I'd worked with Tex, our guy for excavator work... shaping the smaller bunkers and putting the rootzone on the greens & tees (though he really is a first class dozer operator) 12-years ago. I'd promised him we'd work together again, but never expected it to take so long. He's come to this project as we're putting it to bed, but I'm thrilled he's here. It's a change to communicate with someone in my native tongue.
Tex has worked in the Europe and the US for some big name companies and spent his entire 30-years on heavy equipment trying to get everything nice and clean. It's been a bit for him to get used to slashing, gouging and ripping areas and leaving them for the hand workers or sand pro, but being open minded and creative... he's gotten over the hurdle pretty quick.
Though it's been quick, and he's fully on board with the concept, it has taken a fair bit of communication and editing to get the point across. Something you just can't do employing the "formal-normal" method of building golf courses... drawing plans on paper, handing them to the builder and walking away for days, weeks or months at a time.
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.
