Lake Wobegon Effect

Lake Wobegon Effect: The tendency for most people to describe themselves or their abilities as above average.

In short it boils down to "we believe we are better than we are."

I don't. I know it takes personal commitment, leadership to accomplish the exceptional.

It is why I spend all my time on-site. To ensure excellence for the developer on every project.

I don't trust others left alone for long periods interpreting my plans... my vision. It is a method sure to disappoint some of the time regardless of who you are. History has proven as much.

It is why the great courses were often constructed early in the architect's career... before he had concurrent projects dividing their time.

Ross, Mackenzie, two architects that produced exceptional golf courses also produced work that fell short because they didn't have an architect leading the way.Mackenzie as with all other noted architects, produced his best work when he was present to stand over the construction phase. His poorest work was mostly that which he left in sketch drawings.
Peter Thompson

It's above average commitment, leadership, communication, opportunity seeking and monitoring that produces excellence... pretty plans and part-time involvement by the architect just hasn't cut it.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

With Brilliance, Spirit, Fire, and Energy

The few words above describe the Italian musical term Con Brio.

Every great golf course requires it. If great golf course architecture had a Periodic Table like that of Chemical Elements: Brilliance, Spirit, Fire, Energy would would be part of it.

Its core would be Commitment. It requires commitment to mine these precious elements.

Without Commitment by an architect leading construction Con Brio doesn't exist.

In its worst cases Con Brio is replaced by its antitheses... confusion, irritation, apathy, and insignificance.

There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.
Martha Graham
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
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From My Easel and Sketch Pads

Before and after conceptual illustration of the greensite of a 300 yard par-4.

Following in the path of my Grandfather, a career as a professional artist was the goal almost three decades ago. The pursuit of a career as a tournament golf professional slowed my involvement with art, but entering the design and building of golf courses twenty years ago rekindled my interest in drawing. Today it is a tool for exploring what a specific golf course could look like.

The following Conceptual Illustrations are part of a collection that is in the hundreds upon hundreds.

I use all mediums: acrylic paint, pen/ink, graphite and computer. With the computer graphics I don't let the computer draw the concept from a CAD map... I personally generate the drawing by hand.

Painting of the 6th at Sand Valley GC.

Conceptual illustration of a fairway bunker collection.






Conceptual illustration for a short par-3; Volcano.







Trench bunker conceptual illustrations.







Sidehill greensite; conceptual illustration


Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
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+49 (0)173 450 4552
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Land: The Best Art

I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.
Andy Warhol

The great golf courses of the world fit this quote perfectly as their character is largely land driven. The architect simply find the best holes in the landscape and integrates the essentials; greens, tees, hazards along with the needed engineering.

It's why great properties with good soils are the cheapest golf courses to construct. Most of the architecture is complete, and a sympathetic architect realizes to leave well enough alone.

It's also why courses without cart paths are more appealing.

Leaving well enough alone isn't enough though. The architect has to focus laser-like on every adjustment he makes to the land. Mediocrity in this department is the ruination of a tremendous opportunity.

Unfortunately it is the common result because talking about action is easier than making a personal commitment to it.

...during the last twenty-five years or so…The (professional) architects had so many scattered projects on their agenda that they could not find the time to stay put at any one course during the critical weeks and sometimes months, when rough ideas are translated into holes that really play.Herbert Warren Wind
Forward to the 1987 reprint of Golf Architecture, 1920. Dr. Alister Mackenzie.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
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Style

Committing oneself to a technique causes stagnation.
Kimon Nicolaides

Repeating the same "technique" from golf course to golf course is often misrepresented as "style". It really is an exercise in oversimplification.

I believe every project has one or more "styles" that can yield a cost effective golf course. The challenge is getting the builder to build it. That's why I am on-site daily. Builders are not architects and most haven't studied great architecture. They are not familiar with the multitude of possible styles.

To create individuality, the architect has to lead daily. Otherwise that novel concept is not likely to be produced in the architect's absence... and the typical golf architect only commits to a handful of visits. This leaves huge information gaps between architect and builder. How do these architects close these information gaps?

They simplify and repeat.

Simplification and repetition is the safe way to the finish line, but certainly not the safe way to make your mark in the market. You can see this repetition in your travels... the same "style" in Bangkok, Berlin or Boston... only the vegetation changes the setting.

The way to ensure against "stagnation" is to hire an architect who is committed to your project daily. Why else be there if not to create individuality and excellence?

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
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Which no man could have dreamed

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An architect's commitment to working with the builders on a daily basis has proven to be the most potent asset he can bring to the developer's project.

It is no wonder many of the great courses were built with this commitment. And many courses that would have been merely mediocre have become courses of exception... simply through the architect helping the builders daily.

The benefits of contact, seeing things first hand in real-time, listening, speaking, laughing, being able to spend the time and see things from all angles... distant, close up... seizing the opportunities that evolve from this commitment and observation is what dramatically elevates the potential of the project.

Plans and an absentee architect cannot do this. How could they?

If you want something truly special, hire someone committed to your project. Someone eagerly willing to grind through the months of daily challenges, clarifications, discussions, and opportunities. Someone who will build relationships and get the most from your land and budget.

There is nothing more potent... not even big budgets. Though big budgets can fix work poorly accomplished... it cannot beat the commitment of a motivated, knowledgeable golf course architect who attends to getting the most out of everything on a daily basis.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Habit

Get the habit of analysis- analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind.
Frank Lloyd Wright

In golf course design habitual analysis requires being in touch with the daily grind of construction. All the synthesis that emerges from an architect's mind cannot be put on paper as Wright had with structures.

Golf architecture requires being in touch with the builders, the site, the process for weeks and months at a crack because the vision of the architect differs from the interpretation of each individual builder.

It allows the synthesis of new opportunities, new concepts, improvements across the board.

Little time = little synthesis and communication of these winning ideas.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Enthusiasm

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Enthusiasm can't be mailed in.

It can't be sent electronically.

It has to be expressed, poured out in person.

It requires commitment... and time.

Leadership.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
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Eclipsed

It is rare that the founder of a discipline does not find his work eclipsed in rather short order by successors.
Warren Buffet writing about Ben Graham (1894-1976), Financial Analysts Journal, 1976.

The founders of modern golf course architecture, those men that took golf from the seashores and and brought it inland created a host of tremendous golf courses still stand as giants.

With all the modern advantages of grasses, heavy equipment, and planning the old courses still dominate the Top 100 lists.

OK, they had some tremendous properties, and the power of being first in the market, but with all our seeming advantages, modern golf architecture lacks adventure and mystery of the old courses.

Why?

They couldn't move tons of dirt so they had creative design solutions using the land... where we today would bulldoze it away.

Their construction tools (shovels and horse drawn scoops) were far more intricate than the wide blade of a bulldozer.

Construction was far slower, so they had more time to evaluate work being done. What took weeks in the old days can take a few hours today.

All together it is more important for the architect to lead construction, but that rarely occurs. When it does... excellence and courses different from the norm evolve. Courses that may not "eclipse" the great oldies, but certainly reflect their values and are in their class.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
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See I Told You So Part II

Those change orders that they talked about may have been a result...making infrequent site visits. First, the contractor builds to the staff architect vision, and then has to rebuild.

That is, I understand, common with Tour Pros and their firms. It might be possible with a large firm...http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36235.0.html

Most architects make infrequent site-visits. Weekly, monthly, quarterly or not at all.

Most architects edit work built according to plan instead of crafting the work in the field in real-time.

It's not just the projects tour pro's have glued their names to (you don't really believe these people are the architects do you?) or larger firms... it's the industry norm.

It doesn't mean you have to accept inferior service for your investment of millions. There are a few dedicated architects out there willing to commit to your project.

Committed to maximizing the property, budget and every opportunity to improve the initial concepts.

It's how the great courses were produced.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

See I Told You So

Those change orders that they talked about may have been a result...making infrequent site visits. First, the contractor builds to the staff architect vision, and then has to rebuild.

That is, I understand, common with Tour Pros and their firms. It might be possible with a large firm...
However, it could be just at true...where the work is done in the field by shapers/shaping associates and the head guy comes out to tweak every once in a while.

Contractors are usually pretty good about making reasonable changes, providing its close to what was drawn or explained, and the changes take hours or only days. I can see them getting frustrated with any gca who repeatedly changes a green because he just doesn't know what he wants.

While the frustration level of the shaper would be the same either way, I suppose. That said, most of the in house shapers probably also get billed to the owner hourly, and there would be some extra cost for repeated shaping, there too. If not, and the gca is providing the shaper on a lump sum basis, there might come a time near the end of the project where "that's good enough" might come into play, too, as the gca realizes he's paying for it out of his own pocket, just as a contractor would. http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36235.0.html

In a few paragraphs the claims and basis for this blog are substantiated, but as one scientist had written... "An author never misses out a chance to point out a confirming instance of his theory"... so the drumbeat will continue until everyone is convinced the best service any investor could have is to have the architect leading construction daily. Above there are a few things to note:

1. It's not uncommon for architects to rebuild work built according to plan; it's especially common with "Signature" designers.
2. Builders having to rebuild work constructed according-to-plan get frustrated. Who wouldn't?
3. Architects with a bunch of work completed, and too much of it requiring reworking will let inferior work pass. "It's good enough."

All the problems listed are easily rectified with an architect on-site daily.

An architect leading construction daily can modify features as they are being built, answer all questions builders may have in real-time looking at the work with the builder... not days or week later... or by telephone, seize every opportunity to improve the product as it is being built, and only accept excellence.

All this makes the work go faster, it's more fun, and everyone is happy... proud of the result.

Why else would an architect be on-site other than to help the builders achieve excellence for the investor?

For the best think tank on golf course architecture, I highly recommend www.golfclubatlas.com
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
1(909) 581 0080

Quality Control

The seminars taught industrial engineering, cost control, and the value of investing in research and development. They taught that workers on all levels of the company should be included in product development. But mainly the course stressed quality control, that it is a state of mind that can’t be inspected into a product. Stranger in a Strange Land How Homer Sarasohn Brought Industrial Quality to Japan and Why It Took Japan So Long to Learn By Robert X. Cringely

Somebody has to lead the construction effort for this to happen.

With the speed of modern construction a lot can happen quickly, and if the architect isn't there to communicate, and monitor... quality slips or costs more.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
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Industrial Processes

to guarantee that quality remained at an acceptable level. If quality dropped, the production lines would be shut down, tying the success of management directly to its control of quality. The people in charge were thus personally committed to product quality, and could not delegate this responsibility. Stranger in a Strange Land How Homer Sarasohn Brought Industrial Quality to Japan and Why It Took Japan So Long to Learn By Robert X. Cringely

Who is going to shut down production of your golf course when there is a misinterpretation of the design intent, or the architect's idea for a particular feature doesn't fit?

Some investors will have to wait a week, a month or a quarter for quality control.Studies about industrial production tell us the architect won't correct all misinterpretations. He'll let some borderline work slide.
The only way to guarantee high quality is to have the architect communicate and monitor the most costly and permanent design phase on a daily basis... Construction.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Scuttlebutt

"The business 'grapevine' is a remarkable thing. It is amazing what an accurate picture of the relative points of strength and weakness of each company in an industry can be obtained from a representative cross-section of the opinions of those who in one way or another are concerned with any particular company." Ten Great Investors, Phillip Fisher http://www.incademy.com/courses/Ten-great-investors/-Warren-Buffett/3/1040/10002

Don't just ask the owners of the construction companies (they're looking for more work) or the managers of the clubs (would you say something negative about your project?).

Ask the people who actually do the building, the shapers that have worked with the architect, the guys in the field busting their asses 12 to 15 hours a day.

Ask the past and current golf course superintendents.

Don't just go see the projects the architect wants you to see, but go to the ones that he'd prefer to hide and find out all about them. How much they cost, who built them, why they fell short. It is these projects that will give you a deep insight to what can go wrong.

It could help you avoid major errors and save a fortune.

It could help you get an excellent golf course cost effectively produced.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Single Difference Between Success and Failure

Understanding what not to do can be just as important as figuring out what to do. In all the years that I have counseled and educated investors, the single difference between success and failure, between gain and loss, boils down to one word: knowledge. Paul Mladjenovic, Stock Investing for Dummies, 2nd Edition, 2006

But where to get that knowledge?

The promoters try to tell you their services are best, but what is best?

Knowledge transfer is critical, and plans only provide information, not knowledge.

Knowledge has to come from the visionary... the architect.

If you’re doing six or eight or ten, or twelve or twenty golf courses at a time, you can’t control it all – there’s too much work to do in any given hour of any given day. Bill Coore, Interview with travelgolf.comThere is too much knowledge that requires communication... even with two courses being built concurrently.

Three courses, with travel, would only allow the architect to visit once per week.

www.golfclubatlas.com provides a lot of views about golf course architecture. What is valuable and what isn't. It's a golf investor's best independent resource.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Value of a Golf Course

There are many new courses being built. One of the stops was in Lordsburg New Mexico or jury met with some community leaders at the bank. It was a lesson to me on how important a golf course can be to a community. Lordsburg is a nice little town on a main highway, but the leaders were having trouble attracting professional people. They felt a golf course would help. A golf course is an important amenity, especially to higher income people. Stan Metsker, On the Course: The Life and Times of a Golf Course Superintendent, 1996

Golf courses have transformed the economies of entire regions. Of course, the better the golf course, the greater the impact.

More so if it is done economically.

It really does pay to have the job done exceptionally well the first time.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

You're Stuck with It for an Eternity

You only get a wee while with your work. The customer gets an eternity. You owe it to the customer to use every ploy you can to get the thing right. Robert Genn, Seven useful ploys

Golf courses go through planning, permitting, and then it's off to construction... The most costly and permanent Design-Phase.
With modern machines the pace of work is quick, so there is a lot to communicate, a lot to see, a lot still to discover. An architect looking at maps isn't getting the same level of detail as an architect on the ground during construction.

The builder left alone for days, weeks or months at a time with a roll of plans is left guessing at a lot of work.

Yep, we only get a short while with our work, and the owner, members, and community get it for a lifetime.

We do owe it to the investor of millions "to get the thing right". Ideally that means the architect leading construction on a daily basis.

It's not easy. That's why a rare few architects in the history of the game have worked in this manner.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Finding and Understanding Value

…nobody was going to tell you that Western Insurance was a steal; you had to get there on your own. Roger Lowenstein, Buffett; The Making of an American Capitalist

You don't have to "get there on your own" in the golf business. There are people who will help you understand what it takes to get the most value for your muti-million investment.

The great thing is history repeatedly reveals success is not more complicated than an exercise in common sense... A combination of knowledge, leadership, communication and tons of hard work.

For those interested in shortcuts, the most valuable golf architecture web site by far is the discussion group at www.golfclubatlas.com

You will find a group of golf architecture aficionados that have generated 33,000 threads discussing the whole spectrum of golf architecture and the business.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Always Amazed

GCA: Does an architect have to see the land before he makes plans as to what to do with it or can he do it by proxy?
PD: I’m always amazed when people have an outside contractor come in and develop a golf course and don’t control it. You can spend a lot of money building a golf course but if you have people on site they can change it three or four times and it doesn’t escalate the cost either of maintenance or construction.
Interview Pete Dye, http://www.caesarea.org.il/download/files/1126gca_pete_dye_interview.pdf

That's the value of an architect leading construction.

You have the time to perfect each feature like a sculpture working a piece of clay. It is faster and more cost effective.

The ultimate arbiter, the architect, can seize every opportunity to improve the work as it is being built.

He can spends weeks or months thinking about features and holes to be built, compare them to holes constructed, and refine them before a shovel of dirt is moved. And then refine them after the dirt has begun moving.

Building golf courses does cost a lot of money, and nobody can read the architect's vision by peering at his plans.

Plans are raw data that cannot speak. The best courses are the product of thought, and conversations, with the plans used as the most basic guideline.

After that, leadership is used to monitor continuous opportunities and improvement.

It is amazing how many investors settle for minuscule construction oversight (the most costly and permanent design phase) for their investment of millions.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Deming and Golf Part 3

Mike Fraga (VP Quality, Florida Power and Light) Min 1:37 to 1:54 "If you do not seek continuous improvement in all that you do you really have not implemented a true quality process. Quality improvement means there is continuous improvement. You have to do continuous organizational self assessment."

"Continuous improvement" isn't accomplished using the "typical" method of infrequent "site-visits" by the architect because he is editing results and not managing the process that produces them.

If you want a specific result in golf course architecture, you have to plan for it, explain it, monitor it and refine it. You may even have to stop folks from refining it too much!

"...the number of defective items that an inspector finds depends on the size of the work load presented to him (documented by Harold F. Dodge in the Bell Telephone Laboratories around 1926).

An inspector, careful not to penalize anybody unjustly, may pass an item that is just outside the borderline. The inspector in the illustration on page 265 of the same book (Out of Crisis), to save the jobs of 300 people, held the proportion of defective items below 10 per cent.

In the golf course design-construction industry an architect making infrequent "site-visits" may let borderline work pass in order to cover for the inadequacy of his working method. "Good enough" or worse makes the passing grade where daily leadership would allow for continuous improvement of all elements.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Deming and Golf Part 2

Clare Crawford-Mason (Producer 'The Deming Library')
Min 7:03 to 7:20
"Dr. Deming is the first person to tell you there is no quick fix...there is no instant pudding is the way he puts it. People want a recipe, and quality is a way of thinking. It's a drastic change in how we think about everything we do ..."

Plans are the "recipe", but great art needs more than a paint-by-numbers template.

An architect leading construction daily "is a drastic change" from the norm. He takes the recipe and increases value by continually improving every aspect of the design.

It isn't easy, it isn't part-time, and it isn't instant.

It's about focus and commitment.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Deming and Golf Part 1

Minute 1:27 to 1:38
Don Peterson (Former Chief Executive, Ford Motor Company):
"... whenever you're having a problem, 80 to 85% of the time it is not people, it's the process... it's the design itself, it's something people can't do a thing about."

Minute 09:19 to 09:25
Koji Kobajashi (Former NEC President):
"... the important thing was that quality control was about people not products."

Golf course design and construction are two separate but integrated fields; Art and engineering.

The engineering, the pipes in the ground, compacting material and the like are industrial processes that are repetitive. These can be accomplished by proud, expert tradesmen.

The art of design is a far more difficult prospect. Each golf course is unique, and the "knowledge" of that unique vision is locked in the architect's head. It's why many courses fall short.

Only the architect can guide the vision and exploit every opportunity to improve the project.

Only the architect can implement "continuous improvement" of the design. This cannot be accomplished with infrequent "site-visits".

Infrequent is not constant or continuous.

It's why the best courses have the architect leading the effort because he is providing the critical knowledge, explaining his vision.

He is continuously improving the design... on a daily basis.

The workers have more fun because they are given every opportunity to excel... creating excellence, and they are on the lookout too because they have the decision maker there... who can listen and act... or not on their input.

There is minimal waste... so it's more cost effective too.

"Continuous Improvement" is not easy, and is why few architects in the history of the profession have applied themselves this way.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Handling of Information

While we put more and more technical effort into the excellence of our computers we make almost no effort to improve our handling of information. Information, Edward de Bono, http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/msg22b.htm
Plans of any kind only offer limited information. Its greatest value is cost calculation for labor and materials.

It's weakest value is explaining the art, the vision of the artist... architect.

That need be done by the architect, and isn't something that loans itself to weekly, monthly or quarterly "site-visits."

Limited information transfer leads to all manner of misinterpretation... and "site-visits" are used to put out the hottest fires instead of maximizing all opportunities.
Site... Visit. Key word... "visit".

Foreigners "visit".

Visitors "edit".

Visionaries lead... and this takes time. It's not a part time job.
Leaders handle the transfer of information differently. They do it frequently... at best daily... and it makes all the difference in the world.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Value and Success

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein

And if you strive to be of value you'll most likely be a success. Especially in this business of golf course architecture because we are operating on almost century-old norms.

Being of maximum value means the architect leads construction daily. Helping the builders, and protecting the investors in the process.

Such a service prevents poor golf courses from being built.

It's an insurance policy.

Now that's value.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Opportunity and Opportunities

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” The Art of War, SUN – TZU

Seizing opportunity is the way to make a potentially good course excellent. This requires the daily leadership by an architect because opportunities to improve the project don't appear according to some site-visit schedule.

Sometimes it requires days of thinking to make sure the opportunity is all it's cracked up to be.

Opportunities appear daily, whether it's communicating with the builder on how to best accomplish the work or a new find... opportunity abounds. But to seize them you have to be looking for them.

All these opportunities added together are what upgrades a potentially mediocre project into something special.

After all it costs no more to build a feature poorly as it does to create one full of detail.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

$ucce$$

"success lay not in resources or technologies, but in its attention to the management process itself." Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg

Communication and monitoring of vision = Management.
Management of the construction phase is where success will or will not be achieved.

Of course an excellent routing and great ideas are necessary, but once these preliminaries are achieved... attention to the management process during construction is king.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Experience by itself teaches nothing

Experience by itself teaches nothing." Dr. W. Edwards Deming

Experience building golf courses doesn't mean the individual will have the foggiest idea about the architect's novel plans.

Dr. Deming believed someone with knowledge had to teach the system. In golf this means interpreting the plans... the grand vision with all its details.

Plans are only raw, mathematical data that can and have been misinterpreted tens of thousands of times.

An architect leading construction turns raw info into rich, detailed knowledge a worker can execute with confidence... and if he veers of course... the architect is there to correct him before it goes to far.

This is the most efficient system and results in courses rich in detail, reflecting the grand vision of the architect.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Best Return on Your Money

“The very best return you are ever going to get on money invested is from education.” Ben Franklin

Plans do not provide an education, or knowledge, they provide cold, sterile information.

Most builders work with architects in an on-and-off basis.

Construction teams change, companies change, and the architect, if he seeks the best solutions for your property will have his style change from project to project.

To educate the builders about all the information that will make your course exceptional requires an architect leading the effort. He's the leader, educator, motivator, evaluator, visionary, and all around encyclopedia for work to be accomplished.

No question, the best return on money invested is education. It speeds the effort, reduces costs, keeps the crew interested, makes work more fun, and ensures the architect's vision is accomplished.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Capomaestro

But even Taccola, a skilled engineer “Let it be known that one cannot explain each and every detail,…” Ingenuity rides in the mind and intelligence of the architect rather than in drawing and writing. Brunelleschi’s Dome, Ross King, 2000

This tidbit takes us back to the 15th century, when Filippo Brunelleschi was selected to construct the dome for the Florence Cathedral (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore). He not only designed the dome, but the construction-hoisting machinery.

The design for the dome was ingenious and required supervision from a capomaestro, an-architect-in-chief, to design the project and explain the work.

Today of course planning and construction for structures is a simpler affair, with precise planning, skilled labor and all manner of machines to be bought, leased or rented. Golf courses... are somewhat different.

Constructing the best golf courses, on the other hand, takes us back to the early 1900's... which is far closer to the 1500's than today. Builders need help, and there is a limited supply. Even "qualified" builders require guidance if you seek to create something wholly unique.

Even with the most precise planning the vision is certain to require adjustments, and the "ingenuity" is locked in the architect's mind. Unlike a structure, only he can decipher what his plans really mean. It's why all great golf courses had a capomaestro... someone who lead construction and had absolute authority to alter the plan as he saw fit.
More than ever, due to the mammoth size of modern construction equipment, their speed, the lack of builders that understand golf and the vast array of architectural styles, a capomaestro need be present to lead the effort and help the team build excellence... the first time.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Worst

“The worst thing was for subordinates to labor in ignorance…and wind up doing the wrong thing.” Colin L. Powell, My American Journey

In the military it can get you killed. In golf architecture it can kill your investment of millions.

Laboring in ignorance:

Is the worst for your golf course.

Is the worst for your budget.

Is the worst for the workers because they won't feel free, loose and enthusiastic about the work they're doing.

Builders are not mind readers, and left alone for long periods will produce a product contrary to the architect's vision... because no two people will visualize things the same way.

CLICK BACK:
http://tonyristola.blogspot.com/2008_07_22_archive.html#3476469580473863042

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

We have never built a course that quickly!

We have never done a course that quickly, but we can do it because we are in total control.” Golf Course News, Joe Niebur, Golf Course Builder, USA (About building a golf course for himself)

Here a builder constructed a golf course for himself, and because it was his investment he could make the changes necessary as construction was underway. There was no need to wait for an architect's site-visit.

This potent example illustrates why having an architect lead construction daily brings not only innovative solutions to each design element, but speed as well.

The architect can communicate his vision to the builder, he can improve on the work in real-time as it is being built, the builder can ask questions and get immediate answers, and there is no waiting for the architect's weekly, monthly or quarterly "site-visit" to approve or alter work built "according to plan."

Daily leadership brings speed because you don't have to wait for an architect's "site-visit", it brings excellence because the architect is focused daily on your project and how to get the most from your site, budget, workers and opportunities... he is there to help... everyone.

An architect leading construction daily is how you achieve excellence and economy.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

It's such an arbitrary thing

“I have to be there when (the lead architect is) there so I know what he’s doing so when he’s not there…in very few cases are you gonna make two identical decisions because it’s such an arbitrary thing.” Longtime Art Hills associate. John Strawn, Driving the Green

1. If it's arbitrary for a long time associate, what do you think it is for a builder!?
2. This clearly illustrates how ineffective paper plans are for communicating an architect's vision.
3. Nobody knows what design changes will fit the scheme unless the architect identifies and communicates it to them face-to-face. This is why it is critical to have an architect lead construction daily.

Builders left alone for days and weeks will not build the course as the architect envisioned because even with "detailed plans", "in very few cases are you gonna make two identical decisions because it’s such an arbitrary thing."

Driving the Green, by John Strawn is one of the most enlightening books on modern golf course architecture. Following the projects of one of America's hottest designers during the first half of the 1990's, it provides example after example of the challenges and weaknesses of the "Typical" method of design and construction and the commonplace frictions that ensue.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Hit-and-Run

Months earlier, Nicklaus designed an elevated green—to give golfers on the putting surface a clear view of the nearby lake, which would have been obscured by shrubbery.

Construction workers at the site, however, have ripped out the small trees, rendering the elevation unnecessary.

Consulting with another designer in the truck, Nicklaus takes a pencil and begins sketching. Within 10 minutes, he redesigns the green and the surrounding area, reducing the elevation and altering the shape. “OK, that’s it,” he says. “Let’s move on.”

Although Nicklaus’ style seems abrupt, it’s really just the perfectionist in him coming through, explained Carl Mistretta, manager of design operations for the golfer’s private company, Golden Bear International. This day at Keene’s Pointe, Nicklaus adjusts something—slight or significant—on each of the 12 holes that have taken shape. That’s standard practice, associates say. In designing a golf course, details are everything Behind the green: In designing a golf course, details are everything, Barnet D. Wolf and Ron Carter Dispatch Business Reporters May 26, 1998

There are many revealing points.

1. The architect hadn't visited the site in months. This means there was limited to no communication from the lead man for months.

2. Even with an on-site associate and detailed plans, the builders removed a key component of a greensite. Mistakes can happen, but are less likely with the architect leading construction.

3. After not seeing the site for months, and driving around in the back of a truck, the architect redesigned the hole in 10-minutes. This can certainly be done , but is there any doubt the best solutions are found with more time on-site?

That someone actually stated this 10-minute sketch is considered "the perfectionist in him coming out" is laughable.
Wouldn't it have been far better for him to make a walk-through of the site first making notes and sketching ideas, then come back after a day's thoughts and evaluate the design alterations. Of course. Even better to spend weeks on-site. Yes. Months? Surely. Everyday? Absolutely.

4. The architect dropping in every few months to make a rash of changes to work completed according-to-plan is "standard practice."

Standard perhaps, but far from being the best practice.

The Nicklaus organization has good employees carrying the ball, they usually hire good builders to do the construction, and can blow up work they don't like and start over. But...

...you don't have to put up the big money to compete with such projects; where the architect works in a hit-and-run manner. In fact you can have a product that isn't just as good... but better... by hiring an architect with the authority to call the shots and who will lead construction daily.

Not only that, but you will have something original, not a work largely performed by other people with a "Signature" attached.

CLICK BACK:
In previous posts I illustrated the huge capacity of the brain and that letting things simmer for a little while can bring a host of new ideas, even for something as common as a piece of paper.

These blogs can be found here:
http://tonyristola.blogspot.com/2008_08_05_archive.html#8851688934885968504
and here:
http://tonyristola.blogspot.com/2008_07_14_archive.html#1491119605848181024

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Central Park, Fredrick Law Olmsted Example

Drawings were no more than memorandums the firm supplied to be referred to in getting on the ground a work of art requiring professional creativity and supervision. Laura Wood-Roper, Fredrick Law Olmsted's biographer summarizing his response to the relationship of plans and field work.

The architect that created Central Park in NY City from 843 acres (337 Hectares) of barren swamp believed, like most of the great golf architects, that plans are merely the starting point.

During construction plans can be significantly improved upon, because they are merely ideas being interpreted by others. That's why supervision is needed, so the architect's vision is not only met, but improved upon.

Golf courses are even more detailed because they require the integration of strategy and smaller but critical contours. To get the best, the most creative and functional solutions you'll need an architect supervising "work on the ground". It's the way the great courses have been built.

The mediocre or worse courses? Well, the vast majority have had plans, but little involvement, oversight, communication, and monitoring by an architect during construction.

That's just the way it is.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Pure Strategy & Perfect Information... Dream On

In microeconomics, a state of perfect information is required for perfect competition. That is, assuming that all agents are rational and have perfect information, they will choose the best products, and the market will reward those who make the best products with higher sales. Perfect information would practically mean that all consumers know all things, about all products, at all times, and therefore always make the best decision regarding purchase... Source: answers.com

Plans and planning provide far from "Perfect Information". Nobody can ever know all things, about all products, at all times, and therefore always make the best decision from looking at a set of plans.

Nobody will produce Perfect Plans... provide Perfect Information.

Even when the vision is personally delivered by the architect, it's wisest for the architect to stick around and monitor the feature being built. That way he can refine the feature being built, or stop the builder in case he misunderstood even part of the explanation. Though not perfect, it's the next closest thing.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

What's more important? Plans or People?

... If it were me... I would want the guy who would commit to being there for the entire project, and the one that makes it his daily duty to communicate all his ideas to the construction crew by teaching and example. If the archie knows he has better skilled machine operator shapers than he can do, then oversee them, rather than compete with them by climbing on the machine to do it yourself. But, if you are there while it is happening, I have little doubt some things will come up that would have been passed by if the project were strictly a construction by the plan, stick to the phasing, and stick to the pre-drawn concept.

Some of the passages in Strawn's book were a tweak at the commerce of "change orders" and how the construction companies can almost count on the bonus pay of archies who aren't around all the time, coming and changing their minds on things after they were half done by his previous drawn and preplanned design...

So, I come down on Tony's side of the craftsman-one course at a time VS multiple site supervision based on infrequent site visits - whether it is a tight process or not. That in my mind is the choice of the developer. If the developer is a greenhorn and doesn't take time to try to learn these things, then tough cookie and one gets what they bargain for, and may lose more in $ than the value of the time it should take to learn... RJ Daley http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36235.0.html
You can read the entire discussion by clicking on the link above.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Clumsy Organizations

Organizations, by their very nature, are clumsy. Take any group of more than three people and the best you can hope for is that they will do one thing well. That’s why there are no marching symphony orchestras. It’s that way with companies, too... Stranger in a Strange Land, How Homer Sarasohn Brought Industrial Quality to Japan and Why It Took Japan So Long to Learn By Robert X. Cringely

More than three people build any one golf course, and one individual not playing the right notes can screw up the music.

No architect ever has or ever will produce perfect plans. And no builder will construct the course as envisioned by the architect... when left alone. That's why the best courses have had the author of the music conduct the symphony. He knows what changes fit and has the authority to make the call.

Construction is when ideas are realized...optimized... or not.

Each feature being constructed can be improved upon. Ideas that just don't work in the designed state can be altered quickly with the architect overseeing the individual doing the building... in real time.

Sometime these improvements are simply stopping an individual before they make a feature too perfect, or too engineered looking, as nature is rough, raw and ragged.

Opportunities are not documented on paper, so they are either seized or not during construction.Somebody has to see them, evaluate them and act on them. Someone with authority... the architect. Opportunities do not limit their appearances to only "site-visits"... they present themselves daily if you only look.

All this requires tremendous observation, communication, and oversight, like a conductor. Daily participation by the architect of course is best, especially because today's equipment can make great changes swiftly.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

The Aim of Leadership

“The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people do a better job with less effort.” Out of the Crisis, W.Edwards Deming

Infrequent site-visits are designed to find, record and correct failures. They're reactive instead of proactive.

What better way to achieve the goals of Dr. Deming than to have an architect lead construction daily? There isn't one. Daily leadership does "eliminate the causes of failure", and does "help people do a better job with less effort".

In addition the work atmosphere is looser, more open and people actually have more fun because the onus to perform is placed directly on the architect. He has no excuses, like "the dog ate my homework", or "the builder just doesn't get it."
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Cookbooks and Paint-by-Number Kits

Any cookbook approach is powerless to cope with independent will, or with the unfolding situations of the real world. Straight from the Gut, Jack Welch

Plans are cook books. Paint-by-numbers kits. You can get a golf course produced from handing plans to builders and having the architect show up infrequently... every week, month or quarter, but this is the proven path to mediocrity.

The cook-book-and-abandonment method is the "typical" manner of building golf courses, but is it best? No. History has proven why for a century.

Independent will... the life experiences of each individual building the course, the pet styles they develop, the value they attach to their experiences can submarine the most novel concept when the workers are left alone for long periods. Simply because the vision documented in the cookbook is locked into the architect's brain. It can and never will be fully explained in 2-Dimensional drawings.

Those "unfolding situations of the real world" happen frequently during the construction process. The canvas is large, their are numerous individuals involved with their own perspectives, and Mother nature often throws a curveball.

Adjustments need be made, communication of the vision constantly delivered and reinforced. This can't be done through a "cookbook" and part-time involvement. Not if you seek excellence for the millions you invest.

Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080