and all the lines.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Black Friday

It started with our 1-day old Kawasaki Mule getting a flat tire. Then Tomek twisted his ankle while falling trees. The Pièce de résistance was the collision between our D6N bulldozer and Volvo dumper. Their rear-ends met, putting a quick end to the D6N’s hydraulic tank, and with it it’s day. Things happen in 3's they say.

The one bit of good news is everyone is OK.




























The dozer and it's Kiss'in Cousin in the background. All in all, a day to forget.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

All By Myself

It is a holiday for the crew, so I’m here all by myself. I spent 10 hours on the bulldozer pushing dirt around; clearing a greensite, a tee area and worked on some rough shaping.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Lake Excavation Day 2

We were making pretty good progress with excavating the lake, a few times thundershowers looked like they would hit the construction site, but we got lucky… they passed by us. Luck wasn’t on our side the entire day though. As we were excavating the southern two-thirds of the lake (our total excavation area is about 140 meters by 40 meters) we hit a clay-like substance. It wasn’t water tight, as streams of water entered through the banks, eventually collapsing it and the pocket. Looks like we need a pump for further excavation on the south side.









































We have been digging the dirt out in pockets so it comes out relatively dry, otherwise we would be hauling out pudding. When a pocket is excavated, its walls are torn down to irregular heights. When finished, the water feature should have irregular streaks of vegetation growing from it; ideal habitat for birds and other aquatic wildlife, while adding to its beauty.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Lake Excavation Day 1

This is our first full day at excavating the remainder of the lake. The start, less than half the excavation was completed by the previous construction company, and they left us with a couple challenges.

1. All the water bordering our excavation and…
2. They did not dig to the prescribed depth. Our side of the pond must make up for this deficiency.

The day went well, the hauls are short, and the material and weather cooperative.













To the left of the water is a short, brighter green vegeatation where the topsoil has been removed. This entire section need be excavated to bring the water feature to its full size; about 150 meters by 40 meters by 2.5 meters deep.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Moving Masses

Today we put the Caterpillar 330 to work with two Volvo Dumpers. They made quick work of a 60 meter by 5 meter by 1.5 meter wall of topsoil. Then it was off to the lake to start the excavation. The photo shows the operator discussing the upcoming lake work.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

We Were Going to Pull Off a Destroyed Dyke Wall Concept

We were going to pull off a destroyed Dyke Wall concept for this hole, meandering it through the fairway; plausible given the rail line that runs parallel to the hole. The more we think about it, seize opportunities (that’s how the Dyke Wall concept started), and try to solve challenges, the evolution continues. Now we are looking at putting a “Dune” to the right of the green to reduce noise from the highway (to be moved in the near future) and utilize inferior fill left behind from the previous builder. With this idea, the “Dike Concept” is no longer believable, but a river dunes concept is. One benefit; the new version of Hole 6 allows us to introduce a bit of rolling character to a few of the other low lying holes along the river.

Having built another project along a protected area hard by river dunes I’ve made a close study of them. Our new concept is 100% believable... we just have to do it right, embrace randomness, maximize the drama and be sure to create dunes with a variety of heights, rawness (now is not the time for smooth, dome-shaped piles) and character.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

For Our Lake Excavation

For our lake excavation and to rip out sand from the quarry for filling fairways, green and tee pads, we have just accepted delivery of a 30+ ton Caterpillar 330, that’s more than 10 tons heavier than our Volvo EC210lc. The bucket can rip out 2.5 cubic meters at a time. For those that can’t grasp that, it means a small adult could just about sleep in the bucket. To keep it busy, it will be feeding 3 dumpers capable of hauling about 30 cubic meters at a time, plus one smaller dumper.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Hole 6; Field Changes

Adjusting to Get the Strategy-Playability-Aesthetics Right

Charlie Munger:
Mistakes of omission are the most troubling.
They show up as lost opportunity costs, and we are mistaken not to take advantage of these opportunities. What really cost are these blown opportunities.

Warren Buffett:
Errors of omission…can happen when we stand
and stare at an opportunity and do nothing with it. It is important to know the business and the opportunity because conventional accounting
does not identify lost opportunities.

Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Stockholder Meeting
Saturday, April 28, 2001

Opportunities are a highly valuable raw material, present themselves everyday during construction, and cannot be measured if missed. That’s why many of the great courses were the first by the architect, or done early in their career. Their time wasn’t divided by multiple projects…so they had the time to seize every opportunity. They maximized the use of this valuable raw material.

The 6th Hole is undergoing a transformation due to opportunities that were not foreseen during planning. Originally an open expanse of two fairways, we have chosen some concepts will improve the hole, reduce construction costs, and speed up the production of the hole (even though we have to truck in a meter thick layer of sand to cap about 300 meters (330 yards) by 55 meters (60 yards) of fairway).

What we will have now is a version of a Dyke Wall running diagonally through the hole. The green concept is also altered. Once a not so deep green tight to the dyke wall behind the will now be separated from it and the green lengthened. The deeper green will accept a longer bounced in approach. Between the back of the green and the dyke along the river will be a bunker to stop shots from bounding over the green and into long grass or the river.

Well, that’s where we stand now. As we build and are standing over construction, we have the flexibility of a speed boat…able to turn on a dime…see things from every angle, think about all the opportunities that occur every day of construction, and adjust when it is advantageous. And these changes are not isolated, as these facilitate changes to other holes in the vicinity.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080