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

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
+1(909) 581 0080

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
+1(909) 581 0080

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
+1(909) 581 0080

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