How I Design and Build Greens

I don't draw plans for greens or bunkers. Instead I calculate the quantities of material required and sculpt them in the field in real time. This has a long tradition of producing the best, most intricate greens and surrounds, the best bunkers and bunker clusters. It is the tremendous, cost saving-quality increasing benefit of having the architect on-site daily.

This method is more akin to art, with absolute flexibility to modify or abandon ideas as the work is in progress.

Plans in the hands of the builder, regardless of how good, and absent of the architect, how most courses are constructed, result in a stiff, rigid process, because that is what document in the hands of the builder do! They drastically eliminate flexibility and creativity. Opportunities and refinements are lost... as no architect has or ever will draw perfect plans... ever.

Though I don't draw detailed plans for greens and bunkers, I do sketch out ideas, often dozens, some with vast differences, others with slight but significant changes. I don't insert heights, unless someone else is shaping greens for me, and would like a reference, and then these heights are mere suggestions.

When I'm shaping these features, I don't take the drawings with me in the field, but instead take the spirit in my heart and go from there. I'm free to change, and seize opportunities I could never imagine at a drawing board.

What I'm seeking with these sketches is general contours, strategy and drainage flow. With drainage I seek to move water off the green in at least two directions, and as little off the front of the green as possible.

A lot of golfers believe the green should be tilted towards the player to help stop the ball. The problem with this concept is the surface water drains off the front of the green, making a nice wet spot at the entrance to the green where there is a lot of foot traffic, creating a maintenance nightmare. All that water draining off the green also prevents the ball from being bounced int the green; the standard approach of many golfers.

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

Conceptual Illustration Hole 2

The 2nd Hole is 135-meters, over water, with a massive bunker with islands left of the green, fairway to the right and front, and a waste area to the right of the fairway.

The green will be long, some 38-meters, have significant contour, and the tee is huge, so the hole will play a variety of distances, and a variety of angles. All this will keep the hole interesting.

Because the hole is short, it will be attacked with short and medium irons, which means divots... lots of divots. Too often tees on such holes are no larger than normal, which is a fatal design error. When the tees are "normal size", the tee never has time to recover, so it is in poor condition much of the year and the shots into the green are always similar.... BORING! In the north, where the golf season can be all year, there is limited growth during the winter season... which means poor conditions come springtime.

If a club feels the tee is too big, it can always cut it smaller, but going back and building a larger tee is always a pain in the ass. It means closing the tee, waiting 12 to 20 weeks for it to grow-in, and usually the club is being pestered by members to open the damn thing and they do... weeks too early, creating another set of problems. I've seen it happen over and over.

For the ladies, there is a tee set along the bank of the pond. (For a related post about the placement of the Ladies Tee, click here: http://guthahuesgolf.blogspot.com/2010/12/about-ladies.html).

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

More... Much More of the Same

The start of pounding in the masses for the Buffer Wall. Two days later the wall, except for one small section was 30 meters deep and up to 5 meters high. We still have a couple meters of lake to dig out.

For those visiting the site, we are stacking the material high, higher than in the plan. It's easier and faster to push and shape the material going downhill, working with gravity than continually pushing it up to achieve the desired height.

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

Ba-da-Boom... Snow Alert!

Central and northern Europe got hit by snow. A good 20cm (8 inches), but... the ground remains frozen, and as we are digging out the lake, the material is wet anyway, so a little snow added to a few loads isn't going to make a bit of difference.

It's been an unusually cold start to the winter... but we'll take it. So long as the ground remains frozen while we are doing bulk work, we're happy campers.

How cold has it been? Well, England has recorded its coldest December on record already, and the locals here are complaining. They're not used to this stuff! As the saying goes, you don't have to shovel rain.

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

Moving Stakes Again

The 3rd green, 4th tees and wetland were staked last week, and I'd walked around, looked, made some notes and did a some thinking before uprooting the stakes and moving them.

The originally staked green (indicated by the Red Cross) lined up with a farmer's shed with tanks in the background, so I shifted the green left to get that eyesore out of the picture and to move the green closer to the Buffer Wall. (I would have shifted the Buffer Wall if I hadn't shifted the green.)

It's this type of incremental refinement that makes a difference, and a huge difference when added up at the end. If the architect makes rare site-visits, this type of stuff is missed. Don't think it doesn't happen. When the architect shows up weekly, monthly or quarterly... all sorts of refinements are lost... forever.

After shifting the green to the west, I shifted the Back Tee and equal amount. This softened the dogleg, which makes the hole better, and actually more tempting to play towards the corner. It also means the tee shot isn't over the tees in front... which is perfect.

The north-western wetland border was moved, keeping it close to the tees, and on the far side of the wetland brought it 5 to 10 meters from the forest. I'm expecting the ferns will creep out and overtake the area.

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

Weather: Better to be Lucky than Good

In surveys of developers, weather is one of the top challenges. All it takes is a stretch of bad weather to bring the construction site to a halt for weeks. At the wrong time it can erase months of work. In this area, you're going to have luck... good or bad.

It's another reason I prefer to be on-site daily. The architect/visionary making fast, knowledgeable, pro-active decisions, in communication with the builders on a daily basis speeds the process, ensures all details and opportunities to improve the project are implemented, and gives the best possible chance to hit the seeding window... even with delays. This focus and commitment has helped save investors from long delays from scheduled openings more than once.

At Der Golf Club in Obing, Bavaria we were hit by a full month rain delay, and it was questionable whether we would finish in time to seed, but as luck would have it the weather cleared up and we were able to get the job done... expertly and full of detail, and seeded. It wouldn't have happened without having the architect on-site daily, and the owner would be the first to tell you so. This commitment ensured the owner could open the next season, allowing them to collect dues for the year, preventing them from having to maintain the course for a year without any incoming revenue, and having to take on a partner. It saved them 250,000 Euros and a host of headaches.







Der Golf Club, Obing: 9th Hole

Friday evening the light rain began, powered through the entire night, melting the snow (See related post: http://guthahuesgolf.blogspot.com/2010/12/matsche-pampe-slopsville.html ). So when I headed to the site Monday morning and saw the frost I didn't think it would be strong enough to support the machines through a long day. One night's frost usually isn't enough to turn slop to steel, capable of supporting 10 to 35 tons of machine for the entire day.

Surprise! The ground had frozen the soil several inches, turning the entire surface from slop into an asphalt-like consistency. Perfect for the track scraper to make its runs from the pond to the roadside, where it will deposit fill at a depth of 30-plus meters and a height of 5-meters.

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

The Track Scraper... almost as rare as a 3 Dollar bill

This is a great bit of gear. I've used it in the past... it takes about 10 cubic meters in its belly, and is good for hauling dirt 400-meters. The benefit of using this beast is it can work in conditions where dumpers would cause rutting, destroy the soil structure, making it difficult to get from point A to point B.

We are using it to scrape out the lake between holes 2 & 3.

In these videos the operator is stripping and stockpiling topsoil.

Part 1 (Loading & Transport):


Part 2 (Unloading):


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

Matsche Pampe (Slopsville)

It warmed up, started drizzling yesterday evening, the light rain fell the entire evening and melted all the snow.

When I arrived to the site at 07:00 in the dark, put on my boot and was ready to head to the site I ran into Andreas... one of our heavy equipment operators, and he said it was a day of rest. Too wet, too sloppy.

I was happy to hear it come so straight, not because I wanted a day off (I didn't... and there is never a day off), but because the builder didn't want to force the job forward.

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

About The Ladies Tees

While discussing the 2nd hole, the superintendent Bernie Kleimann asked why the forward tee and the Men's tee couldn't be closer together.

From the Men's tee the hole is 135-meters; a forced carry over water, and bunker. An impossible shot for 98% of women.

I explained Ladies hit the ball flatter, with far less spin than the men. They hit their drives about 135-meters on average, and therefore wouldn't have a hope of hitting the green.

That ladies hit the ball so short has been long documented, at least 30-years.

By chance I visited a club in the region this summer hosting a ladies tournament. The course was hard as concrete, baked from the summer heat, it was 30-degrees and there was no wind. On average the ladies hit the ball 145-meters... carry and roll, and my guess is 25% of the total distance was roll. These were some of the better lady members, representing their respective clubs.

The performance gap between men and women is known in North America, but after 15-years dealing with Northern European clubs... it hasn't penetrated the golf community... yet.

In Germany the lack of understanding is thanks to the Deutsche Golf Verband's disastrous 12% rule, which hundreds of golf courses had used in their designs. A recommendation that the ladies tees should be placed 88% of the men's tee. The result? The average women's courses are almost long enough to host a US Open!!! . This "12% rule" has done tremendous damage.

An article I had written about this problem 14-years ago is as valid today as the day it was published.
DGV Wrong Again!

Folks... there is no formula... only applying knowledge and common sense to create holes that are enjoyable for the greatest number.

So, knowing how the ladies attack the game, Golf Club Gut Hahues will be on the cutting edge.

The Forward tee on the 2nd eliminates the forced carry over water and bunker. At 105-meters (it really should be 80-meters) ladies can perhaps hit a middle iron, and bounce the ball onto the green. The hole is early in the round, will be fun, and enjoyable.

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

Adjustments Begin

As noted above, the best courses evolve. You can’t plan them and walk away and hope the builder gets it right. Most builders aren’t golfers. Just go to any site and start asking around.

After staking the critical areas on Tuesday, I walked around and made some notes. As there was no rush to make these changes, I let a day pass to think them over.

On the 2^nd there will be a bunker to the left of the green and the waste that I had coming directly to the front will be converted to fairway. This change led to another.

I placed the forward tee on the 2nd to the left along the property line so the ladies would have an open shot to the green, and could bounce the ball onto it. The forced carry was planned only from the Men’s tee. By putting the bunker left of the green and having fairway to the front, I’ve now moved the Forward Tee along the pond’s edge. A prettier location, and a better angle into the green. One change leads to another and another and another.

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

Lake Discussions

We had a meeting today with the builder, and one of the main topics was an alternative design to the 400 meters of pipe that needs be cut to control the water level in the lake.

The alternative was to raise the lake level, and let its level fluctuate as much as 80cm. The club opted for the better aesthetics and additional cost to keep the lake from fluctuating.

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

GPS... the Horrors and Benefits

We are using GPS to stake the critical golf course points. It is much easier and faster than traditional surveying. It took us about 30 minutes to stake the perimeter of the lake, the tee and green locations for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd holes.

While putting away the equipment I heard a great story about the potential horrors of GPS.

A design company everyone knows, working with a builder in an English speaking country that should have had someone on the building team that knew better, hooked their equipment up to the GPS plans and off they went. It was a huge dirt moving operation, and three months passed before someone from the design company visited. Well, the builder followed the GPS… too precisely, for the golf course looked like it was constructed from LEGO!

The builder had to haul in another 10% material to fill in the gaps of their LEGO-like construction. Work that cost significant time and money cost to eliminate. OUCH!

The moral:

1. GPS, like CAD, is a tool, not a miracle… and the best courses… they don’t follow plans precisely because man is imperfect, and achieving perfection is a process, is hard work… not an event.

2. Even in a golfing nation, on a huge project, not one of the builders knew golf!!!

There is one additional tale to the GPS Horror Show. The property, so I am told, was so good it didn't require extensive bulldozing. The architect was simply unsympathetic to the site, forcing his idea$ into an already beautiful canvas instead of using the tremendous gifts provided by Nature.

Richard and James staking the first green.









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

Strip Show

It’s been a day of stripping organic material and pushing it into the buffer wall running along the roadside perimeter of the property, clearing the area for the lake excavation, green and tees fill.

It’s been cold, freezing actually and the only benefit of that is the ground is pretty dry.

Stripping away the organic material for the 2nd and 3rd holes.

The Squad... decked out in Soviet evening wear (from left): Tony Ristola (Golf Architect), The Beisenkotter (President), Matthais Poetter (Builder), Juergen Zemmerling (Club Board), and Bernie Kleimann (Superintendent)... Hey! Where's Richard?


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