Today the drainage crew put in a drain line in the hollow behind the 4th green.
This place has been a tough one.
The greensite was originally placed too close to the tress, so it would have struggled in the winter. In fact it would have been closed most of the winter because it the sun was blocked by forest. I moved the green to a sunnier locale, had Captain (of the sunken excavator) strip the greensite of peat 9 (the only place on the course with peat), and upon doing so he busted an old German drain line...the peat was that deep; about 1 meter. He didn't bust just any drain line, but a major artery. That caused nothing but problems during our wet summer.
Only a couple weeks ago we managed to drain the area, filled the excavation with sand (See Tex's receiving the Order of the Captain), then let it dry and harden, and now we are ready to start pushing in the 1000 cubic meters of sand for the green and to cap the surrounds.
This has been one bugger of a greensite. It would have been almost as easy to cut down the entire forest!
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.
Associated Blogs
Blog Archive
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.
