Enter Walter

I had Walter, an engineer friend come here to check a couple sections of the property.

Normally you need drainage in the greens, but these could be built up from fine quality sand, directly on the sandy subsoil…negating the need for drainage! It’s not normal, but I have done this in the past with great success. In fact, instead of drainage we had to install a fine layer of sand so the greens didn’t drain too quickly. We’ll have to wait and see what Anton Morbach, the soil engineer’s analysis reveals.

As famed golf architect Dr. Mackenzie noted long ago, consulting experts in their fields, drainage, soils, agronomy is the best way to guarantee results. The architect should have knowledge of these areas, but a few dollars spent on consulting and testing ensures results. It’s the old, “test twice, build once” story.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Let Me Sleep on It

Yesterday I touched on idea generation for several holes, and the challenges of designing the 4th hole. In Dr. Alan Snyder’s study of idea generation, he found people could generate a burst of new ideas after a short break. The study was about listing as many different uses for a simple piece of paper…he found:

Participants had generally run out of ideas by the end of the first session, yet
they produced a burst of new ideas in the second session, even though conscious
effort on the task was not required during the break (they were told the task was
over) and, in fact, was precluded by performance of a cognitively demanding and
distracting task. Both the number and the pattern of responses, especially the burst
of new ideas produced after the break, indicate that solutions for an original problem
may continue to be generated.
http://www.centreforthemind.com/publications/Nonconscious_idea.pdf

This explains why the truly great courses had the architect leading the effort. Plans only get you to the starting line, as a host of improvements and alterations can be “discovered” as construction progresses. Stuff you just couldn’t foresee at the drawing table. Donald Ross was right on the money when he said “Design on land, not on paper.”

This “burst of new ideas” occurred today on the 4th. Not trusting my memory I had my handy dandy digital Dictaphone at hand to record them. The design is 90% complete...in my mind. Will new ideas come? Surely…and the fun is mining and evaluating these opportunities. It’s like mining gold.

Dr. Snyder’s work is fascinating stuff. You can get more about his research into the genius, champion and autistic mind at: http://www.centreforthemind.com/newsmedia/WHATSHOT/index.cfm

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Today was a Day of Staking and Thinking

Today was a day of staking and thinking. Today was a day of staking and thinking. Staking work to be done, and thinking about how to get a few holes to work.

The 8th has a big cut at the greensite, and the solution here was simple. Just extend the cut further backwards so it all flows seamlessly. There is a small natural valley that makes this transition easy.










Before my arrival the previous builder made the mammoth cut made from the hillside for the 8th greensite. Thephotos are taken from the seconding landing zone (lower photo), and one the center of the green. The deepest part of the cut is about 3-meters (10 feet). It will be interesting to see what evolves from this "Monster's Footprint."














The initial conceptual sketch of the 8th greensite. I'm sure there will be scores to follow.


The 9th hole, (the par-3 version) is a hole 80% completed by nature…if not more. We can elevate the tee site about 1 meter with ease, and have it look like it was part of the natural grade. From below on the 8th fairway you would never be able to tell the tee was bumped up a little. The greensite will require a little cutting and filling. The exact shape, size and contour of the green is still running through the brain.

The 4th hole is the most challenging of the few I spent the day thinking about. At 535 meters we begin by teeing off amongst wetlands. The fairway corridor is wide, about 90 meters with forest on both sides. The fairway is low with light ripples and rolls. Then… BOOM! ...a greensite with a 3+ meter wall to buffer the noise and sight from traffic on the road behind. My preliminary idea is to create a series of flash faced fairway bunkers (where you can see the sand); a half dozen of so should do. This will add character and definition to the hole, but at the green? So far, my concept is to work more high contours (with bunkers slashed into some of them) back at least 100 meters from the green and have one of the fairway bunkers past the tee shot landing area also higher and large. This one high and large fairway bunker would connect to the increasing elevation changes at the greensite, making it all a little more believable. It all has to flow…as if we discovered it and merely formalized it to make a golf hole. The dimensions and scale have to be believable.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
+1 (909) 581 0080

Paul Bunyan

Today the forestry official was out to mark trees for cutting. Poland’s Paul Bunyan will be here next Thursday to begin falling trees.

Tomek and Martin were out staking centerlines and cutting brush outside the fairway on the second hole (not in straight lines), so the wild ones will be able to find their ball and slash it forward through the trees with ease.

The fairways at Sand Valley will be wide, you could say like Augusta National once was, and so many of the great courses once were. With width about a dozen bunkers will be strategically placed centrally in the fairway. This will make the golfers think a bit before hitting, and create multiple ways to attack the hole.

The only bone of contention is the bunker style. Some want clean, grass faced pits among our rugged naturalness (the remainder of the bunkers and wastes constructed are raw and natural in style.) I prefer the idea of continuing the raw natural bunker theme throughout the course; creating these central bunkers to look totally individual, a variety of shapes, sizes, and forms, with bursts of long grass here and there. They would fit into the folds and rolls of the land more seamlessly, though the grass faced pits would be much easier on Yours Truly, taking a fraction of the time to design and build.

Squabbles

We’ve had clear and sunny weather for over a week.; some warmer, some cooler, some windier, but all great for golf.

Today was a day to review the walk-through from yesterday, squabble over a few parts of the design and finalize the machine list. Squabbling over the design will probably continue to the end of the project, and that’s a good thing. You can only plan so much, building isn’t just building; it is the most permanent and expensive design phase. It's what makes potentially average projects very good, and good projects great.

‘By hand or cad, no architect will ever produce perfect plans but even if one did, a constructor left alone for days, weeks or months will never build the golf course the way the architect envisioned. For these reasons, planning and construction are not separate tasks, but different parts of the same task.’

Tony Ristola

Value That Money Alone Cannot Buy

Golf Course Architecture, A Worldwide Perspective Vol. 3

Tony,

Nice to hear from you...

I have to admit we use this quote in every masterplan we do - it is perfect - and its amazing how many committees seem to think it’s an exact science that can be done on paper.

Mike Clayton, Golf Architect

Golf Course Architecture, A Worldwide Perspective Vol. 3 can be purchased through Paul Daley at www.fullswinggolf.com.au Yours truly has contributed Institutionalized Fraud, Prostituting the Royal and Ancient Game for Volume 1, The Test of Our Time for Volume 2 and Value That Money Alone Cannot Buy

For Volume 3. All three volumes, plus other excellent books can be purchased through Paul Daley at Full Swing publishing.

Review of Project to Date

Today Lasse Pekka the planner, and Kai the Head Honcho read the 11 page Review of the Project to Date.

Lasse Pekka was here to find out what had gone on since his last visit a couple months ago. A long list of adjustments had been discussed. These touch virtually every hole, and I broke down the work accomplished by the previous contractor during our walk through more thoroughly than could be handled in the Review of the Project to Date (For the full story you’ll have to read the upcoming book about the project. It’ll probably be Chapter 1.)

A few of the major changes:

• The bunker style will be changed from formal, deep, grass faced circular scrapes, to raw, natural bunkers, with edges like a broken down stream bank (actually like sections of the river here).

• The waste areas will be expanded by about double. Their management will be an evolutionary project.

• The 2^nd-hole lengthened by 30 meters, the 3rd shortened by 50 meters. This offers an opening with a short par-4, long par-4, and short par-3 with a wetland left of the green.

• The 9^th hole converted from a short par-4 to a medium-short par-3. It will be a spectacular hole, much better as a par-3 than a short par-4. I’ll have conceptual illustrations forthcoming in the not too distant future.

Gotta stop here…if I went on with adjustments the blog would go on for pages.

Mother Nature's Best

The day started in the construction trailer thinking about the 8^th green, sketching ideas, then establishing the construction roads so machines and trucks aren’t driving all over the course, especially the fairways. Fairways are not roadways. Then with Kai, the Head Honcho at Sand Valley, we drove to look at Mother Nature’s best. To be inspired by the forces of wind, water, the natural bunkers, and enjoy the smell of the sea.