Sand Valley Construction Progression Photos

« **Reply #25 on:** November 30, 2009, 07:19:08 PM »

Tony,

My daughter is going to college in Krakow now. I may be over there next spring or summer for a visit, so I would appreciate a map, too!

« **Reply #26 on:** December 01, 2009, 03:17:51 PM »

Hole 4

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase.

My Start Point: The previous builder piled peaty topsoil for the tees. All of it was trucked out.

Construction Progression Photos Hole 4 Tee Shot.
Downloadable pdf.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23451864/Sand-Valley-Construction-Progression-Hole-4-Wetlands-Tee-Shot-Agolfarchitect-com-Version-1
520 to 385 meters
570 to 420 yards

A Selection of Related Design/Construction Blogs:
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/08/on-to-holes-2-4.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/09/toughest-and-most-beautiful-stretch-of.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/05/drainage-crew-off-to-dreaded-4th.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/4-bunkers-on-4.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/and-then-itll-be-zero-greens.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/progression-of-4th-greensite-in-photos.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/07/shaping-last-70-meters-of-4th.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-photos.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/07/shots-of-4th.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/07/three-bears.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/08/edging-remainder.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/08/sand-ahoy.html

Jeff,
Didn't manage to see Krakow, but have only heard great things about the place.

Tiger,
The course is about an hour from the Gdansk-Danzig airport. It is probably the easiest course to find in Northern Europe, as it sits right next to the Warsaw-Gdansk highway, hence the 7 meter high buffer wall behind green 4 and along hole 5. Had some funny conversations with the owner about building that wall... I affectionately called him Dr. Noise for a while. If I could have built that thing to Mars, he would have said OK. They are currently building the new highway, and the course will be set a bit back from it, but they will have their own exit. Town is called Paslek, pronounced Pusswek.

Kelly, Great to see you on here. Cheers. That site is ancient, hasn't been updated since 97. The guts will remain, but is surely needs some updating and reformatting, plus a couple additions.

« **Reply #27 on:** December 04, 2009, 03:45:44 PM »

Hole 4 Landing Area 1

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase.

My Start Point; Difficult to discern, but there are dirt blobs scattered about; all were eliminated.

« **Reply #28 on:** December 04, 2009, 04:52:05 PM »

Hole 3 makes your mouth water. A little eden feel. Love the internal contours of the green. I assume the bunker is centerline?

Anthony

« **Reply #29 on:** December 04, 2009, 05:01:20 PM »

Third reminds me of No. 4 at Rosses Point.

« **Reply #30 on:** December 05, 2009, 07:47:56 PM »

Tony,

Looks pretty interesting from the pics so far. This is one of the threads I love seeing on here. I hope you get around to eventually
posting pics of all 18 , I would love to see them .

Good Luck

Brad

« **Reply #31 on:** December 06, 2009, 10:47:53 AM »

Quote from: Brad Fleischer on December 05, 2009, 07:47:56 PM

Tony,

Looks pretty interesting from the pics so far. This is one of the threads I love seeing on here. I hope you get around to eventually
posting pics of all 18 , I would love to see them .

Good Luck

Brad

Muchos Gracias Amigo, I'll be posting them hole-by-hole, and was just reducing the size of the photos for the 5th when a curveball was pitched. My external hard drive went berserk this morning; didn't want to boot up. Luckily I have photos saved on another, but has to be mailed. I hope to hell they don't drop it. Was going to get an online data backup service next week once I'm finished traveling... seems it may have been a week too late!

Anthony

The bunker is front right.
From the daily blog of the project.
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/08/wee-bunker.html

« **Reply #32 on:** December 14, 2009, 10:30:39 PM »

Hole 5

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase.

My Start Point.

The attack of Mr. Peanut. Some of the crew applied their knowledge learned from another project and edged some of the bunkers... whoops!

Shovel in hand, starting to seek forms on the 5th, after the attack of Mr. Peanut
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/06/attack-of-mr-peanut.html

Construction Progression Photos Hole 5.
Downloadable pdf.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24107012/Sand-Valley-Construction-Progression-Hole-5-Ridge-Agolfarchitect-com-Version-1
295 to 220 meters.
325 to 240 yards.

A selection of Related Design/Construction Blogs:
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/10/bending-stick.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/05/evolution-on-5.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/08/5th.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/08/last-of-barrier-for-dr-noise.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/10/photos-from-last-month.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/06/attack-of-mr-peanut.html

.

« **Reply #33 on:** December 14, 2009, 11:05:32 PM »

Great stuff so far. I am looking forward to the future photos. I hope to get to Poland in the near future and will be sure to try and get here.

« **Reply #34 on:** December 15, 2009, 07:18:32 AM »

Tony,

Looks great - nice shaping.

Would love to visit the course - when is it opening?

Philip

« **Reply #35 on:** December 15, 2009, 09:04:31 AM »

Philip,
It's open.

Funny thing about the shaping. They planned to hire one, but I ended up shaping all the fairways and greens; nary a grade stake in sight; it was faster this way, but something a group of German supers found bizarre; they contrasted it with another project they just saw that was all GPS. You could tell this seemed too loose to them.
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/10/visitors-from-hamburg.html

This is a colorized version of the map I'd done for the project; original is B&W. Used as a watermark for their office products (business cards, letterhead etc.) and marketing materials.

The map isn't near 100% reflective of what was produced; started drawing it only a few weeks after my arrival, and finished it about a month later... the project took an additional 14-months of construction with ideas flying around everyday.

« **Reply #36 on:** December 15, 2009, 12:49:43 PM »

Tony, that's a very interesting routing. I t looks like it would be quite an adventure to play.
What is the terrain that breaks up the 8th fairway?

« **Reply #37 on:** December 15, 2009, 03:29:38 PM »

Quote from: Slag Bandoon on December 15, 2009, 12:49:43 PM

Tony, that's a very interesting routing. I t looks like it would be quite an adventure to play.
What is the terrain that breaks up the 8th fairway?

Slag,

Can't lay claim to the routing, that was inherited. Some alterations were made moving greens and tees here or there to different degrees on 13-holes; all that will be covered hole-by-hole in the book.

The bit that breaks up the 8th is a manufactured sandy expanse.

« **Reply #38 on:** December 15, 2009, 05:20:55 PM »

Quote from: Tony Ristola on November 27, 2009, 03:18:24 PM

130 to 80 meters
145 to 90 yards

Construction Progression Photos Hole 3:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23257133/Sand-Valley-Construction-Progression-Hole-3-Pulpit-Agolfarchitect-com-Version-1

A Selection of Related Design/Construction Blogs::
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/08/flip-flop.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/09/stripping-on-hole-3.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2007/09/pounding-in-sand.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/memories-of-3rd.html
http://sandvalleygolf.blogspot.com/2009/08/wee-bunker.html

.

Tony,

I love the look of this greensite.

Chris

« **Reply #39 on:** December 16, 2009, 09:35:08 PM »

Hole 6

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase.

My Start Point: The turning point is the gray blob, and to the right in the distance is the planned greensite. To the the left, the smaller brown blob is the Turn Point for the 7th.

The material was dumped over unprepared ground (fields of grass and small birch trees.) The place was so rutted you could barely get a 4x4 through at 10km an hour. The greensite was moved to the left of the blob, as the fill was glorified clay pudding, later replaced by river sand. The entire area was stripped of vegetation, harrowed, and capped with 4 to 8 feet of river sand from our quarry.

« **Reply #40 on:** December 17, 2009, 01:48:23 PM »

Tony, lots of fun and interesting blogs there. Thanks.

Do you happen to have a final digital photo of #9 ? And can you give a final explanation of the hole. Did you lower the greensite at all? I see that you finally ended up with making it a par 3. I thought both ideas would have worked well but I'm sure the pros and cons were scrutinizingly weighed for the best result. (Old GCA Thread topic - http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35000.35/ )

« **Reply #41 on:** December 17, 2009, 07:09:01 PM »

Quote from: Slag Bandoon on December 17, 2009, 01:48:23 PM

Tony, lots of fun and interesting blogs there. Thanks.

Do you happen to have a final digital photo of #9 ? And can you give a final explanation of the hole. Did you lower the greensite at all? I see that you finally ended up with making it a par 3. I thought both ideas would have worked well but I'm sure the pros and cons were scrutinizingly weighed for the best result. (Old GCA Thread topic - http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35000.35/ )

Cheers Slag,

I have one somewhere, I'll dig it up and post it.

Both holes have been built. The greensite wasn't lowered at all, it was elevated some. I ran a fairly large roll towards the middle of it, splitting the green in two so you can see part of it from the LZ on the par-4 version.

The fairway for the par-4 was a challenge to grow-in. After seeding, a Ferrari rain hit and washed it out; I think more than once. By September it was still pretty thin, while the remainder of the course was looking pretty decent. Next season it should be A-OK. The greensite grew in superbly.

The par-3 tee was seeded, washed out, reseeded and should be in play next season. May have been half decent in October. The bunker in the foreground of the sketch was surrounded by a couple feet of weed upon my last visit; no sand driven in; just wasn't a priority.

.

« **Reply #42 on:** December 18, 2009, 12:11:09 AM »

Slag,
Different angle, but the best I can do at the moment.
View from the edge of the canyon; end of the fairway for the par-4, or what would be the forward tee for the par-3.

« **Reply #43 on:** January 14, 2010, 02:32:55 AM »

7 Looking from Green to Fairway

Yellow Submarine

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase; a number of design changes had been made during construction; green size, shape, bunker form, fairway contour, shape of the lake...

My Start Point: Looking from the green to the fairway. A seasonal flood zone. Most of the fairway was raised 3 to 4 feet; on the 6th the highest point was raised about 6 to 8 feet.

« **Reply #44 on:** January 14, 2010, 08:18:13 AM »

Tony I don't know what to say that looks fantastic!!

« **Reply #45 on:** March 27, 2010, 03:49:33 AM »

7 Greensite

Conceptual Map created early in the design/build phase.

My Start Point: One of the few areas that went largely untouched before my arrival.

During grow-in. Bunkers in the distance have yet to be cleaned up.

A few weeks later.

« **Reply #46 on:** May 17, 2010, 05:05:40 AM »

I was fortunate enough to get up to the north of Poland this weekend to play Sand Valley... It’s a gem, a real eye opener for Polish golf. On every hole you are faced with lots of different options that go from strength to strength as your round goes on. The course has huge fairway areas with good contours making your selection of the tee vital for the best approach shots in, The greens are of all various sizes with strong internal contouring that bleed harmoniously into the fairway and surroundings, I maybe felt on a few greens the contouring was to severe and the hole positions where very limited for example #16. The bunkering is strong with allot of sandy waste areas that cut and swerve along the fairway edges making you bite off as much as you can chew on a few tee shots.

Favourite Holes: #5,#6,#12 & #17

I unfortunately forgot my camera.. However Tony's pictures give a very good account.

« **Reply #47 on:** May 17, 2010, 03:59:29 PM »

Quote from: David Nelson on May 17, 2010, 05:05:40 AM

I was fortunate enough to get up to the north of Poland this weekend to play Sand Valley... It’s a gem, a real eye opener for Polish golf. On every hole you are faced with lots of different options that go from strength to strength as your round goes on. The course has huge fairway areas with good contours making your selection of the tee vital for the best approach shots in, The greens are of all various sizes with strong internal contouring that bleed harmoniously into the fairway and surroundings, I maybe felt on a few greens the contouring was to severe and the hole positions where very limited for example #16. The bunkering is strong with allot of sandy waste areas that cut and swerve along the fairway edges making you bite off as much as you can chew on a few tee shots.

Favourite Holes: #5,#6,#12 & #17

I unfortunately forgot my camera.. However Tony's pictures give a very good account.

Thank you David. I appreciate your kind words re Sand Valley.

Are you based in Poland? If you're in the area, please do get in touch and maybe we'll play a match in SV sometime this summer?

I loved the fact that you've listed #12 as one of your favorites. You can't possibly imagine the amount of crap I've had to listen due to the 12th having so many things wrong with it...

Kai Hulkkonen
GM & founder at Sand Valley

« **Reply #48 on:** May 17, 2010, 06:07:04 PM »

Tony,

That is some really good looking golf in those pix. Nice work. Looks like a lot of time spent getting the finish details dialed too.

« **Reply #49 on:** May 19, 2010, 05:53:57 AM »

Kai,

I am based in Poland at the moment working on another golf project in the Warsaw area.. I would love to meet up with you and play another round at Sand Valley.

Hole #12 was as strong as a par 5 I have played in a long time. It was very well done and allot of thought went into that hole, I certainly had to give it plenty of thought just to walk away with par!

Its a completely new style of golf course to what the Polish golfers are use to, And I think in this intern you are going to get these comments until they realise how to play the ground game or that down the middle of the fairway is not always the best option that is required at SV.. I played with a Polish friend an even though he did comment on the aesthetics of the course and how much he liked it he did struggle to make a good score...The good news is that he is very keen to get back out there to play it again and use the experience he gained on his first round.

Well done Kai, I think it is one of the most significant new courses I have played to date.

News:

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Norbert P

Tony Ristola

Chris_Blakely

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Norbert P

Tony Ristola

Tony Ristola

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