Professional Documents
Culture Documents
During Construction
100% 0 to 6%
Tony Ristola Typical
What follows are a few select quotes from How to Improve Your Golf
Course coupled with my commentary. The intent is to help you, the
club committee member or investor, cut through the architect’s
sales job, and get the most for your money by focusing on what is
truly meaningful in golf course architecture. The analysis is not only
pertinent to reconstruction, but is equally important when building a
golf course from scratch.
1
“It is necessary to find the man, the one
capable man…, who will mastermind the
changes of the course over its (coming years).
This is obviously not an easy task.”
2
The architect must be able to work with the club or financier to
make the most of their investment. The club will have ideas, but it
is the architect’s job, as a professional advisor and expert on golf,
to take the time to explain other solutions to these decision makers,
and how they will benefit in the short, and long term. Once a
general direction is agreed upon, the architect can begin his plan of
action.
Time is the greatest gift an architect can bring to any project. Golf
course architecture is an art, and without the artist providing time
and guidance to the builders, things can and do go awry. History
has clearly and repeatedly proven this for more than 100 years.
The following revelations by an EICGA (European Institute of Golf
Course Architects) member and former member of the ESGA
(European Society of Golf Architects) Board of Directors illustrates
the reality of these challenges, and the unknowing game of financial
roulette played by many clubs and investors:
3
Here the architect was told “any increase in costs for reconstruction
was completely unacceptable”, but later states that “Too many
details force the architect to reach several compromises that could
lead to a reconstruction at a later date.”!!! The problem was not
due to “too many details”. No, it was due to an architect not
spending enough time with the constructors, communicating the
design-intent, monitoring their work, seeking every opportunity to
better the project and maximizing the budget.
When calculating Total Cost, it is most cost effective to get the job
done correctly the first time. A popular course will never require
redesigning, but will be cherished, maintained and preserved along
the lines set out by the architect. That is true economy. It may cost
a little more for this expertise at the start, but it can save or
generate for the club or investor, millions further down the road.
Besides being truly economical, a well designed and constructed
golf course will grow in stature, adding tremendous value to the
club and region.
4
There are a lot of “gifted talkers” in golf course architecture.
Thousands of golf courses have been built with the promise for
something of “exceptional value”, but when completed reveal there
was more propaganda than follow-up. It is the difference between
Publicized Values and Operational Reality.
Unfortunate indeed, especially with all the hype you hear about
“working with the land” and “following nature’s lead." And when the
architect is not on-site during construction working to blend these
prefabricated greens from his files on to your golf course, you could
be looking at modest relative improvement in comparison to the
investment of cash, the money lost due to the closure of the course
during construction, and the maintenance costs incurred until the
course is open.
5
“I had always known that the most valuable asset a
project can have in its early stages is momentum.
This might be defined as the quantity of the work
done times the speed of doing it. Momentum is full of
intangibles, such as owner/architect enthusiasm,
energy projected into the process, a genuine love for
the land, original ideas waiting to be realized, the
relations between project management and
government agencies, relationships between
management and workers.”
One element Mr. Muirhead did not address is the quality of such
work. The best way to accomplish quality and quantity, produce
momentum and all its benefits is to have the golf course architect
personally lead construction on a daily basis. That is the pinnacle of
service. When the architect personally explains the design-intent to
the workers, what is accomplished is richer in detail than what the
architect envisioned at the drafting table because every unforeseen
opportunity to improve the project is seized upon and every nuance
and detail built in. The architect can monitor progress minute by
minute, evaluating the elements as they are being formed and
adjust accordingly. It allows workers and architect to communicate
freely with one another, forming a bond of trust and cooperation.
6
Now you know the root causes as to why opportunities are missed.
Not enough involvement by the architect leading, communicating,
opportunity seeking and monitoring the design intent during
construction. Excellence is not an “easy task”.
How true, and those lofty goals require men of knowledge, vision,
artistry, action and commitment. It demands an investment of
TIME, not just flowery words and a roll of plans for the builders.
agolfarchitect.com
Leadership Driven Architecture
...Because Vision and Leadership are Inseparable
Tony Ristola
agolfarchitect.com
agolfarchitect@yahoo.com
+1 909.581.0080
Design and construction are not separate jobs, but different parts of the same job
Copyright © 2008