sand valley construction progression hole 1. goat's agolfarchitect.com version 1

8/14/2019 Sand Valley Construction Progression Hole 1. Goat's Agolfarchitect.com Version 1

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LEADERSHIP DRIVEN GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE

Sand Valley GolfPasek, Poland

Construction ProgressionHole 1: Goats

agolfarchitect.comagolfarchitect@yahoo.comsandvalleygolf.blogspot.com

tonyristola.blogspot.com

Architects Time On-SiteDuring Construction

TypicalTony Ristola0 to 6%100%

VISION AND LEADERSHIP ARE INSEPARABLE


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This project began with an EIGCA architects detailed plans, and specifications book. He was scheduled to make

the industry standard infrequent site-visits during construction. The golf course builder was selected on the

strength of their previous golf course construction work.

For 10-months, the builder was permitted to repeat one fundamental construction error after another, and 11-

months after ground breaking I was brought in and the project started anew. Before the restart, the entire

property was photo documented, and an 11-page status report identified 14-holes of construction

mismanagement. Two seasoned engineers confirmed my analysis.

The grading, greens and strategy plans of the previous architect were disposed of, as were the construction

specifications for greens, tees, and bunkers. The previous architects generic construction specifications were

replaced with those tailored to this specific property, and the valuable opportunities available.

Construction errors noted at the start of the photo sequences represent the state of the project upon my arrival,

and My Starting Point. What evolved is the product of 5,500 hours on-site, personally leading and sculpting the

transformation of the landscape.

Near the completion of the project, the owner made this persuasive statement in the book Golf Architecture,

Volume 5, about the value the architect leading construction on a daily basis brings:

Specifically, (the owner of Sand Valley) 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 ofspecial details makes stuff look just stunning, yet does not cost all that much to build; details just not possible on a turn key project.

Rescuing Sand Valley, A Lesson for Investors

Golf Architecture, A Worldwide Perspective Vol. 5, 2009.

www.fullswinggolf.com.au

If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected] and please visit the daily blog of the

project, the first daily blog of a golf course under construction at www.sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com

For the Record


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Hole 1, My Starting Point, where the previous builder and EIGCA architect left off, looking at the greensite.

Surprisingly, before my arrival, the entire 1st hole along with adjoining holes 5 and 18 were stripped of their high quality topsoil.Where did the topsoil go? It found an inappropriate use as fill for the start of the buffer wall in the distance!


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Looking down the fairway, the greensite in the distance.


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With the errors regarding the missing topsoil, the exposed sandy subsoil would erode during rains, and of course, it rains.

The two piles to the right of the picture in the distance frame the original greensite.The previous builder stockpiled topsoil or worse as fill material for the greens pad on several holes a fundamental construction error.


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Finally, rains stopped and shaping the 1st fairway begins.

The top section of the hole was clay, the lower section silty-sand.

These are the first cuts, the whole fairway lies ahead waiting for transformation.


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The first passes with the dozer on the lower silty-sand section.

It looks flat, and except for the downhill slope it is.Here Im cleaning the erosion and seeking natural looking contours to begin camouflaging the drainage.

Not a grading stake in site.


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Heres where I come back into it. So we get it all roughed in there and looking pretty much like a golf

course. And I put together a D-4 or D-5 bulldozer, and that costs maybe $100. So, I go in there and

on the sixth green or the sixth hole or whatever it is, I say look, you ought to do this, do that and say it

takes him two days, so he spends $2,000. So if I spent $2,000 on every hole, thatd be $36,000 on a

$6 million project. In the mean time, these guys that do drawings that are to the inch, they

get so many stakes out there, it takes the bulldozer operator five times as long to get it

done, as opposed to me just showing them. Ill do it quickly myself, and show them So that

doesnt cost anything, I can change the greens, I can go in and change the greens five times for

$5,000 on a $6 million project. On a bulldozer, if I go in there and say look, change the contour, takes

them an hour, two hours, $200. If Im responsible like that and theyre all responsible to me - the

construction manager, the bulldozers it all channel down and saves money.

Interview with Pete Dye

http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=782


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I am an architect who has the skills to accomplish my own design ideas and seize the constant opportunities to improve the original concepts

instantaneously while building. This was the Standard Operating Procedure for all aspects of Sand Valley.

Think, build, evaluate (think), modify as features were being built.

Im proud to say I personally shaped all the greens and fairways.


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The hill left of the green, Goats Hill, is in its infancy.In the distance sand is stockpiled for the green.


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The green hill, a topsoil pile, will be used for covering the fifth fairway.Goats Hill has achieved it height, and is awaiting shaping.


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Shaping this green took one evening, a little faster than normal.

Shaped, topsoil replaced, and onto cleaning the contours, preparing for seeding.Goats Hill to the front-left of the green has been hydro-seeded.Irrigation stakes dot the landscape.


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Reborn.Grow-in.

Every fairway and green contour is 100% man-made by the architect Tony Ristola.I prefer to work with original contours whenever possible, and would have produced a vastly different golf course had I had not inherited

14-holes of construction mistakes as a starting point.

The course would have been completed one year earlier, saved a million Euro's and gained the developer a season of play. Started by anEIGCA architect with detailed plans, specifications book and qualified builder for 11-months, the project was restarted and completed by

this architect working without detailed plans and grading stakes using a team made of up locals that knew nothing about golf.

Sand Valley is the poster child for the potential pitfalls using the typical method of golf course production, where the architect drawsplans and abandons the project for days, weeks or months at a time. It also illustrates the tremendous cost and quality benefits total

flexibility produces when a focused, committed architect is on-site daily.


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The tees were repositioned, the greensite was shifted left, Goats Hill evolved to the front-left of the green.

The hill/ridge to the front-right followed an evolutionary process.No grading plans or grading stakes were used except to mark irrigation.This permitted maximum flexibility and speed.


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Sand Valley Golf & CC by the Numbers

Total Schedule: 543 days. This includes Saturdays and Sundays.

Number days I worked: 517

Number of hours worked per day on average: 11 hours (includes Sat. & Sun.)

Total Hours: 5500+. My work day started on average at 06:00, and I was usually the last to leave the construction site.

My Responsibilities

Golf Course Design: The golf course was designed in the field on a daily basis. An EIGCA architect began the project, but hisdesign was abandoned. The EIGCA architects general routing was used though modified.

Construction Supervisor: The construction team was largely locals.

Lead shaper: shaping all greens, all fairways and larger scale bunkers.(Caterpillar D6N & D6R) No detailed plans were used to create the greens, hazards or fairway contours. In fact, no grade stakeswere used!

Daily blog about the construction of the golf course: www.sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com

Finish work on greens in conjunction with another finishing expert.

Paintings for promotion & marketing etc.

Original: 60cm x 25cm (Acrylic on canvas)

Marketing material assistance


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At all of my projects I have either worked with a general contractor, or a crew of workers selected from the local community, saving

bundles of cash since a company claiming to specialize in golf course construction is more expensive than hiring a local crew of qualified

and conscientious operators.

Sand Valley was largely built by people that had no concept of golf none! The same was done at GC Emstal, where I worked alongside a

conscientious regional general contractor to create a project ranked among the best golf courses in Germany by Golf Digest.

BUND (Bund fr die Naturschutz Deutschland) the environmental watchdog group gave this far-reaching endorsement:

Outstanding Integration of a Golf Course Along the Ems River

We admit this: We made a mistake. What stands now is a golf course which fits in excellent harmony with the landscape of the Ems

River valley. What stood one year before was an area of 50 desolate hectares dominated by intensively cultivated cornfields. Within a

few short months this was transformed into a project which is now a model for the integration of a sports park in a protected area.

My service does not stop with the end of construction.

The reason this is such a far reaching endorsement? When golf is in question, one usually expects the direct opposite response from

BUND. They actually buy land to stop golf projects!

The best golf courses are the product of a cooperative effort between the architect and owner/superintendent to ensure the course is set

up and matures as the architect envisioned. Great courses are a labor of love, and greatness is unlikely if the designer, owner and

superintendent play only the opening round together and never see one another again. For these reasons, my services do not stop at the

end of construction. They continue for the life of the project.

For each golf course I design, I write a book documenting its architecture, construction and maintenance practices. It becomes a

comprehensive short and long term guide for the members, guests, etc., but most importantly for the superintendent and board

members. This work provides a historical record that assists in the continuing evolvement of the project, with the goal of ensuring the

design intent is never compromised, that club funds are not misspent on doing and undoing work detrimental to the design.


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