Knocking down the monument

A view of "The Monument" from the 11th green as I first saw it last April.

For whatever reason the previous builders liked to do things the hard way; like swimming with lead weights on your ankles.

They left us with a prize we began to call “The Monument”. It was the product of excavating the 8th green site. A mountain of red clay some 8 meters high and 30 by 30, this mass of material looked from some angles like it was robbed from Monument Valley in Utah and dropped from the sky onto the golf course.

They should have excavated the material and driven it away in one shot, but they had other plans. Doing it the hard and expensive way. Moving material twice. I'm glad they did it this way, (Ideally I really wish they would have done nothing) because it saved us from having to figure out what to do with even more inferior material piled up throughout the golf course.

During the summer we chewed away at the monument. Driving masses of it to The (buffer) Wall on 5. Today Chechek knocked what was remaining, still some 30 meters by 20 meters by 4 meters down about 1.5 meters. It still has a ways to go before it will fit seamlessly into the landscape; the idea is for it to reflect the plateaus that make 8 fairway, 18 fairway, and the plateau left of 8 green. Its final shape will be not be rounded, but something angular, squarish, to fit with the nature of the native landscape.

Some homeowners will have a unique setting; a view of the golf course, and some seclusion from it. It’ll be a nice place for a home.

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

Enter the Fairway Bunkers on 15

After months of running through possibilities for making the drive on 15 really interesting, and bouncing ideas here and there, the bunker scheme for the 15th is settled upon and dirt moving has commenced.

There will be two bunkers splitting the 75-meter wide fairway. The hole is as wide as two fairways on most modern courses, and that’s great because it lets us bring hazards into the fairway and lets you pick your poison. There will be dozens of possibilities for attacking this hole on the tee shot alone. And depending on the wind, all that width with only two not so large but nasty bunkers will create ample confusion.

From the back tee, the first bunker starts at 230 meters and the second at 290 meters. They are placed a little on an angle, reflecting the bank of the river, but you could say they are largely one behind the other. In fact, looking from the tee, it looks like there is no room between them, when in fact there is 50 meters. Both are pits of about 10 meters by 6 to 8 meters wide, and 1.5 to 2 meters deep. They will have different characters.

If you play between the river and the bunkers there is about 30 meters of room, and you might be able to get home in two-shots. Playing wide to the right, there is about 45 meters of room. It makes the hole longer, but takes the trouble out of play. The choice is yours.

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

Irrigation on 11 Tee

Jin Ling, Martin, Mr. Happy, Bulldog and the Mechanic were all involved installing irrigation around 11 and 8 Tees, with Kimmo our irrigation designer who is out staking the holes, and adapting the design to what we have built on 11, 15, and 16 looking on.

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

SAND STORM ! The aftermath

There western gales blew sand from 6 fairway, across 7 (the two are connected), over the bank and into the lake.

Result: The steep bank on 7 was covered in 2 to 5cm of fine sand. As we are planning bunkers weaving along the lake’s edge, a good quantity was delivered by the wind storm. we won't have to import half as much now.

The current task for Blondi and Bacon... are using brushes to pull the sand down off the banks to reveal the young grass growing underneath. It’s not visible at all, and a few days under this sand, the grass would start dying.

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

Chechek back in the Saddle

He was back yesterday, pushing dirt, chewing on cigarettes, and popping candy. On New Year’s eve he gave me one of the most memorable vodka induced phone calls. One I won’t forget soon. Great to have him back pushing dirt. Today he’s on hole-7 shifting topsoil around.

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

Adding the Bunkers... and Achieving Perfection

Yesterday Captain cut the greenside bunkers for 11… I was standing there directing the scrapes. In fact, I’d had him come back to adjust the right greenside bunker a second time. That’s the benefit of being on-site with the builders… you can adjust, modify… communicate and perfect the work as it is being built… in real time. It’s fast… efficient and everyone is happy. The workers get help, and if it’s something I don’t like they don’t take the heat… because I was calling the shots. In fact… there is no heat… as it’s a creative process that requires tinkering, or wholesale adjustments.

Doing this everyday instead of the architect coming in every week or three, waving his arms and walking away is how excellence is created… economically. Is it any wonder the best courses are built this way?

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

SAND STORM!

The winds whipped from the west and the sand flew. If you wanted the paint sand blasted from your car all you would have had to do was park it between the 6th and 7th fairway. Maybe we should call these holes Sahara and Gobi. Eventually they will be grassed over, but for now it’s a huge expanse of open, vulnerable sand.

Ugh.

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

Happy Bacon

With all the guys having the same name (we have three guys called Martin), and their names difficult to remember, we’ve opted for nicknames, and the guys have taken to it as well. Bacon being a creation for one of our newest additions to the crew… add Mr. Happy (because he didn’t smile for the first week he was here). Now when sending out the two as a crew for something, they’re known as Team Happy Bacon.

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

Tree Line Trimming

Part II.

Part I involved removing the "fur coats". Now the line of trees dividing the property is being trimmed for the first time in decades.

The guys are doing a great job, as the trees now have great shapes. They look majestic. The added benefit from all this trimming is golfers can look beneath the trees clear across the golf course.

What a huge difference. The green wall is replaced by majesty and space.

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

Onward with the “Irritation” Line

OK, it’s the irrigation line.

The crew is cutting the line around the 18th green, between the tees on 1, across a future road, and toward the Driving Range.

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

Grubbing = Cleaning Roots

Today the grubbing operation for 9-green began, and it’s expected to go on for a couple days. Grubbing is removing the organic debris (roots) from the ground.

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

Kicking Ass... Until...

In all we managed to drive 90 loads of sand. The tours were about 22 minutes long.

Around midnight one of the dumper’s tires ruptured, and ended the driving. Which is about the time things began thawing with the light drizzle.

It’s was an unexpected window of opportunity, and we were grateful for getting this stroke of good luck.

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

Roll’in… All Night Long

Still frozen, and that means driving 24-hours a day. In Scandinavia they wait for winter and the frozen ground to get this type of driving done. This year they didn't get the expected freezing conditions, so some projects are going to be faced with some tough choices. Luckily we only have a wee bit of driving necessary with frozen roads and we got the chance now... just in the nick of time.

It’s an unexpected window of opportunity, and we are going to exploit it to maximum benefit.

Go team!

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

Welcome back Pawel!

His nickname is 30-minute.

We have some luck… the ground is frozen and we can drive material out to the difficult to reach 4th greensite. 24 hours a day until the ground thaws.

So... Let’s roll.

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

Draining 10 Greensite

The entire hillside, a near vertical wall of 10 meters drains towards this area, and the previous constructors, with all their foresight and lack of sanity destroyed the natural drainage pattern... and how! It's not to say the area didn't require help, but they didn't help, they created more work. A lot more. Thanks guys.

From what I was told it was a sweeping contour a ways in front of the greensite. Now it’s gone, and the water drains to the greensite.

We’re draining the greensite, and when things dry up a bit, we’ll shape the area in front of the green to divert and collect water.

It will be a nice drop shot par-3 for the men… framed by sand on two or three sides. For the ladies it will be a short par-4.

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

Roughing In Bunkers

After looking at the pile of sand sitting near the landing zone for a couple months, today was time to put all the pondering to use. I had the excavator operator Captain (you know, the guy who sunk 250,000 of machine in the lake, hence earning the nickname) come in and start making some raw forms. Then I spun around in the Smithco bunker rake and softened it out. Looks pretty good.

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

The Official Long Boom Report

The Long Boom is finishing the deepening, and has left large piles, some would say mountains of wet excavated material all along the edge of the lake. When it has had at least a few weeks to dry, we will flop it one more time. As it is close to the river, they will take on a dunes type character… to connect to the existing dunes structure.

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

Same Old, Same Old

Same Old, Same Old

Guys have been installing the irrigation mainline, the Long Boom keeps chewing away at the lake, and Tadek’s pruning the underbrush moves forward… and looks great. What a difference from last year. Can’t wait to see how it looks when the lower branches are pruned, giving the trees some form.

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

Prune

The season for pruning trees is coming to a close, so the crew has been out there… busy cutting the bush type growth around the base of the trees. In the summer the trees looked like they had a fur coat.

The trees must not have seen any type of management in a couple decades. With the first section complete, it looks really good, and the removal of their fur coats is only the first step.

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

Sunday was a day of writing and raking.

Kai sped off to the site in the late morning to jump on the excavator and gouge out some hollows and humps in the waste area between 15 & 16. I joined him in the afternoon with some raking using the super duper Smithco Super Rake, and the usual shoveling job that ensues when risking to much and getting the machine stuck.

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

Mainline Ahoy!

Kamyl (aka Jin Ling) and Martin started to prepare the south side of the lake for the installation of the irrigation mainline. The Long Boom will be chasing them around the edge of the lake.

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

Finishing Drainage on 13

The guys have installed about a half kilometer of drainage pipe on the lower section of the 13th fairway, and today is their final few meters of work.

It wasn’t the easiest job… I’m sure the beer will taste good tonight.

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

TG

These two letters have special meaning for the guys here. It’s the acronym (derogatory) for the construction company that first started this project. For us it is funny that our newest bit of machinery, a fairway grader imported from Canada. The machine was referenced on the billing as Tee Gee. Let's hope it performs better than the crew that was here before my arrival.

The unit is attached to the back of the tractor and does a wonderful job cleaning up the surfaces while keeping those vital to the design intent. After the unit has gone over the desired area, what for many seemed like an inconsistent set of contours, becomes one unified scheme of natural movement.

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

11 Green

The 11th green has been shaped and floated (cleaned up) to reveal all the small contours.

There is still some work to connect the outer banks left and right of the green to the desired elevation, but the mass of the work is done.

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

Back in the Triangle

Fairway bunkers for the short par-4 16 awaiting beach grasses.

Between 15 and 16 is a sandy waste to be covered in beach grasses and thin fescues.

The bunkers for 16 have been cut for a while, but those to the east have gone through a couple versions, with the third and looks like final version currently completed.

These will make a good view from the clubhouse, help connect the bunkers on 7 and 15 green, and all the bunkers coming to 10, around 8 and 11 tees, 12 and 14. It also gives us a connecting point for the bunkers on 2 and 4.

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

Loooooooong Booooooooom

Today the Long Boom excavator arrived. Its 18 meters reach will be helpful with widening the irrigation lake and getting it a bit deeper around the intake valve. We weren't able to finish this section last year due to the soils, and Captain sinking his new 30-ton Caterpillar…. (while working for another company).

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

Ressurrection

Have put the BLOG to rest for a few weeks, as the short days of winter have limited both the work hours and things we can do. It would have been the Department of Redundancy Department BLOG as the days were short and the jobs similar. In summery…

…what we have done in the past weeks is drive some sand to required areas when the ground was frozen, installed drainage, removed and disposed of debris, hauled logs, pruned trees, and began driving the finish grader across fairways that have been shaped.

That’s the sum of it.

Today is pretty good golf weather for the beginning of the end of winter.

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