14 is the most natural hole on the course. It’s textbook. You have a tee then a valley and the green on the other side. To the left is ample room covered in native beach grasses. Simply a beautiful setting.
This par-3 is a mid-long iron depending on the wind, the green will slope right to left at the back, left to right for the front portion, and generally back to front... I think, it hasn’t been shaped yet.
There will be a bunker, or I should say there is a bunker eating into the front half, 2/3rds of the green. Kai was busy today carving out the greenside section. It will be a couple meters deep, and tie into the beach grasses that run the length of the river. It will extend back towards the tee, but that will come later.
Did I forgot to say there is a river left of the green? There is, and along with the bunker it will come into play with the back left hole location.
Bunkers to the right of the green are being thought through. The quarry is close at hand, and I’ve been thinking it should meander close to the green. Only time will tell.
Enjoy.
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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.
