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
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.
