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Tom Doak

Re: Ideal Number of Site Visists?
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2003, 12:50:14 PM »
If Greg Norman really spent 27 full days on site, that's a lot for someone in his position.  I'll rely on Jim Lipe to tell me if Jack Nicklaus has spent that many days on any golf course construction site since Harbour Town and Muirfield Village, but I doubt it.

However, counting site visits is a little bit like counting bunkers.  It's not the number that matters, it's how they are used.

My estimated days on site during construction, on a few of my own projects:

High Pointe 150-200
Stonewall I 130, Stonewall II 28
Pacific Dunes 53
Apache Stronghold 37

However, as TE Paul points out, much depends on who else is there!  At Stonewall during the first go-round, Gil Hanse was also there for 125-150 days, but there wasn't anyone else who had built a golf course before.  This past summer, I had Don Placek there for 99 days, Eric Iverson more than 60, and Kye Goalby and Brian Schneider and Dan Proctor for the duration!  I'm sure that when Kelly Moran visited us, his head was spinning over how much time we'd spent on the project all together.  

Likewise, Jim Urbina was at Pacific Dunes for almost 200 days, and the rest of my crew were there as often as they could be, so my number of days went a lot further than it might seem.  Plus, there wasn't really much that needed to be done there anyway -- we just had to make sure no one screwed it up!

IMHO, architects who are counting days are the ones who are never there dawn-to-dusk, and are trying to defend their effort.  I've found myself to be much more efficient not when making large numbers of trips (and spending more time in airports!), but when the trips are for 4-5 days at a time and I've got time to get my feet on the ground and think about what we're doing.  In fact, last year I made it a point not to make ANY significant decisions to change anything on my first day on site, and to wait until I had slept on it.

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

ian

Re: Ideal Number of Site Visists?
« Reply #26 on: January 03, 2003, 02:09:19 PM »
We have a Mark O'Meara (IMG) course here north of Toronto where one of my friends supervised the course construction. His comment about site time with Mark was (laughing) "who's Mark"? One single day visit including meeting with the media.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Forrest Richardson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Ideal Number of Site Visists?
« Reply #27 on: January 05, 2003, 05:40:48 PM »
Tom D.'s comment about airports reminds me that I've often thought a wonderful job would be to design a course at "hub" airport -- killing two birds with one stone...

Which brings up one of my favorite quotes of all time, by — John Garrity, author of "America's Worst Golf Courses", which I believe you can still buy on Amazon.com for about $3.00 --

" 'How close can we put the golf course to the airport?'— Developers have pondered this question for years, recognizing that screaming jet engines on takeoff can help mask the chirping of birds that so irritates golfers."
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
— Forrest Richardson, Golf Course Architect/ASGCA
    www.golfgroupltd.com
    www.golframes.com

Forrest Richardson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Ideal Number of Site Visists?
« Reply #28 on: January 05, 2003, 09:00:28 PM »
Everytime I note this thread I wish for the dream of having just ONE site visit! -- at which absolutely everything gets taken care of, all at once, from my mind directly to the ground without anyone screwing it up! Of course, the accidental gifts of the hand of man and machine and nature would be lost...but I still think this would be the ABSOLUTE IDEAL!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »
— Forrest Richardson, Golf Course Architect/ASGCA
    www.golfgroupltd.com
    www.golframes.com