14-Years After. Restoring the Bunker Left of 3 Green

Sand had been raked up the face of the greenside bunker on 3. 

This allows grass to encroach easily. Restoring the lip of the bunker will help halt that problem, and give this flattish bunker more structure.

 

14-Years After: Restoring the Greenside Bunkers on Hole 2

The greenside bunkers after edging in 2009.

Bunker edging from 2009.

The face of the bunker is pretty much intact, but
grass has grown down the sides and around the back of the bunker.

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos after the fact as we zipped through the course in 14-days, addressing all the bunkers and critical waste areas. After I'd left, sand was raked out to perfection.

Not a lot of work to be done here.
A bit on the face, and removing about 50 to 70cm of grass that has encroached at the back of the bunker.

 

14-Years After. Restoring the Bunker Forms at Sand Valley

Having edged all the bunkers at Sand Valley personally, I have a really good recollection of what once was... but even the best memories fade. Fortunately, the bunkers had been photographed during construction, while edging and after sand installation in 2009. They're invaluable reference material.

This bunker fronting the 2nd green demanded the most work. One can see how the back of the bunker shrunk over time, creating an odd looking berm as grass grew into sand that piled up there.

The face of the bunker, built from silty material, also lost its concave form. Much of the work in this area is raking down sand that has piled up on the face over the years, followed by re-edging.

The Jaskot Brothers aka Bunker Brothers with Sonya during sand installation in 2009.

How the bunker looked after being edged in 2009.

The original edging from 2009. Before sand installation.

2023... Let the work begin!!!

Removing sand buildup and trying to find an edge.
This is the one bunker, due to the silty material it was constructed from,
that lost a significant amount of its form.

Removing the sand berm, and restoring the back edge of the bunker.

 

Congratulations to Berni Reiter 2014 LOTOS Polish Open Champion

Three rounds at -10 makes Bernie Reiter the 2014 LOTOS Polish Open Champion by 3 strokes.

Congratulations!

Scores can be seen here:
http://www.pga.de/lotos-polish-open-en/articles/lotos-polish-open-results.en.html#/competition/102289/results



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

Sand Valley Lands Polish Open

It doesn't get any bigger than hosting the National Open.

When designing and building Sand Valley, this wasn't something I thought of or considered. You usually expect these tournaments to go to major population centers, not a town of 12,000.

The only job, like all projects, was to protect the investor by leading construction daily, seeking every opportunity to communicate and refine the project in real-time. It's as Kai Hulkkonen stated, published in Rescuing Sand Valley, Paul Daley's book Golf Architecture a Worldwide Perspective Vol. 5:

Specifically, he clearly sees how daily involvement by the architect is a tremendous driving force, especially in an emerging golf nation and continent where golf course builders are a scarcity. He believes an architect leading construction daily provides “something really valuable for product quality” because continual assessment and improvement of strategic value and the creation of special details makes “stuff look just stunning, yet does not cost all that much to build; details just not possible on a turn key project”. 

How much time was dedicated to designing and constructing Sand Valley?
Here it is... Sand Valley by the Numbers:

·   Total Schedule: 483 days. This includes Saturdays and Sundays.

·   Number days I worked: 457 (days missed were due to bad weather)

·   Number of hours worked/day on average: 11 hours (as documented in my Daily Design/Construction Diary)

·   Total Hours: 5000+

It is the rarest of commitments in the history of golf course architecture... it is typical of my services to my clients, and what they rightly deserve.

Polish Open sponsored by LOTOS update:

The winning score was -9 by Florian Fritsch. Congratulations!

Special mention must be given to the sponsor LOTOS for putting on a first rate event, and club president Marek Majewski for helping bring the tournament to Sand valley.

Final Touches on Sand Valley's New Hell Bunker

Before.









After.
A rainy November 8, 2010, the new "Hell" bunker is completed.











Before.










After. The soil pile to the left will be spread about in the coming days.











Hell Bunker in its ancient unraked form. Notice the left is lower than the right; ours is reversed.














Hell Bunker in 1950.















Today, Hell Bunker is a barely recognizable from its original form.









Today I was up a little earlier, 05:00... and on the course setting the grass clumps in place an hour later under the lights of a utility vehicle. Not long after it stared raining again, as I was trying to get some shots to document the conversion.

I think it looks pretty good, and adds another dimension to the hole... entering the player's mind on the tee shot. One thing is certain... nobody will be losing their balls here anymore.

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

Final Day of heavy lifting at the New Dune Bunker

The bunker is completed, the grass clumps placed about the bunker and atop the sand. Tomorrow I'll set them in the sand and make any needed adjustments.

I had no idea exactly how this bunker would turn out, but it looks a little like a version of Hell bunker at St. Andrews Old, but in reverse. It wasn't planned that way, like everything else at Sand Valley, it simply evolved.

We cut slabs of sod from the bank of the 7th fairway extension and used them for the back of the bunker and one small section of bunker face and drove sand until noon. Then I let the guys go, figuring I'd tie-in the back of the bunker to the fairway before calling it quits too. Just as I was going to tie-in the outer banks, the bunker rake died, so I took some pieces of sod stockpiled during the first days and placed them about the bunker.

Later I joined some members for a few holes and got to look at the bunker with fresher eyes, and thought the grass clump placement looked pretty good. Tomorrow I'd set them in place.

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