Visitors from Toya Golf

Today we had visitors from Toya golf and they were a little astounded at the concept we are pursuing for Sand Valley. This course will be different; wide, undulating, greens that can drive the strategy of the hole on their own, hard and fast conditions, almost no rough, and large sandy waste areas.

It will contrast greatly with most modern courses on the continent… precisely our goal.

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

15 Tees Cored and Filled

On to 15 tees the topsoil has been removed and the sand from the quarry on 12 driven in to build their foundation. Now we have to compact the material, stake the form and bring the subgrade to the desired slope and elevation.

From here the subgrade is smoothed out with the bunker rake,irrigation installed and rootzone (mix of sand and soil the grasses will grow in)installed, smoothed out and the outer areas tied into the tee area so everything flows together. It sounds easy, but each step requires work and attention to detail.


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

Bunker Fun Begins

There has been a series of bunkers that work off the greenside river dune on 15. Today we started creating the banks for those bunkers. Captain the excavator operator hasn’t done this type of work before, so I showed him a series of photos, drew some sketches and let him go at it.

After he’d banged out the rough forms we went in with the all-wheel-drive bunker rake, which has a small bulldozer blade on the front and smoothed them out. The final grass-sand relationship will be accomplished after the banks have grown-in.

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

Little Weather Miracles

When the previous construction company was here they created a series of low areas that remained wet most of the year. I didn’t think we’d be able to get in and raise them back to their original height until next spring. Well, we got lucky with a long stretch of dry weather, and this Sunday was spent doing just that. Raising the low, wet areas to the point they will remain dry and drain.

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

Bending the Stick

Before I arrived here the previous construction company had begun building the earth berm, for holes 4 and 5; what I affectionately call The Wall. It’s more a faux hillside now, rising between 3 to 7 meters in height.

At the end of the 5th, near the greensite, the wall turned behind the green, looking like an “L” or what I called the blade of the hockey stick. Today we went to work on the blade again, moving it to break up its “L”-ness.

Now we’re getting somewhere; killing the artificiality that once existed.

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

Disk That!

Fairways 8 & 11 had a farmer drive around and disk the fairways. The weed and grass has been worked into the soil. The 8th fairway is pretty much done, while the 11th will have a bit of contour added, a spine with a bunker cutting diagonally through the fairway with some supporting contours.

It shouldn’t take long before we can begin the onslaught of irrigation on these fairways.

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

Drainage Along 15

There is a river dune which blocks out views of the green on the par-5 15th if you bail out too far right on the second shot. After building the green and surrounds a wet area emerged. Today we went in and ringed the dune with drainage.

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

Adjusting Greensite 12

While coring out (removing the topsoil) the green, local conditions forced our hand in shifting the green ever so slightly. The general concept will remain the same, but this is what happens when theory meets reality, and when building golf courses this is not the exception but the norm. Adjustments to the original plan are always necessary for the best product to emerge.

The creek is ever more present now.

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

Holy Goats!?

We have four goats on site for about a week already, and they have been the source of tremendous amusement. Just ask Piotr about “Malpszy’s Love Shack”.

The goats will be a permanent fixture at Sand Valley, along with a half dozen additions next spring. They’ll be kept busy trimming the long slopes and out of play areas.

The great thing about the goats is the manner they trim the areas. The pasture type effect they leave is ideal. It is far superior to machine mown look. Instead of monotonous flatness, we’ll have irregular clumps and a little unevenness in these out of play areas. Absolutely ideal.

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

Greensite; Quarry Hole

Today Captain went in and cored-out (removed all the organic material; topsoil) the 12th greensite.

A not too long 485-meter par-5, with the back tee and green being the only parts of the hole not in the quarry.

The green is on an angle and will slope-roll away from the player. The idea is to feed the ball into the front of the green and let the contour work the ball toward the hole when it’s cut at the back. Go at it too aggressively or pull the shot left and the ball can bound into the creek beyond the green.

The expert golfers can attack straight on instead of using the slopes, to what is a narrower target, but most golfers will approach with a short iron.

It will be interesting to watch golfers attack this hole; where they place their lay-ups, how better golfers go attack the green on their seconds in hope of making an easy birdie or eagle.

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

Hot Dozer

This was a shorter Sunday than planned.

Out on the 2nd Hole pushing some dirt around the dozer started to smell hot. Sure enough, looking down at the temperature gauge the dozer was moving towards the red zone, and back to the base she went.

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

A Hair Too Severe

A portion of the left side of the 14th green sits tight to the banks of the river. The green slopes from front to back naturally, and the views from the back of the green are beautiful. You look down upon the river a few meters below.

The greensite won’t require a lot of construction. Today we stripped the organic material from the greensite, allowing us to drive in the few loads of sand necessary to fill the front of the green a little. The slope of the green is a hair too severe in its natural state.

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

Rake and Roll

The banks for fairways 6 & 7 are steep, and about 1.3 meters high on average. On fairway 6 they lead down to waste areas. On fairway 7 they lead down to a series of sand splotches between the fairway and lake. Today these banks, about 400 meters in all, have been raked out, seeded and smoothed over.

There was a lot of preparation work to get to this point; today was the finishing touches.



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

Moving Muck

We've got two excavators and a dozer on 3 getting rid of the gunk excavated from the ever growing constructed wetland. When completed it will beautify this corner of the property. What once was the weakest for residential, now will be one of the prettiest. We didn't build the wetland here for that purpose, it's simply a nice by product.

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

On to 17 Tees

We’ve cored the tees on 13, will drive sand in the near future, and today we’ve cored the tees on 17 and driven in sand. The green on this hole has been moved forward into a half pipe setting. The tees moved a little back from their original position. The hole will be 210 meters over a ridge to a green benched into a hillside. The idea for many will be to use the slopes to sling the ball onto the green.

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

The First Work on 13

Today we started stripping out organic material for the tees on 13. Set among beach grass and along the banks of the river, this short hole will require little work. No grading of the fairway; just tee and green construction. We’ll see if there we’ll add any bunkers.

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

More on 15 Green

The 15th is a strong greensite, not so much the contours of the green itself, but the outer banks. The banks of the green and area around the green along with the 16th tees all will be mown to tee height. So, if you’re 15 meters from the green, putting is a good, and in some cases a very sensible option.

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

15 Green Shaped and Floated

Unlike the 7th and 16th, this green was a pretty quick and painless affair to create. After the material was blocked in there was no question where the general contours would flow.

The green is slightly elevated above the river, the front two-thirds draining in that direction with some subtle contours and a crowned area transitioning to the back one-third of the green draining towards the tees on 16.












The warden watches as guys pose for shots on and below the 15th green.

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

Working the Banks

On portions of holes 6, 7 and 16, all in close proximity to one another, we have fairly abrupt transitions to the waste areas or water hazards; this for a multitude of reasons; part aesthetic, part strategic, and part due to engineering.

On Thursday we had topsoil dropped along the banks of fairways 7 & 16. This was pushed over the edge with a bulldozer and then Martin (Submarine Captain) compressed the material on the banks and smoothed it out.

Next step is to hand rake the banks and seed.












The bank to the right of the 6th fairway. To its right will be a sandy waste area.

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

Screen Arrival

We need 4000 cubic meters of sand from our quarry (fairway 12) screened. This sand will be mixed with imported sand, peat and some of our sandy topsoil to create the growing medium for the greens and tees; it’s commonly known as Rootzone Mix.

So, in comes a 16 meter long (50 feet) by 1.9 meter (7 feet) power screen. The process should take a handful of days to get that quantity of sand screened to a size of 2mm and less. Our 200meter by 70meter quarry (a couple football fields) will drop another 30 centimeters (1foot).













Photo from a later date, after half the sand had been screened.

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

The Last of the Serious Mainlines

The mainline for draining fairways 1, and 18 was completed today; the last of the big mainline drainage projects. From here we can plug in all fairway drainage where necessary and the water should disappear to ponds, constructed wetlands or unmaintained fields of native vegetation.

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

Beating the Oncoming Rain

We are driving sand and organic material in an effort to beat the oncoming rain. Once it starts, the roads get toasted, and unlike in the summer, the lack of heat and sun makes the drying out process longer.

Tempo Guys! TEMPO!!!

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

The New Smithco is Here!!! The New Smithco is Here

Most are wondering what the hell is a Smithco?

It’s a three wheel all terrain vehicle with a mechanical rake on the back, and a bulldozer style blade on the front. It’s the Ferrari of bunker rakes, and a real work horse used for finishing tees, greens and their surrounds.

Not only does the Smithco have to rake and bulldoze, it has to drag around a wooden box as wide as the rake. Driven in circles and curves, the box scrapes sand, smoothing out knobs, slopes, and deposits sand in low areas.

I’ve tested a number of other machines, but none come close to Smithco.

This is not a paid advertisement.


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

Butt Welding

Sounds perverted, but it’s the process of melting irrigation pipes together.

A small machine trims the ends of the pipe, has a heated plate where two sections of pipe are melted, the plate removed and the ends pressed together for 3 minutes until cool.

A 7 kilometer golf course (7,000 yard) requires enough pipe to feed all the holes and then some.

The pipe comes in sections of 12 meters. Butt welded, that makes 24.

That’s a lot of butt welding.

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

Maximum Flexibility and The Devil is in the Detail

Along the right of fairway 2 there was no waste area planned. We found sand off the tee and near the green and decided it’s ideal for a waste area, both aesthetically and strategically.

Today some test holes were dug between the greensite and landing area. Off the tee to the turning point we knew it was all nice and sandy. Up by the green and 100 meters back we knew it was all nice and sandy too. Between these two areas...Surprise! Surprise!... we have a 30cm (1 foot) layer of sand-sandy clay atop a thick layer of clay. Surprise! Surprise!

Because we are designing as we go we’ve decided to just strip the topsoil, leave the thin sand layer exposed and seed it. The result will be a mix of sand and grass separating the two waste areas.

There are decisions of this nature to be made on a daily basis. Shall we do this? Do that? Here’s an opportunity? Stop here, look at this. Should it be bigger, smaller, stronger, or softer? This is why the best courses have an architect present who has the authority to make sweeping alterations. He can evaluate all the elements, look at them in perspective of the entire project and make timely decisions. Otherwise you leave it to the builders, who usually aren’t golfers and want to get the project finished as soon as possible. And hey, if the architect isn’t around to care about the details, why should the builder?

Details. Devil. The pursuit of excellence. The investment of time. It's hard work, not a part-time hobby.

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

Pudding Anyone?

This is why we work the hours we do. We have to take advantage of every good day just in case we get a summer like this one.

Last night the golf course got slaughtered by rain and most of our roads resemble pudding. Luckily we have a couple corners where guys can get some work done.

Hey! Who ordered the rain anyway?

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

Fast Week and a Little Humor… Very Little

Hard to believe but it’s Friday again, a signal for most that the work week is coming to a close. Not so in the golf construction business, as this blog makes evident. We’re at it whenever we can, but some fortunate guys do work a mere 5 and a half days, 70+ hour work weeks. So when they’re finished today they still have 7 hours work to look forward to tomorrow.

So their wives can go shopping... 

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

Floating

Today we began dragging a wooden frame over the 6th and 7th fairways. The wooden frame knocks down small bumps, collects soil, and deposits the soil in depressions. Driven around in a circular fashion, it smooths out the surface; like melting a rough ice cube.

After floating, the rough surface comes to life, revealing a seamless landscape, and it was exciting to see the character of these fairways emerge, resembling rough seas.

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

Bunker Wars

What’s fun with this project is the banter with Kai, a golf architecture aficionado. We come from two totally different perspectives on a couple things, but we have tons in common. We love width for the variety in attacking the hole it offers, and we are both adamant believers hard, dry, fast conditions offer the most interesting golf...by miles.

Where we differ is on bunker styles. I’ve seen and been though the 1980’s and 1990’s rage with grass faced bunkers. It was done by everyone. I’ve done one course with such bunkers, and then gravitated to a variety of flash faced bunker styles. I’m flexible and would do grass faced bunkers again if it was the best fit for site, climate and budget, and if it helped differentiate the course from the competition; existing and future, but I don’t see that here. Because the grass faced bunkers have been done from Berlin to Bangkok and back, along with dirt mounds everywhere. I suggested we go with a raw, rugged, low maintenance hand-crafted look. Kai likes “steep and deep” pits.

We’re still fighting, but it’s fun, and we get a lot of laughs out of it. My favorite line of his is “lippy lips”, for the mounds needed to set a flashed faced bunker into. We’re going to end up with something different, as we’ve explored all manner of bunkers. Some are blowouts from dunes, some will be somewhat flashed, and some will be grassed down, some will be long and winding trenches. We’re fighting about the art, and that’s a good thing.

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

Rain Reduced Work

Today it rained and we only had work for that what was wet. We had the drainage crew slopping around yesterday when it was dry, so a little rain won’t bother their effort to put in the mainline cutting through and draining fairways 1, 18 and 17.

The other playground was the end of the wetland on 4. Two excavators flopped material to The Wall for a handful of hours.

Soon we will be running out of work during such periods.

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

Visitors from Hamburg

Today we had 8 superintendents from Hamburg with the Barenburg seed supplier visit the site. We discussed the construction methods, materials used, looked at a couple holes, greens and then on their way they went.

They were astonished at the lack of grading stakes. We are designing in the field, as so many of the great courses were built. There are stakes as guides when we need them, but the great thing here is we have maximum flexibility to pursue the best solutions as we build. What's better than an architect in a bulldozer, shaping and refining ideas as he goes?

Plans are restrictive documents that offer little to no flexibility. We work with maximum flexibility, always thinking about the work ahead and completed. That's why I only work on one project at a time. With more projects you're hoping someone else gets it right.

I firmly believe the worst thing for a developer is to end up with what was planned on paper. Such courses look artificial, and that is the problem with a lot of modern architecture. It's not a labor of love, but a project to get finished. The result: repetition and safe (boring) designs abound.

Our method, allowing maximum flexibility is faster because we aren't building and waiting for an architect to edit the design every week, month or quarter. I'll write more about this in the future, but here... when we're happy, we know it, and move on. That's speed and excellence combined.

To the Hamburg guys, please say “Hi” to Norbert at Falkenstein for me.

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