And the bunker work starts

After walking through and photographing the remainder of the holes, the bunker detail work started on Hole Nr. 4

I don't build cookie-cutter bunkers, why be here to build bunkers if they will look like those found on 10,000 other golf courses. I have ideas for what we will accomplish, but finding the style for the golf course is an evolutionary process.

Here some basic edging has been done for the waste area; these banks will be simple and formal. The inside features of the waste area will take on another character.














It starts with this.
















Then basic edging begins. We will be using the sod taken for other areas to crate bunker edges within the waste areas. This bunker edge will have simple, clean lines... serving as a transition from golf course to waste area; the interior bunkers/dunes of the will be another matter.

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

Back for Bunker Work

It was cloudy, not too warm and rained yesterday, not a bad thing for grow-in. The last thing you want is scorching heat.

Today we had it clear, warm, and little windy.

It's been 8-months since I've been here last and the challenges of grow-in are all obvious. It's not the prettiest stage of development, waiting and babying the grass to get knit together, but it is what it is.

Some areas have come along fine, others, usually the more exposed and sandy areas need more TLC (tender loving care)... which means water, fertilizer, and in some places overseeding or sodding.

Grow-in just might be the toughest job in the business... I'm happy to only design and build these things.
















The maintenance/grow-in crew, along with the latest in Soviet evening wear to the far right.

Sand Valley Artwork

Giclee copies of this painting of the 6th greensite are available through Sand Valley Golf Club.

Acylic on Canvas.
25cm x 60cm.

The top photo is the reference for the painting below.

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

The Mixing Bucket

The mix for what the grass will grow on the tees and greens is a mix of sand and peat moss.

The Mix Recipe: Evenly split between sand screened from our quarry, and sand imported from a quarry 40 minutes away. Our sand and the imported sand is made up of 2mm particles but ours has a bit more fine material.

Mixing can be done in several ways. Through a power screen, by loaders, or tractor with a tiller. We've opted for another method, using a "mixing bucket".

The material is measured and placed in a big pile, like a mix of ingredients for a cake. Then the excavator stands atop it and begins the mixing process. The operator leaves a 30cm (1 foot) buffer of mix to prevent native unscreened material from contaminating the "cake mix".















Loading the dumper from atop a mixed pile. A pile requiring further mixing is in the foreground.















Mixing bucket is used during loading.


















A look at the back of the bucket's mixing wheels.

















The backside again.















Into the bucket.















Close up.

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

Fuel Usage

About May 27, 2007 the diesel station below was delivered.

In the last 17-months 209,321 liters were used... from this machine.
This during a time when fuel prices skyrocketed.

That wasn't the total fuel used either.

We had a subcontractor with the same station service its two machines, a dumper and excavator for about 8 weeks, along with additional fuel supplied in barrels.

The fueling station worked perfectly during the entire project.































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

Sand Valley on CNBC TV

The day the guys were supposed to shoot was sunny and warm.
Beautiful.

They CNBC crew couldn't make it in time to catch the great evening light, so we rescheduled for the next day.

Unfortunately it rained buckets the whole night... and the course was saturated.
Usually we would have had guys working, but it was simply too wet.

youtube.com/watch?v=8tnNqpUkuNc

Good times were had by all, and we were lucky to get the shoot in before it started raining again.

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

Some Photos of Hole 1

Before and After
What the property looked like when I inherited it in April 2007... and...

Now... It's starting to look a little like a golf course!
























































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