Sand Valley Golf; Design and Construction Blog: The Beast

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.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Beast

Would you believe this Beast started out as one medium sized bunker?
True... true.
Reference Blog Entry: Bunker on 8 Evolution

I was egged on to make the bunker bigger, and in the end it was extended and connected to the bunker by the former Monument to Stupidity (the product of the previous builder... long before my arrival to the project). I diplomatically called it The Monument before, but now its full name can surface as the builder is out of business... it truly was The Monument to Stupidity.
Reference Blog Entry: Knocking Down the Monument

We hydroseeded the banks of this bunker but parts of it didn't take, so it was sodded some weeks ago. Most of the bunker had been edged... we have only been waiting for this section to take hold.

Now we've gone in and edged the sodded banks, and other areas in the near vicinity.