Yesterday I was reminded of their deviousness. The company had piled material for the subgrade of the 3rd greensite, and it was awful stuff; clay, topsoil, and mixed in were large and small chunks of wood debris.
Last year when the topsoil material was scraped off the greensite and trucked to the back of the range I did not watch it get loaded out truck for truck (I had more important things to do than babysit every load of dirt) but today as I pushed out the stockpiled material to cap the very back of the driving range I saw the full effects of the previous builders shoddy efforts. Not only was it awful stuff for building the subgrade of a green, it was pretty contaminated (roots, stumps etc) for capping the range.
The topsoil in itself is good quality, but it is not the stuff you build the subgrade of a green with... and the added chunks of wood are a no-no on their own.
On Monday this section at the back of the range will be run over with a spike harrow, and a group of hand-workers will rake out the crap. Should make a nice pile. (No pun intended.)
Amazing.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080
From behind the 3rd green. A view of poor material stockpiled by the previous builder for the 3rd green in April 2007. Hiding in its mass is topsoil, clay and chunks of wood.
Before reconstruction; A view of the 3rd from the tee in April 2007.
One year later. Sand replaces the gunk of the previous builder. The hole has been reduced from 185 meters to 140 meters.
