LEADERSHIP DRIVEN GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE

Sand Valley Golf Pasłek, Poland

Construction Progression 4th Hole, Wetlands (Tee Shot)

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Architect’s Time On-Site During Construction

Typical Tony Ristola 0 to 6% 100%

VISION AND LEADERSHIP ARE INSEPARABLE

The Start Point:

Peaty-topsoil has been pushed in for the subgrade of the tees over ground not prepared to take fill. It was removed.

A view of the tees from behind the 3rd green.

Wetland has been scraped out, organic material originally stockpiled for the tees removed and replaced with sand from our quarry.

No wetland was planned for this area in the original scheme, but it was a natural.

From the Pro Tee. One of my favorite places on the property. The original scheme had the pathway running in a straight line along the left of the tees. By moving it to the right and hiding the pathway by weaving it through the clumps of trees helped expand, naturalize and tie the tees into the wetland.

Seeded

Grow-in

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.

Responsibilities

• Golf Course Design: The golf course was designed in the field on a daily basis. An EIGCA architect began the project, but his

design was abandoned. The EIGCA architect’s 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 stakes

were used!

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

• Finish work on greens in conjunction with another finishing expert.

• Painting for marketing and promotion

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

• Marketing material assistance

The hours worked at Sand Valley are not an exception to the rule, they are the rule. This represents the same effort I have given all my

projects and is the same service all investors receive for their investment of millions. If you were to compare, I spend more time on-site

during construction in five days than most architects spend on-site during the entire project. It is this attention during the most

costly and permanent phase of design… construction… that makes an enormous difference… not the budgets. And, this is

precisely why I only do one project at a time.

42.8% of American golf course architects polled found it difficult to find qualified builders for their projects. In Europe the percentage is

far greater. Sand Valley started with an EIGCA ( European Institute of Golf Course Architects) architect’s detailed plans and a golf course

builder hired on the strength of their previous work. I was brought in after 11-months and the project started anew. Virtually everything

the previous builder produced was scrapped. All greens, fairways and strategies are the product of my daily involvement and bulldozer

blade. No plans were used, only my vision of how to take a costly mess and turn it into a winning jewel for the owners.

Daily involvement speeds the effort and eliminates opportunities for error because communication between architect and builder is daily,

virtually instantaneous and based on days, weeks and months of constant observation and thought. Being present to answer questions

from the constructors immediately and not during a rare “site-visit” days or weeks later after “work completed according to plan” and has

to be redone saves time, money and increases quality significantly. For example, when a feature is under construction or the irrigation

designer shows up, I’m there at their sides answering questions before works begins and as it is being achieved, thereby attaining the

desired result... or something even better than envisioned. The owner of Sand Valley, quoted below, reveals the advantages of the

architect leading construction vs. the “typical” hit-and-run method. Having experienced both methods in action, he knows the vast

differences!

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”.

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

www.fullswinggolf.com.au

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 für 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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Tony Ristola

agolfarchitect.com Leadership Driven Architecture

...Because Vision and Leadership are Inseparable

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Design and construction are not separate jobs, but different parts of the same job