Hammered Thrice

More rain means yet another day without work on the course, and all efforts to haul the beast from the water with our tools have been exhausted. Now the guys have to bring in the heavy artillery to get the Yellow Submarine to dry dock. This should occur Thursday morning.

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

Hammered twice

Last night our luck ran out with the weather. For days we looked at the forecasts and saw rain, but received none. Last night into this morning we got 10 hours worth. No work today except for the guys trying to haul out the sunken excavator, and no luck. All the rain reduced the chances of recovery because the machines lack grip when the ground is saturated. The machine still sits in the lake like a Yellow Submarine having run aground; its arm sticking out of the water clinging for dear life.

Some photos of what is now known as "The Yellow Submarine".

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

OH S**T!

Today we continued ripping out the remainder of the lake on Hole 7. We were using two excavators; one to rip the material out to the desired depth, the second to pile the slop on the banks to dry.

All was going well until after lunch.

The brand new 30-ton CAT we leased (value of the machine 250,000 Euros) with an operator ended up in the lake, covering the engine but not the exhaust. Efforts were made to haul it out using our Volvo excavator and our D6R bulldozer, but no luck. The 4cm thick cable snapped under the pressure.

Tomorrow they will try again.















Before lunch the operator showed me photos of the machine in the lake. Why he was there I have no idea. After lunch he went right back in?! His work was on the lake's edge on the other side. Now he's stuck. Here the bulldozer and excavator tried extricating the machine from the lake. They snapped all the cabled in the attempt.

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

Back at the Lake

Now that most of the sand is pounded in to fairways 6 & 7, we began ripping out the last section of lake.

With 25% left to go, the form was terrific and it would have been great to have just left the lake as is, but we need volume, so we began widening. The original form was abandoned, and the remainder of the south and eastern banks staked in the field.

The form really isn’t something you would draw on paper and say to yourself, “Oh! Yes, this will look fantastic” but out in the field it does. From different angles it will provide different looks, instead of a large open pit filled with water that rarely changes with different perspectives.

The edges on the east and south are not round and soft like an amoeba, but sharper and angular, as if eroded by the forces of nature. When vegetation takes over the banks, it will take on another dimension, and on a clear calm morning from the clubhouse the reflections should be both interesting and beautiful.

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

A Couple Showers…

...of the light variety weren’t enough to slow us down today either. They guys were doing their usual thing, pushing dirt, hauling sand, and pushing sand into the 6th fairway.

The planned quarry is massive now, and guys have been wondering what we’re going to do with it. Run the par-5, 12th hole through it of course! It certainly won’t be your standard golf hole.













Before the extension of the quarry.













A hole of about 220 by 80 by 2 meters.

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

Quite Amazing

After yesterday’s heavy showers…one after another… it was amazing that we could get the guys and machines working in the afternoon, but we did. Not on the Driving Range though; its clay soils will need a few days drying out.

We are back driving sand to Hole 6. Work that will end in the near future. Then the next bit of heavy lifting is Hole 4. A short drive to excavate the large wetland, but soft ground that will require the use of concrete slabs for the dumpers to drive on.

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

A Picture Worth 1000 Words

It's 10 o'clock in the morning, and looks like dusk. Not even the storks like this weather; one heavy shower after another.










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

Shaping the Range

With most of the cuts and fills done, the shaping of the range has begun. It’s a process of blending all the raw work together into one flowing mass. Things were going well, with about 30% of the shaping completed after 9 hours, and then came the rain. If it were sand we could have continued for a little while longer, but because the Driving Range is clay, the work had to stop 10 minutes after the showers hit.

We have been lucky. For the past five days we have been monitoring the weather via internet anticipating rain that did not arrive.

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

Getting Near the Finish Line…

…for the mass earth moving on the Driving Range. The target greens are visible, the back of the range too. The main line for draining the front half of the Short Course has been cut through The Range. We’ve got about a half day of earth moving left, and then the next step is to blend all the cuts and fills together so the contours are soft and rounded, so they flow together like a big block of ice melting in the hot sun.

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

…and then on Sunday

Today was a half day for the remainder of the team. The guys from Ol Trans were working, Kai, his brother Mika were the backups on the dumpers as we continued stripping material from the Driving Range… then it was off for an afternoon of Formula 1, The Open Championship (what a wild finish to the tournament!) and a little R&R.

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

Half Day…for some

It’s Saturday and we’ve been at it for about 8 days straight. The guys need a little time off even with the weather being good, so they get their usual half day free on Saturday and all of Sunday. Though the main crew is getting some minutes of R&R, the guys from Ol Trans, and a couple of the B Team will be driving material from the Driving Range.

Full Steam Ahead!

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

One Last Push

I love the process of crafting a golf course. It’s where the magic happens. Often, even though the previous days have been long, you can’t wait for the sun to get up and get going. It’s much like a golfer who is hot and shooting a low score. He wishes the day could go on forever so he could lap the field.

Building is similar; you get into a groove, and you don’t want the day to end. The sun is setting, dusk has arrived, it’s late, the next morning is early and you’re thinking, just one last push with the dozer. And again, “one last push”. Before you know it, it’s dark. Then it’s certainly time to go home because the lights on the bulldozers aren’t designed for working, but transport safely back to base.

Then it’s back to work at 06:00 to start the process again…only to end the day thinking…”one last push.”

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

Note from the Owner

Machines are flying about the site, we’re taking advantage of the good weather, and people are busy, busy, busy…as it should be. In one of those moments of little time, the following note was left on my computer by Kai the owner…

…“We got to talk… I don’t like your bunker placement on #6. Going right is not an option is it?

My reply, beamed from my cell phone to a satellite in the sky and back to Kai somewhere on site:
No worries… The far bunkers will only be about 20% of the excavation… There will be tons of room with the slopes feeding those hedging into the small far bunker.

On 6 Tee, the design is for a massive fairway with the right side lower and offering a clear view of the greensite. If you hedge and play to the mass of fairway, the slope will shoot your ball further from the hole and you’ll have a semi-blind or blind shot over a collection of river dunes to the green. The bunker Kai was concerned about will be a little scrape with the sloping contours to the left feeding the ball of players hedging or misplaying into the small scrape of sand. The far bunker will be an afterthought for most players; so small that nobody will think it has relevance, but one where the surrounding contours and clever placement will feed balls to it.

LOL . A concerned owner's note. (Can laugh as we know each other fairly well now).

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

Losing Grading Stakes

Piotr, our project manager and general go to guy for anything we need decided to have a go at the bulldozer. Our regular operator was in need of a break, so Piotr hopped in, and when I returned to the site after grabbing a quick bite to eat, six grading stakes were missing. Piotr swears on his Mother’s grave that it wasn’t him. I believe him because those stakes disappear with regularity. It’s like the old joke about the lost bulldozer operator in the jungle; how do you guarantee he’ll find his way out? Just pound a grading stake where you want him to be and sure enough, he’ll run over it.

Now back to finding those lost grades.


















Piotr professes his innocence, but... he looks guilty to me :)

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

Another Day in the Desert :)

30 degrees, not a cloud in sight, and the crew working without a hitch; that’s just about the perfect day. We continue pounding sand into the 6th fairway, and the hand workers have started cleaning up the river dunes that run through the fairway.

The winds started from the west, switched and came to us hard and fast from the north, creating a dust storm for 10 minutes. In the evening they came from the east and it looked ominous; like we would get hit by a major storm. Lightening and thunder danced around the site. We got a small shower but were spared anything that would cause us difficulties.













Polski System! The photo is Diablo with his girlfriend (the rake) enjoying a day in the sun.

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

Africa Hot

Oh I love this weather. After the weeks of cool, wet weather this feels really hot, but it’s just a nice summer day. No clouds, a light breeze and brilliant sunshine. Just what the Doctor ordered.

Even though we have had several days of dry weather, there are still some areas of the course that are soft from the onslaught of rain from the previous weeks. This is noticeable not just in portions of the 6th and 7th fairway, but on the transport road. The dumpers don’t create a dust storm the whole length of their haul.

We are a few days away from finishing the heavy lifting for holes 6 & 7, and the weather seems to be in our favor. It will be nice to have this heavy lifting behind us so we can move to Hole 4 for more of the same…but only 10% the distance to transport it…if that. That 10% is a challenging haul though, as the ground is soft.

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

Dust in the Wind

Glorious dust.

The signs of dryness. After almost two weeks of wet weather the first signs of dust were spotted at 17:00. Now we are getting dry.

It’s Sunday and we are trying to make up for lost time. The focus is towards filling the 6th and 7th fairways with sand, so we can get some work done there with the bulldozers, creating the final contours even if it rains.

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

Sing Hallelujah!

Damn, we finally got a full days work in. Being Saturday we had to keep the guys 7 hours past their normal cut off time to do it; Saturdays the guys usually finish at 14:00.

To start the day we had to go through the usual post-rain procedure and repair a few wet sections of road… but tomorrow looks better. No road repairs, just slamming in the sand I had hoped we would have finished a couple weeks ago.

What’s great is the forecast for next week looks like summer has arrived for Round 2.

Reading the daily score (this BLOG) you would think I had a job with The Weather Channel; perhaps after this project. What it illustrates is what the major concerns are when building. Right now it’s 100% about the weather 100% of the time because we’ve had a poor patch that’s virtually closed us down for almost two weeks.

We’re hoping www.accuweather.com, our most reliable of the half dozen sites we monitor is on the money. If they are, we’ll be singing Hallelujah for at least a week.

Sing Hallelujah!

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

Gone Golfing

With yesterday’s rain we decided to go golfing, and played a course that on the surface is nice, but one the ownership is in the process of making uglier and less fun. It seems they don’t know what type of golf course they want. It’s designed with the mounds and humps covered in long grass that was all the rage in the 1980’s and 1990’s. To contrast that “rugged” design style, they have fronted many tees and water hazards with stone walls; it looks incongruent. They haven’t stopped there though…

The club is making many of the holes longer in an effort to create the longest or one of the longest courses in Europe; a shame. What they are really doing is blighting the landscape with tees that look like volcanoes, and eliminating variety. Now the par-4’s are of similar length or soon will be…boring. In some instances tees could have been added, but in others it would have been far more interesting to have shortened the hole a little to create elements of risk, or simply added bunkers to the scheme, and fixed bunkers that are featureless or fit poorly into the landscape. They had a nice course to start with, but that is often the problem with clubs with money; they don’t know when to leave well enough alone, and make fundamental mistakes trying to impress.

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

Ferrari Storm

We were making good progress today filling the 6th fairway with sand after having to leave the hole alone for days to dry out. We have had one rain shower after another.

At 14:00 as forecasted we got a light shower, exactly as www.accuweather.com predicted, but were able to keep working. The next shower was forecasted for 19:00, but came 3 hours early, and it came with a vengeance. Five minutes after starting we called it a day. Then we watched as the storm changed gears from heavy rain, to heavier, and when we thought it couldn’t get any heavier... just to prove it wasn’t so the storm gave us even heavier, bigger and faster rain. It was like a Ferrari, going from gear to gear.

We got 10 hours work in, but tomorrow is a day of rest, and drying out.

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

More Patience Called For

Wow! We just had 18 rain free hours. No heat, but no rain either! It’s a start. Put a machine out there and it would do more damage than good. I understand everyone is eager to get the machines fired up and running, but right now it’s better to take it easy. It may look dry compared to what we had 24 hours ago, but there are still puddles, the ground is still soft, and if we put heavy equipment on it, we’ll do far more harm than good.

More patience is called for. A lot of sunshine and wind too.

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

Signals of Hope

Lately everything has been all about the weather. What has passed us, what we have and what is coming in the next day, days and week? Is there any hope for summer in sight?

Today we started poorly and ended with a shot of sunshine. Hope. What will tomorrow bring? Looking at the five internet forecasts it doesn’t look overly promising. It’s not that we are merely lacking rain free days but heat to dry things quickly. We are not alone; most of continental Europe, those north of the Alps are suffering a cool, wet summer. It’s great for growing grass, but awful for building golf courses.

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

A Little Patience is Called For

Since closing on Tuesday last week, this is our first day back at the job and the first job, as you have read before, is to get the roads in working order. Even after the roads had been completed and are ready to go, we had to leave holes 6 & 7 alone. It would present more problems doing work there when the ground is wet. A little patience is called for, so we have headed to higher ground until holes 6 & 7 are ready for the final assault of sand capping the fairways.

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

This Week’s Rain Delay was Brought to You by The Almighty

Since Tuesday we have done virtually nothing on-site. The property is too wet, and we would have done more damage than good. So the rain delay was used to make sure the machines are 100% ready to attack when the weather makes a turn for the better.
It’s Sunday, the weather has made a change for the better…for now. We need a lot of drying out.













Saturated is saturated.

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

Sand Valley Party 07-07-07…Jackpot!

Even though the rain has put a temporary halt to the project, the Sand Valley Company had a great fiesta. Great food, music, and the weather cooperated. It was a fun time, and for some it was way too much fun (hangovers). It was just about the perfect medicine to get our minds off of the waiting game.

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

“I am a father”

That is the text message many received from Tomek at 20:21 this evening, the proud father of a baby girl.

Everyone here wishes all the best for Tomek, his wife and baby daughter.

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

Not a Creature was Stirring …

… on site. We got rain again last night to ensure the ground remained saturated. The guys took the morning to take care of their machines. Other than that, no machines touched the site; only a few guys out cutting trees near the clubhouse site.

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

Road Repairs

A section of road has been overflowing with water, so we decided to drain the problem area; putting pipe under the road. We brought in large and small drainage pipe; the large to prevent the small from getting crushed and us having to start all over again. It took about an hour and seems to have helped, except we got hammered again with showers and had to quit at the same time as yesterday. Everything is saturated, and relief doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. The 6th and 7th are days away from getting the sand cover they need. Once in place we will begin shaping.

Anyone with connections? Please send sunshine and wind.


The photos reveal one of the funniest sequences out here. Miatek and Janek playing The Keystone Cops of Polski Drainage System. Janek broke too much wall, the water flooded out and the pipe used as a sleeve for the drain line was flushed away, and was referred to there after as Moby Dick. On a crappy day, this was a much needed laugh.

Gifts from England

South Sweden has been inundated with water, washing out bridges and railroad tracks. Much of continental Europe is getting the remnants of what hit England. What it means for us is the work on Holes 6 & 7 had to be halted at 15:00. To continue would mean the construction roads would take a beating, trucks would be moving slowly anyway, so why not stop and spare ourselves more work repairing the roads. Some will be needed. Waiting is frustrating, but sometimes the best medicine.

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

New Mechanic

There is the pop group Mike and The Mechanics, this is Martin the Mechanic, the newest addition to the Sand Valley Squad. Asked if he was any good when I heard we’d hired him 6 weeks ago (he had to finish a job in England), Tomek told me… "good? He can make dynamite from shit.”

INSERT PHOTO OF MECHANIC

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

STOP!

Last night we had tremendous showers, which puts us about where we were last Tuesday. Fortunately it’s Sunday and only Chechek was working. I planned to do some work on the 7th and 16th greens but decided to wait until things dried out a little.

The good thing is the sun and wind are out, it feels like summer again, and not Scottish summer. Another half day of this and we should be able to get back into the 6th and 7th and finish pumping (driving) in the sand. Let’s hope the weather holds.

I’ve been in contact with an architect from Texas during the past days, and poor guy. His projects are under an ocean of water. They must face quite a delay, and the potential for serious damage to work completed. Puts things in perspective, our few liters.

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