Part1
Tom S.
Let me break this down bit by bit. This time I’m in no rush:
Before I start, let me say from I like your boss from what I know of him through the press during the past decades. He has been a tremendous ambassador for golf, and we’re lucky to have someone like him as a spokesperson. In parallel, I think of him like I do Wayne Gretzky. What if either sport, golf or ice hockey had a guy who couldn’t communicate? Wasn’t a great sportsman and representative of the sport? Both sports are richer for their participation, and both have elevated standards, but liking him doesn’t exempt him from the questions I’ve posed, just as it doesn’t exempt my family members from probing questions.
1. I was just curious what you guys think about the impact of a good or bad contractor on the outcome and quality of a course.
Instead of good or bad, I would use conscientious and not conscientious, experienced and inexperienced. There are bad seeds everywhere in every walk of life, but I don’t think the vast majority of people are inherently bad or seek to do a bad job...not by a long shot. I believe they all want to do a good job, or a great job, don’t want to waste time doing it, and in most instances require help to achieve this. Dr. Deming nails this in his Red Bead Experiment. In his simple example he proves that all the incentives of cash, or fear of God through screaming and threats, the use of banners or slogans and the like will not change the industrial output UNLESS there is a change in how management manages its people. This means teaching the workers and seeking to improve the product in every manner possible. Dr. Deming implores managers to get out of the office and get amongst the workers. He implores managers to lead.
Now, in continental Europe there are few quality contractors. That doesn’t mean those outside the recognized few cannot do the job, they can, but they require guidance. I know this first hand…having walked builders through the process…builders who’s guys did not know a tee from a green, bunker from a fairway but were eager to learn and didn’t shy away from asking for assistance. In working with such companies you have to help the builder spot who can do what. Some guys have a feel for shaping, other guys are great for building tees or building the layers for a green, tee or replacing topsoil. Some guys can float a green (though it’s something I prefer to do), while others, no matter how much you explain, would wonder why they’re slowly driving around in circles with that wood thing that looks like a pallette on the back of the sand pro.
2. TS part2 "Nicklaus Design puts a site architect on each of Jack's signature courses to ensure the design intent is maintained. Knowing all the little things I catch on a daily basis that would otherwise have been missed had I not been there makes me wonder what other architects who don't put someone onsite has to live with because it is too late or would cost to much to come back and fix."
Dr. Deming’s principles at work.
3. TS Part 3 "I know many architects who draw a set of plans and turn them over and make the occasional site visit and just accept what has been built, good or bad. Some contractors have quality shapers and finish crews and project managers who really care about the outcome of the course while others simply low bid to get the job and then try to change order the client to death and cut corners to make more money."
Don’t such situations reflect an investor who just doesn’t quite understand what it takes to get quality? If the investor is savvy, the extra cost of an on-site architect would or should prevent the above from happening. It’s an insurance policy of sorts. For their investment shouldn’t owners be aware of the very possible consequences of sub standard work, regardless of how “accurate” planning is? On the one side, the architects vying for these jobs either did not explain the importance of guidance, or the investor ignored the advice and took a huge gamble. As the GC News survey illustrates, not all projects will land qualified builders of the GCBAA kind.
Tom, with the projects your Boss has, and at one time he admitted to 78 (some years ago) at some point of construction, doesn’t he often just have a set of plans drawn and then simply turns them over to the associate? Instances he does not visit the site at all?
Now back to an assertion in my original post; why would this be solely a JN project if he does this and the associate is crafting and adjusting as he goes along?
Before you read the following and think this is simply a bash Jack attack…I’d like to reference you to a post where I defended your boss. Also, read my stuff and you’ll see I’m merely being consistent. Just because your boss is the greatest golfer to walk the planet, does not exempt him (in my view) from the same questions I posed in Paul Daley’s GA, A WW Perspective, Vol.1
He, after all, has two arms, two legs and two eye balls like the rest of us. (exception…artificial hip).
The Columbus Dispatch ran a series of article about your boss in 1998, the following are excerpts from one of the series. Of note is his input for the $950,000 and $800,000 projects.
In designing a golf course, details are everything
Behind the green: The business world of Jack Nicklaus
By Barnet D. Wolf and Ron Carter
Dispatch Business Reporters
May 26, 1998
ORLANDO, Fla.—…a white pickup truck…grinds to a dusty halt. In the bed of the truck, Jack Nicklaus and members of his golf-course design and construction staffs stand peering over the cab. “No, no, that’s not right,” Nicklaus growls. “This just won’t do.”
He is examining the future green on the fourth hole at Keene’s Pointe, …he senses something amiss…
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....
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…“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...
“We can definitely look at it and within a couple of minutes determine (whether) this is a great site for a golf course,” Mistretta said during an interview several weeks after the visit to Keene’s Pointe.
Nobody in the world receives more to design a golf course than Jack Nicklaus. Here’s what the golfer’s design company, Nicklaus Design, charges:
$1.5 million—Jack Nicklaus design, plus four to six site visits.
A select few are done each year.
$950,000 -- Jack Nicklaus design, plus one grand-opening visit
$800,000 -- Jack Nicklaus design, no site visits
$600,000 -- Jack Nicklaus II design
$500,000 -- Steve Nicklaus or Gary Nicklaus design
$350,000 -- Golden Bear design, created by a design associate in the
company
” Nicklaus gets involved with a course design early and stays with it through completion. His fee—up to $1.5 million—usually is determined by the time he must spend on the project.
Once a course gets the go-ahead, Nicklaus typically walks the property. He then designs a course plan that includes strategic aspects, such as locations of sand bunkers and water hazards. All that information, along with the topographical data, is melded into a composite drawing so the architects and engineers can work together on it. The shapes of tee boxes, greens and fairways are refined. At Golden Bear headquarters in North Palm Beach, Fla., the course takes greater form: Computer-aided design software creates photolike drawings of each hole.
… Most of the courses are built by Paragon Construction… As the work at Keene’s Pointe attests, course changes continue during construction, which takes about 18 months. Computer and site plans can do only so much.
“You really need to take a look at it, to get a real feel of it,” Nicklaus said.
END