Tees on 7 are being floated

Floating is the process of taking the bunker rake with a box attached and driving in circles or a circular fashion to make everything flat and smooth.

The challenge of finishing work is getting the transition area from rootzone to native soil compacted.

Tools of the trade:














All-wheel drive Smithco SuperStar bunker rake, showel and rake.















A great blade with a leading edge of hardened steel. It's manually operated... no hydraulics here.















The rake. Under the blades are screws with bolts which help pull out weed and break up the soil.















Cultivator. This really loosens the soil. It's also good for knocking down small piles. The teeth are normally straight, but I've used it in a couple areas with rocky soil, hence the bent metal.















The "box". Homemade, this fills in depressions when driven in a circular fashion. It can also strengthen of soften slopes. Softening when driving down the slope, steepening when driving up the slope.















Early in the floating process. The connection between the soil and rootzone hasn't been worked too much. That's coming next.

We'll be using a tractor with TG Grader with laser in the near future to get the grades nailed down faster, followed by the sand pro and hand work.

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

Flattening out stockpile dirt

It's amazing how knocking down dirt piles changes the perspective of everything. Views open up, space is created where it once seemed confined.

We don't have much left in this department, only by 17 green do we have stockpiled material, and once the greens on 1 and 5 have rootzone can we rid ourselves of these monsters of dirt too.

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

2nd Cut

The short course greens have been cut for the second time, and the course itself is being cut with regularity.

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

The last of the barrier for Dr. Noise

Dr. Noise was Kai's first nickname.

Due to proximity of the Warsaw-Gdansk road, which will be moved in the coming years, Kai was hell bent on reducing the noise as much as possible. I obliged, creating a pretty massive wall that is camouflaged to look like a hillside.

We're finishing the last bits of the barrier, and should be done in a day or so.

Some before and after shots.

















End of April 2007.















The height and width of the wall are drastically different today.
The green section of wall just in front of the tee requires a little work and will be done after the gravel blanket and rootzone are installed in the tees.

















April 2007.














Again, the dramatic change in the wall is evident by the trees in the background. It will be planted with bush, making it appear even higher and helping further to hide the artificial work.





























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

That's it

All the tees have rootzone in place, with the par-3 9th and back tee for the par-4 9th being the last such jobs.

For those that are new to the blog, the 9th is designed as both a par-3 and par-4.

There is a discussion about this hole on golfclubatlas.com:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=972444c822a8c77b3fa6e61f14589b57&topic=35000.0


















Sketch of the 9th from the par-3 tee.
The green is on the plateau framed by the gap in the trees.

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

After the rain

We're busy cleaning up some areas after the rainfall.

One of the tasks is for guys to clean all the silty buildup around the catch basins so we'll be prepared for the next rainfall.

Hey! When are those hay bales coming!?

These square bales will be placed around the catch basins to prevent silt from clogging the gravel.

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

A look back

The sketch is from May 11, 2007. I'd been on site for a couple weeks.

The tees Sand Valley are largely rectangular or box shaped, but my thought was to have tees interconnected so the angle of play would vary more and would be easier to maintain. Hence the "Continuous Mowing Tees" caption for the sketch.

With this concept the tees could be mown with a minimum of lifting the cutting units.

With the material we had at hand would have been easy to construct, and virtually ideal for the concept.

The tees on 8 are surrounded by sand, but certainly don't resemble this sketch... though their banks will.

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