One Plan... Two Builders... What Happened?

...we were working on two courses, so I had him draw the exact same plan for a short par 3 on both. The difference was amazing. The "good" contractor's green had fuller slopes, better integration of green slopes with surrounds, etc. The foreman directed the shaper to hide the cart path crossing in front of the tee with a small ridge, whereas the other sat in plain view, the cart path drained, basins were hidden, etc. The good shape also went back to the tee often just to see how it looked, rather than shape it without looking... Source: http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,17496.0.html

What this clearly illustrates is plans are subject to interpretation, and plans lack vital details... like the one builder inserting the "small ridge" to hide the cart path. Sounds like it was lacking in the plan.

Sometimes a builder works out OK, other times they don't. It's a roulette wheel when the architect is absent for long stretches. The question is... will your millions be well spent... or not?

There is an insurance policy though. Have an architect lead construction daily.

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

Almost Half the Architects Can't Find Qualified Builders

That was the official report. In reality it could be half or more.

A Golf Course News survey of golf course architects discovered that 42.8% of those polled felt it was getting difficult to find qualified golf course builders for their projects. Golf Course News (USA), November 1999

My guess is they polled fairly well known architects. And this in America where there are 25 million golfers and 17,000 golf courses. What about the remainder of the projects? What about pioneering countries where most building courses have scant knowledge?

More than fifty years earlier in America it wasn't polled, but it was no different:

...half the time the builders of new courses have no ideas concerning the character of the holes or their distribution, and without hesitation put this squarely up to the architect... A.W. Tillinghast, (1874-1942)

And won't be any different in another 50-years.

Even with a "qualified builder", the developer would be best served with an architect leading construction. It's imperative in developing nations.

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

Innovation, Opportunity, Discovery... Aha!!!

Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure. Albert Einstein

Innovation is a key ingredient when building golf courses. It's the "Aha!!!" moments that take projects to the next level; opportunities uncovered as construction progresses.

Opportunities come randomly... and daily if you're there to take note. Some moments are grander than others, but every little bit added together... creates a powerful difference in quality.

Innovation requires communication, and daily leadership during construction offers the opportunity to get to know the workers skills set better. It offers the opportunity to explain the concept better. It offers the opportunity to understand the vast property better. Daily observation, daily leadership leads logically to better understanding, more opportunities to uncover, and a better product.

Planning is the process of "logical thought", but plans only represent part of the puzzle and the start of the race. Getting the maximum from those plans (ideas-vision), and translating it to the workers requires far more.

Innovation, improving the product in every way possible, communicating the vision, going the extra mile and seizing opportunity for improvement is a full-time job; it's a "logical structure". Logical and proven in every industry known to man.

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

Labor of Love

Great courses are a labor of love, and greatness is unlikely if the designer and owner play only the inaugural round together and never see one another again. Cleve Trimble

So true, and this relates directly to the previous post. Actually everything posted up to today.

The best golf courses (the best anything) are a "labor of love", not a hit-and-run operation where the architect is a foreigner to the property and workers.
There are post construction details that need be nailed down, and just as excellence requires an architect leading construction, an investment of time after construction is completed is also required to ensure the course is maturing as the architect intended.

At times the architect may be required to visit the course years... decades after the course has opened. To educate a new superintendent and/or review the maturity of the course... because golf courses are growing, and change slightly with every pass of a mower. After years, slight change pile upon slight change can change the architecture.
All this takes time... the most valuable asset we possess. The most valuable asset a golf course architect can bring to his work... as nothing great on this planet is done in a flash.

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

Post Construction is Critical Too

There were many times when I wish I could ask Press Maxwell what his intention was concerning this strategy of a golf ball. He never came back, and I never had a chance to ask him, so I had to make the decisions myself. On the Course, Stan Metsker

When a golf course is constructed, is it finished?

NO! It's only the beginning of a new phase of architecture... the vegetation.

Maintenance has a direct effect on how the course looks and plays, and with every passing year the course changes subtly.

If a new superintendent arrives, he may not understand the novel concept the architect intended, and in one short season destroy the architect's intent. I've seen it happen.

So, can you expect an architect who visited your project a handful of times during construction to return to make sure the course is maturing as intended? Hardly. And those with dozens and up to one-hundred projects under construction annually?

I not only am willing to make these visits, but write a book about how the course was constructed, how it should be maintained and why. This serves members and superintendents with a guide for decades into the future. If the membership loses its way and the course is altered, future members can go back and restore it to its original intent.

In America many courses are undergoing restorations at huge expense. Memberships are desperately searching for information, photos of how the course looked in its original state. All this research is done a great expense of time and money... usually costing up to $80,000.

I'll most likely be the first, perhaps the only architect to document all his work for future members... because I actually am on-site daily with the builders constructing the courses I design.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Richness and Reach

": there is a universal trade-off between richness and reach. The trade-off is fairly simple. “Richness” means the quality of information, as defined by the used: accuracy, bandwidth, currency, customization, interactivity, relevance, security and so forth. “Reach” means the number of people who participate in the sharing of that information." Blown to Bits, Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster

Couldn't be stated more simply, and in golf course architecture... richness has proven critical. Find a great golf course, and you'll find an architect was leading the effort.

Reach... more projects translates to less time for yours.

If a golf course is to be unique, who is going to explain what is unique, what should be strictly followed, and what is open to interpretation? Who will discover and implement the vital alterations? These don't show up according to an architect's infrequent visits. Only the architect really knows, and if he is on-site daily, he'll know the property intimately, and his decision making based on a "richer" understanding of the property, weather and the individuals doing the building.

Daily leadership during construction is the ultimate in "richness", and has proven to produce the best performances... simply because workers get up-to-the-minute, "quality" information.

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

More Confessions

“…as (ESGA-EIGCA architect) explained. “The entire reconstruction had to be completed by retaining as many features as possible and allowing continuous play…A budget of (1.9 million Euros) was calculated and any increase in costs for reconstruction was completely unacceptable.”

“The need for reconstruction of (the recently) reconstructed course puts (ESGA-EIGCA architect) in a pensive mood. “Today as one contemplates the outcome of the reconstruction and extension one realizes once again how difficult it is, or even impossible, to build the optimal golf course. Too many details force the architect to reach several compromises that could lead to a reconstruction at a later date." ESGA-EIGCA Golf Course Architect, Golf Course News International, 1999

How would you like to be the president of this golf club and read your recently renovated project might require more renovation in the future? How do you explain this to the members?... With great difficulty.

The problem wasn't and never is "too many details", it was too little time on-site by the architect during the most costly and permanent design-phase... Construction.

The architect was given a budget, "and any increase in costs for reconstruction was completely unacceptable." What is "future reconstruction "if not a future increase in cost?

What these "Confessions" illustrate is nobody is exempt from having things go poorly when the architect hands plans to the builder and makes infrequent "site-visits". Not past presidents, architect association members, signature designers... Nobody.

Excellence requires more than a set of plans and a "walk through" every blue moon. It requires commitment, communication, long hours... just like anything of excellence.

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

Technology is not value

Technology is not value. Technology is not value. Technology is not value. Technology is only a means of delivering value. Value has to be designed.

More and more technology will not provide value.

Creativity is by far the cheapest way of getting added value from existing assets.

Information and analysis are far from enough. They are merely the baseline.

You can analyse the past but you have to design the future. Edward de Bono

"Creativity", the architect leading construction on a daily basis is the greatest way to add tremendous value. He can adjust, communicate, opportunity seek and monitor work as it is being built. No surprise this is how the truly great courses (which is different from those marketed as "great') were constructed.
Technology is nice when you have a mountainside to blow down. It helps predict cuts, fills and materials... but once that mass of prep-work is done (like a chef preparing all the ingredients before the evening rush hour)... it's still best to have an architect leading construction of the golf course.

"Technology is not value." People, committed leaders have value.

After all... after all the technology, it's still a set of plans builders have to interpret... and do you really want a golf course built precisely as planned. NO! Why? This would indicate a mass of missed opportunities to improve the project. It's the difference between a paint-by-numbers kit, and a work of fine art.

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

Confessions of a Golf Architect

… I don't think of it as my best work… I think it shows up in some very important details lacking, especially in bunker shaping…green contouring, etc. Budget constraints limited me to about five site visits.

ASGCA Past President

The quote above illustrates what can happen when you leave workers to build on their own... with "detailed plans"... but in a state of ignorance.
Surely there are some great builders out there that do a terrific job when left alone, but that represents a small fraction of all golf course construction work. As good as the work these companies do... it would be even better with an architect present everyday.
Having visited hundreds of courses in emerging markets, one things is certain... an architect helping the workers daily is of paramount importance.

As for myself, I have yet to use a "golf course construction company" in these young golf nations... instead, opting to work with general contractors or a local crew on an all-day, everyday basis.

For the first developers in pioneering markets, they have the opportunity to set a high standard and secure a position of superiority for decades to come... but to do this requires more than a "site-visit" from the architect every week, month or quarter.
As for "budget constraints"? Give me a call and I'll explain how my daily on-site presence and design method more than pays for itself.
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Why Accept Costly Old Norms?

We should be encouraging... organizations that understand their missions, “know” the people they serve, and excite the ones they employ; we should be encouraging “thick” management, deep knowledge, healthy competition... We need to get back to our basic senses, to feel genuine commitment, to use informal intuition,... Only in these ways,…shall we find our way back from the frozen wastes... Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg

Building golf courses is a people business. It is about communication and regardless of technology that makes planning easier, a project still requires leadership... just as the best did 100-years ago.

In the old days construction was slow. Horses, mules and manpower. With a visit every few days or week, the architect could see the painstaking transition and adjust accordingly.

Today construction is lightening fast. What once took weeks only takes a few hours today, but the method of oversight hasn't changed with the times. The "site-visits" reflect 50 to 100-year old standards.

Paper plans are merely a tool for nailing down engineering solutions, and getting bids on predicted work and materials. After that, plans are subject to interpretation and alteration. To get the most from your land and budget, you require "genuine commitment", more than ever before... an architect leading construction.

Old norms, architects visiting the construction site infrequently is defended and bandied about as acceptable because it is the way things have been done for decades. You'll often hear the name Donald Ross used as a defense. History though, shows the architects of the great courses employed far higher standards. They were built with men leading construction.

Even Ross realized the errors of his ways:

The greatest collection of Donald Ross golf courses is right here (in Pinehurst)…

That’s because (Donald Ross) was here.

When my dad once asked him what he might do differently if he were starting over, Ross told him, ‘I would only build as many courses as I could be at the site.’

He lived here (in Pinehurst) and spent time here, and obviously courses are going to be more true to the designs when the architect is there.

Interview with Dan Maples

Pilot.com

You don't have to settle for costly old norms, and the latest planning technology doesn't change matters either. In the end it is still a set of plans the builders have to interpret... plans that cannot speak, or hold every detail and possible improvement.

Plans are not on a mission, people are. Without leadership... there is no mission... only submission.

Old norms... they'll either cost you in cash, in quality... or both.

It's your money. You can demand far more.

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

The Brain

"...to encode the human brain. It would take at least a 30, five story main university libraries to hold this many books." The Physics of Immortality, Dr. Frank Tipler
The brain is the most versatile super computer there is. The problem is we can't read minds.

With that much capacity, being so complex, and with everyone seeing different things from the same experience, we will never have two identical visions for the same plans. The only way to know someone's vision with all modifications included is to have it personally explained to you, with daily monitoring to ensure it's going as discussed, and to seize any unforeseen opportunities.

Isn't it interesting, with all that brain power, our memories are so faulty? That our memory of certain events drops dramatically after a few hours, a day and then a few days it's reduced to mere ashes! So what was said during a "site-visit" can not only be misinterpreted, but forgotten altogether. That's why it's best to have "the source", the architect explaining his vision, and monitoring the work daily. He is influenced by what happens, can see opportunities, implement them with the help of the individual worker, and check that things are going as discussed.

Interesting fact: The capacity of the human brain ? We can have between 2,0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000 and 2,0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000.0000000000 memories (that's 2:10:10 and 2:10:17).

The human mind, most powerful and versatile super computer, yet forgetful, all in one.

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

Talent and "dogged endurance"

"I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas." Albert Einstein

"Obsession" can be defined as a focus on either quantity or quality. As an investor, would you prefer an architect obsessed with your project or numerous projects? Quality of course... so that's what an investor should look for. Someone obsessed with making the most of your property and budget.

Simple Math Department
With only three projects concurrently, the architect could possibly visit your project once a week. Added to the three projects is travel , and with multiple projects the architect most likely is looking at future work and has staff churning out plans that need review. These future jobs chew at the clock... eating at the most valuable asset your architect can bring to your project... his time.

To get the most from your architect's talent he has to possess "dogged endurance". The commitment of Time and thought... in a quest for excellence. Spending 90 to 95% of his time with other ventures does yours no good. How can it? His talent and focus is elsewhere.

Quality isn't a talent, it's a pursuit. 100-years of golf architecture history clearly shows the best courses have an architect taking control of construction on a daily basis.

"Dogged endurance". "Obsession". "Curiosity". "Self criticism." = Hard Work, and the investment of the most valuable resource, time. That's how you get the most from the architect's talent... and your budget.

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

Plans, Laws & Facts

"One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts." Albert Einstein

Golf course plans are mathematical solutions to artistic problems and are therefore insufficient.

Plans may work perfectly for a structure, who’s angles are known and easily measured. The same for roads, with their measurable curves, planes, and grades. Golf courses though, are works of art combined with engineering. It's subject to interpretation of the builder (remember... 10 different builders with the same plans will produce 10 different golf courses).

The last thing you want is a golf course to turn out exactly like it was designed on paper; like a computer model. Back at the turn of the century some architect's complained that the use of clay models resulted in features and courses that looked foreign to their native environment. Computer models, and an architect absent during construction have produced similar results... right down to the mowing lines. Ugh!

"Newly discovered facts" are unforeseen opportunities to better the project. Those the architect could never have conceived at the drafting table... which "overthrow" the original concepts, creating a whole new and better reality. Just one change on a hole can elicit a whole host of changes on other holes because you don't want holes to look or play similar.

The moral: Plans are not "absolutely certain and indisputable". We are humans after all, and to err is human. Therefore plans can only serve as a starting point for an expansive and expensive work of art, strategy and engineering. Only in the field can the architect make the swift and necessary adjustments to get the most from your site, budget and workers. You can't see opportunity from the next county or country, and you can't simply call in cutting-edge design changes.

The more time the architect spends leading construction, the better his decisions, the more opportunities seized, the more up to date are the workers... with new and critical "facts". All this added together improves the project drastically.

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

"Great and Inspiring" Freedom

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." Albert Einstein

Time = Freedom.

Limited time... limited freedom.

An architect on-site daily has maximum freedom, maximum flexibility. He is not in a hurry. He can view the work from all angles, in different conditions, and can make refinements as the work is being created... in real-time. Workers can ask for help at any time. Communication is free flowing and vibrant. Opportunities abound and are seized (remember... not even the most detailed plans can include every nuance).

Visiting the site every week, month or quarter, the "Typical Method", provides limited communication, oversight, and... flexibility. After all, how much communication can one deliver and emphasize in a handful of hours? Because time is limited, the architect is focused on putting out the hottest fires and will miss opportunities. Every day he is not present, he misses opportunities.

Limited time is limited freedom, and lost opportunities for the investor. It's why part-time involvement during construction, the most expensive and permanent design phase, rarely produces "great and inspiring" golf courses.

Tony Ristola

agolfarchitect.com

agolfarchitect@yahoo.com

+49 (0)173 450 4552
+1(909) 581 0080

Einstein on Plans and Planning

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Albert Einstein

No golf architect has or ever will draw a perfect set of plans. It's impossible. Fact is, some things you just don't want to draw in detail. Greens for example. Now some will be screaming (especially some of my competitors)... "Say What!?"



















Nice and tidy green plan. But will the best possible solution be found by someone drawing lines on paper half a country away from the golf course, months before a single shovel of dirt is moved? Will the builder see this drawing as the architect does? No chance, as we are all influenced by our experiences.

What happens when a builder follows the eye of the plan and builds those dome like mounds as they are drawn? What happens when the architect doesn't like what is built and makes some suggestions, then leaves the site for weeks as the machine operator works in his absence. Will he do the job as the absent architect envisioned the second time? Is this the best way to build a greensite? No. But it is the standard method of building greens all over the world. Standard does not mean best; not by miles.

Hear me out... this is the short version...

If there isn't a natural green in the landscape, or one requiring just a bit of obvious alteration, an architect has to design one. What I prefer to do is estimate the amount of material required for the hole at hand, and draw concepts. Lots of concepts.

If need be, I'll keep drawing right up to the day the green is to be built. These drawing are ideas, general guidelines. By the time the day comes to shape the subgrade of the green, I have settled on a concept and set to work. Usually when tooling around, shaping the green I'll hit on something that alters it. This is a good thing, like sculpting clay. I get the best out of what is there, and detail I could never have drawn on paper, or imagined at the drawing board.

The problem with planning a green out inch by inch are multiple:

1. Architects are not omnipotent...

2. It takes longer to build.

3. Some just don't fit into the landscape as well as they should and because someone is creating the product absent of the architect they don't want to deviate because it could cost them and their company. Maybe the architect was looking for something special to him... and the builder just doesn't get it. How would the builder know?

4. What happens when an alteration is made to one green, one which should require an alteration to another green or greens so the holes or greens don't look or play similar? Those plans start to look less and less important.

The ability to change direction on a dime, to be flexible, to seek the best solution is not only faster... it produces a better product.

Not everything should be planned if it can be worked out in the field... or according to the great golf architect Einstein, "not everything that counts can be counted."

INSERT SEQUENCE OF SKETCHES

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