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Ok , we've wandered here from the question as to architects and their perception on site, and I've never been an apologist for Pat, as he certainly is capable defending his assertions, right or wrong . LOL.
But.
Mounds such as those built that Tom used at Streamsong are expensive to build from scratch but can serve many purposes. As Pat said , they can muffle sounds and mask movement, thus allowing a tee to be built in close proximity to a green site , which shortens the walk and makes almost all here quite happy
. They can certainly muffle sounds from the outside world, making the golf course quiet and surreal in doing so, much like acreage and foliage do the same at Pine Valley and Augusta , to name just two p respected venues. We play close to a busy road on the 18th hole at Twisted Dune and I defy you to hear or see it without climbing to the top of a "mountain" . It also protects cars from a wayward shot , but remember these walls of dirt are a great deal bigger than most , being tall and quite wide. Growing grasses and shrubs on them adds to the muffler , and look quite nice to,a Scotsman.
Personally, my experience is if you cut down to build them , they far more pleasing aesthetically, mirroring the glacial affect . Never liked the look of Loxahatchee, though I understood the reasons why they were used. The look of Streamsong or Bayonne is far nicer. At Bayonne they allowed for some great holes on limited acreage, the layering effect of the heights allowing safety despite proximity.
As to finances and dirt, where it not for some dirty political intervention as the "middleman" in our deal , we wold have reaped great economic reward selling the waste product. (clean fill).. But that's a story which brings back too many bad memories , and no doubt would cause me further grief with the ruling class if we unearthed the bones. A cliiffs notes version would be that we sold over 2,500,000 tons to fill the H-tract where the Borgata now stands. The state paid almost $6 a ton for the fill, we got $1.65 to dig it , load it and 1.65 a ton to ship . The middleman made more than the provider. A lot more.